Chisel Handle advice needed

[Jerome Bias]

I re-handled a few of my tanged chisels last year. I chose Walnut, partially, b/c I don't really like beech and I wanted to use a local wood. Ii also chose this style of handle, because I like the way that felt in my odd shaped hands. Well. It didn't go well a few of them cracked. I re-handled a couple of them in dogwood and they cracked. I am starting to wonder if I am doing something wrong or that he tang on the chisels justa ren't right for this type of handle. Suggestions?
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Thanks guys,

[Jim Foster]

I think a hoop at the base of the handle would keep the handle from cracking during use.

[george wilson]

Your handles are too thin around the tang area. A ferrule would help,but making them thicker around the tang would also help. Dogwood is pretty tough stuff.

[Tim Atkins]

I have had the same problem. You need to put on a metal ring to contain the wood and compress it. You can use about anything. Copper pipe, odd steel tubing or even wire. I like the shape., I use a more coffin shape myself. it softens the end and doesn't dig into your hand.

Tim

[Chuck Nickerson]

This advice is based on limited experience: rehandling seven similar chisels.

Knowing your work and work environment, you're probably trying to avoid ferrules because they don't match the chisel/handle style.
The bolster will carry the force of using the chisel if the tang isn't wedging the wood outwards.
So I too time to essentially carve the tang-hole to it's proper shape an let the glue do the holding.

Of course YMMV.

[Mike Siemsen]

Jerome,
My handles are the same as yours but of hard maple. None of them have broken. Your handle in the photo does look a little thin at the bottom. I just use the tang of the chisel as a reamer until The handle almost reaches the bolster, maybe 3/16 of an inch, then tap it home. Mark the location so you can put it on the same way, Mark out the handle so it is centered on the chisel and remove the handle and shape it after it has been set on the chisel. This guarantees that the handle lines up with the chisel properly and with more wood at the base during setting the handle is less apt to break, if it does break you are only out an unshaped blank.

[Jerome Bias]

I was looking at the chisels in the Seaton Chest the other day. The handles seem similar. How do they do so well? I would prefer to not do the hoop thing. Does anyone have a shot of the chisels taht they use at the Hay shop?

Thanks

[Jerome Bias]

I suspect that the bolsters on my chisels may be a tad small. Which does not help things. I did a straight taper from the bolster to the top of the chisel.

I made my handles by burning in the tang into the unshaped handle about 3/16" short of the full depth. I removed the chisel then when it cooled down I drove in all of the way in. I then shaped the handle. My next option is to allow a bit of swell in the shape of the handle down near the bolster.

Jerome

[Zach Dillinger]

I agree that the taper may be too severe, leading to a too-thin handle wall at the bolster. Make the taper less pronounced and you should be good. Walnut is not a great choice for a chisel that will be used with a mallet, but dogwood should have held up if it was seated correctly.

Re: the Seaton chest... remember that those tools were not used much, if at all, by Mr. Seaton. You can't really draw any conclusions about durability based on that sample.

[george wilson]

I have a few 18th. C. chisels with their original handles. The handles are thicker than yours at the tang end. They are about 1/8" larger than the diameter of the tang all around. They are rounded down rather bluntly on the edges to meet the tang. They look fine.

Where do you live? I was in Williamsburg for 39 years,16 of them as musical instrument maker attached to the cabinet shop over the creek. The rest as toolmaker. I made many of the tools around town.

Personally,I don't think the saws in the Seaton chest were ever fully sharpened. The Newbould chisels were still wrapped in their original paper wrapping. The files were never used. The pencils never sharpened. It is a real time capsule.

There is no info about you at all in your profile,nor a location. Are you in Williamsburg?

[Warren Mickley]

This is the style handle I use. There are seven like this on my bench right now. I like beech the best because of its feel; I sometimes use walnut for file handles. Walnut has a large range of strength and hardness, but I think your problem has to do with technique. I don't think that a handle will split like this without a lateral force like prying. It is worth paying attention to technique because sloppiness here is also rough on the edge, causing folding and chipping.

The many examples from the 17th and 18th centuries attest to the usefulness of this design. At that time ferrules and sockets were mostly used by carpenters. I think the 19th and 20th century use of ferrules is partly for looks, partly because of waning craftsmanship. I would suggest replacing the cracked handles with similar and seeing if you can discern what actions might cause the cracking.

[Jerome Bias]

I am not sure if it is feel of the species of wood, but I like the way that the shape fits in my hand. I wish that I had that option, but I am not the only one who uses the joiner's shop. I just went upstairs and checked the couple of chisels that I have re-handled in my personal shop and they are doing quite fine. I may need to adjust the design to fit the needs of folks who are more aggressive with their tools than they should be.

[Jerome Bias]

Sorry about that George. I will fill out my profile. I live outside of Chapel Hill, NC and I am the part time joiner at Old Salem a restored Moravian town in Winston-Salem, NC. MESDA is also part of our institution.

I find that the Seaton chest is am important artifact, but I sometimes find myself wondering if we are using it as an over idealized version of the 18th century American woodworking world. The tools are nice, but how often work cabinetmakers alter the standard forma of tools to meet their needs. British tools are wonderfully crafted, and as a former British colony we have a great appreciation for English tools, but Europe is a large continent and a significant number of the European settlers who came here came from places other than Great Britain. I as a historic interpreter recreating the work of guys coming from places like Denmark, France, and eastern Europe I often find myself having to ask if the current suggested ways of doing things such as chisels handles are the only way of doing things. There is always the option of there being multiple standards.

Sorry if II got too wordy.

Jerome Bias

[Zach Dillinger]

Jerome, you are right on the money. English tools evolved differently than Continental tools over time due to the differing work, styles, and aesthetic choices made by different populations of people.

I think part of the reason we see the 'over idealized version of the 18th century American woodworking world' is because most of the period pieces we revere came from areas with strong English influences, places like Boston and especially Philadelphia. Once you leave those areas, even by just a dozen miles, you see a whole different world of influences and styles. This mirrors the diaspora of Continental Europeans throughout the colonies.

Frankly, period furniture makers as a group don't seem to pay much attention to a lot of pieces from outside the big four colonial furniture centers (Philly, Boston, Newport and New York). There are other centers as well, but these four seem to get the most ink, leading to a skewed picture of what colonial furniture looked like. So, we see English work and English tools as the snapshot of the past, when in reality colonial artisans were operating in a very diverse marketplace.

One outstanding reference on the colonial economy (and its impact on the Revolution) is The Marketplace of Revolution by TH Breen, a history professor at Northwestern. Fascinating book.

[Jerome Bias]

Another book to add to my must read list. Thanks for the suggestion.

I find it somewhat ironic that the current defining furniture that was coming out of Places like Philly were made bylarge numbers of people not from Great Britain"