Should I glue the wooden handles onto my bench chisels?

Hi, I bought a couple of old chisels over the weekend with missing handles, They have a socket on the end where I can insert some new ones.

I've made some wooden handles that fit nicely and they will probably pound on quite snugly, but probably not snug enough that they will always stay in forever. The sockets had some glue residue left in them that I scraped out.

Question: do other people glue theirs? - I'm leaning that way. If I do glue, what type should I use? Surely woodglue won't work for wood to metal. Any suggestions?

-thanks!

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epoxy

Reply to
Phisherman

I would use an epoxy, made sure u clamp it tight.. I would use a hour epoxy and let it dry over night

Randy

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Reply to
randyswoodshoop

Couple of hundred years do you?

Don't glue them, just fit them properly. This may involve "hot drilling" the holes to get a good fit, heating the chisel tang up and then pounding it in.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

My only info on this was an old magazine article on re-fitting handles, but they were using epoxy to seat/glue the handles in..

As I recall, they had the handles "hole up" in a vise and were applying a bit of epoxy to the tang just before sliding it into the handle and seating it with a few taps from a mallet before the epoxy set..

mac

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Reply to
mac davis

I agree. Also, epoxy is brittle, and repeated pounding on the chisel handle will eventually break the epoxy, and you'll be back to square one. If you take your time you can make a handle that fits properly without glue, and will only get tighter the more you use it.

Another thing to consider is that if you get your handle wet in the tang. it will swell and crush the fibers, thus irrevocably loosening the handle. So keep those chisels safe from water!

Reply to
bsa441

Don't glue it. If you use epoxy then the next round of handles will be that much harder to fit because of bits of epoxy left in the socket.

Fit it well, and make the handle "tenon" a bit shorter than the socket depth, so that as you pound on the handle it can sink in deeper into the hole rather than bottoming out.

You should be able to see the high spots if you twist the handle around and then hold it up at an angle to the light. The high spots will be sort of shiny.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Friesen

I used to read and believe magazines until I wrote for magazines.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Like he said. That's the traditional way to do it, and if you use actually use your chisels the pounding action will tighten the bond.

If you're totally intent on using an adhesive, there is nothing, repeat nothing, that will hold like 3M 5200 caulk.

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takes a long time to cure, but once it's set, you're not taking it apart without destroying the handle and it'll hold up to pounding better than epoxy. You can get small tubes of the stuff, enough for a bench set, at your local marine store. If you don't live near the water...why?! ;)

R
Reply to
RicodJour

Exactly. Sometimes, the old ways are the best. And in fact, fitting the handle in as perfectly as possible was exactly how the tool handle was designed to be installed.

They were made to be replaced as needed when they were designed "X" hundred years ago. The closer the fit, the less movement you have inside the socket, so the less chance of splitting the handle.

Until he went to his great reward, I had a friend that restored large chisels and slicks of all sorts. He always fitted as closely as possible, then heated up the tangs or sockets and forced the metal and wood together. Then he polished them up perfectly, honed them, and hung them in his display case, never to be used.

He did have his beaters, though. He handled those the same way.

If you can't find the handles with the split rings on them, check here (if you aren't making them).

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nailshooter41

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