Comments on: Handling My Chisels

By: Larry Marshall

Larry Marshall — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:08:12 +0000

Hee…hee…yes, I own a lathe. I look at handles with an eye towards functionality.

Marking knife – squarish handle so it won’t roll off bench.

Chisels – big round handles so I can wrap my hand around them. Won’t roll off bench because of the large, flat blade.

Cheers — Larry

By: Torch02

Torch02 — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:25:57 +0000

To be honest, after all your non-turned handles I didn’t think you owned a lathe

By: Larry Marshall

Larry Marshall — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 14:08:53 +0000

Maybe so, Bob, maybe so. It’s a pleasant thought.

Cheers — Larry

By: Bob Simmons

Bob Simmons — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:55:36 +0000

Larry…perhaps some day in the future a woodworker may take these “old chisels” and apply new handles on them as well. Nice work!

By: Larry

Larry — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:51:11 +0000

Kenneth,
I applied a light coat of BLO and followed it with some blonde shellac. While I didn’t talk about it in the post, I tried what Tage Frid called his 4D finish which works amazingly well.

It’s sort of a French polish approach in many ways but mostly it’s a ways to do the BLO/shellac finish without waiting for the BLO to dry. In short, I applied the shellac immediately after applying the BLO and let if sit for a few seconds. This mess gets very sticky. Then I buffed the heck out of it and the shine comes up. Easy on a lathe as you have the machine spinning the piece. It’s a lot of work on a cabinet and I’m too lazy

Cheers — Larry

By: Kenneth

Kenneth — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:23:32 +0000

Great work Larry. I restored one of my grandfather’s chisels a few months back and went the route of sanding the heck out of its crazy-gross handle. There’s a remarkable amount of nice-looking wood underneath. Somehow it still has a kind of patina.

Which flavor of shellac was that? Looks blonde, or super blonde?

By: Larry Marshall

Larry Marshall — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:26:09 +0000

Shannon, I agree about socket chisels. Also agree that tool improvement is the flip-side of the ‘old’ thing I mentioned to Doug and it’s very gratifying. I paid a couple bucks for those chisels a decade ago and they were covered with rust. Now they’re among my favorites. I like your idea for a long paring handle, particularly for the larger 1 1/4″ chisel.

Cheers — Larry

By: Larry Marshall

Larry Marshall — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:21:43 +0000

Doug, I struggle with this. I just love ‘old.’ Maybe it’s because I qualify. But even after re-handling these chisels I can’t bring myself to throw away those old, beat up handles. Silly I suppose.

Cheers — Larry

By: Shannon

Shannon — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:43:47 +0000

This is what I really like about socket chisels, they are so easy to replace the handles. The vintage tool is a joy to use, but I feel even more so when we have added our own mark to them like you did with these handles. You might try making a longer paring handle too. Those are a lot of fun and the control you get with them is great. Plus with the socket configuration it is very easy to switch them back and forth.

By: Doug Berch

Doug Berch — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:56:15 +0000

Great looking handles! Some of my favorite tools have that “lived in” look and it is one of the things I Iike about them! I do have a few that could use a makover though!