How to make a Handle for a Chisel socket and tang

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[@genewhitesides2722]

Thank you for the how to. I just bought a new set of Narex chisels. Can't wait to get to use them. Thank you for sharing so much.

[@ianpearse4480]

Great share. Love the chisels. My wife texted me at lunch, "Window's frozen" "Pour warm water on it, then lightly tap the edges with a hammer and chisel" I replied. Ten minutes later, she called back. "We need a new computer now". LOL.

[@BigTexMalone]

I have a couple of older chisels that need new handles thank you for this video.

[@pitsnipe5559]

Thanks for this video. I am getting ready to make handles for a couple of old socket chisels I acquired recently. Since I have nit a lathe, this is just what I needed!

[@justindunlap1235]

I'm so glad to have found this channel. It reminds me of Roy Underhills old show on pbs "the woodwright's shop"

[@usedcarsokinawa]

Thanks for this tutorial. I just go5 some old socket chisels and I’m excited to use them!

[@MartinPaulsen87]

Thanks for sharing. I love videos about chisels!

[@osliverpool]

Nice work. I have a couple of lovely old Sheffield chisels that need new handles, and that's the way I'm going to do them!

[@TheOriginalAndBestTim]

Great video, thanks James. I've got a pig sticker where some previous owner managed to split a bit chunk from the the handle, making it not comfortable to use at all, and I worry it will split further. This video will be a perfect reference for me when I eventually get to replacing the handle!

[@EricMeyerMaker]

Now you tell me! So I took up turning for nothing?! ;)

[@georgenewlands9760]

I’ve re-handled a couple of pig-stickers, pretty much as James has done. I didn’t leave mine octagonal though. I matched the oval of the bolster, which is more traditional and to my mind (and hand) more comfortable. I haven’t tried a socket chisel handle yet, for some reason they seem to be less common here in the U.K.. Looks like a fun project though.

[@fnafplayer6447]

I just acquired a bunch of old chisels, including a beautiful 10 1/8 TH Witherby chisel.

[@brucemcdonald136]

Thanks for the video. I’m going to re-handle some old chisels, and may begin fixing up some of the old tired tools. And thanks to the secret Santa out there.❤

[@shannonelliott6116]

The style of this handle works well for screwdrivers as well. The flats help with gripping power. An old school design used by people with minimal tools. Appreciate you!

[@MCsCreations]

Beautiful, James! Fantastic work! 😃 Thanks for all the tips!!! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@multicoloredwiz]

Jeez, that big chisel looked so fun lol

[@Ivanhoe52]

Great video! "Almost there..." while attacking the exhaust vent on a Death Star.. 🙂 Strange... Someone gave me the contra-comment the other day, that I don't matter. Now your t-shirt says that I do, (until...). Funny how things work out.

[@lelandallen]

Great video

[@dhroen]

Thanks for the opportunity to learn from you.

[@joeyw7325]

It’s my pleasure 🎉

[@waterengineers]

Brilliant video, I have a few almost identical chisels that need new handles, I'm really glad that you made this. I now feel confident that I can replicate what you demonstrated. Only thing I'd like to see is an early closeup of your T-shirt, I had to keep rewinding because I was concentrating so much on reading what was on it that I wasn't listening to what you were saying!

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

Thanks man. I need to show those better in the outro.

[@mikedodsonlabview]

Excellent video. I’m going to try this.

[@The_Garden_Ranger]

Awesome!

[@Vikingwerk]

Thats a beast of a mortising chisel!

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

When you really need to remove material!

[@joeyw7325]

Hells yea blud I fux wit dis

[@billtiffin8298]

Thanks

[@chriscunicelli7070]

Nice I have to do the same job! Thanks James

[@kthschsslr]

When I’m very near the end of the shaping process, I switch from cutting wood away to tapping the high spots with a steel hammer, compressing the wood. Don’t know, but strongly suspect that the wood expands back over time, further locking the wood-metal joint.

[@TedHopp]

Nice video, but about a month late for me. I was mortising away with my 1" bench chisel and the handle snapped off flush with the top of the socket. 😒 I don't have a lathe, so I pretty much did the same thing you showed here. One additional step I did was to stick a 1/4" dowel into the socket as far as it would go. That gave me both the length I would need for the tenon and a diameter for the narrow end of the taper. I could measure the wide end directly. I still had to do a lot of test fitting, but getting the taper right at the start saved a lot of time.

[@davidstewart1153]

Chisels with no or broken handles are cheap, and you don't need a lot of wood. I use a spar gauge (very simple to make) for octagons, especially for oval handles. Going from octagons to round is easy if you want round.

[@markduggan3451]

Nice.

[@marcbarash6045]

great watching

[@michaelarighi5268]

Thanks. I inherited a set of old, mismatched socket chisels with dried out handles that are pretty loose. I think I know what to do with them now.

[@benstradling7615]

I see that you got a handle on it

[@JakeCarterCarSales]

Hi James sir great video lots of fun watching made me subscribe sir

[@bakerzermatt]

I once did a handle on a tang chisel, it was frustrating! Took me about 5 tried to get it right, the first attempts were all either misaligned or split.

[@jimcarter4929]

If you center mark the end of the blank it gives you something to work from/to.

[@mmgross144]

Very nice, but a lathe would be faster, especially on the socket chisel. That tang chisel is screaming for a brass pin to dress it up. I saw it’s letter to Santa and a brass pin is at the top of its list.

[@larrybriggi9898]

Michael, maybe a manufactured socket. But all the old ones are hand forged and irregular in shape. Lots of fitting and removal of the dark spots. Great satisfaction when the darn thing finally fits.

[@dpmeyer4867]

cool

[@alexanderkononov1113]

Nice

[@zed42]

just a comment to help out the channel

[@christopherharrison6724]

Could you ave put London pattern handle on the chisels that would have been interesting? Love this video will definitely be trying this myself thank you.

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

A lot of people like that handle. I am not a fan, but it is not too far off what I really like!

[@iainmcculloch5807]

I really must try making some octagonal handles at some point, and see how they feel.

[@ricos1497]

They feel great. I've done a couple on some knives and it feels much better than my other ones. Personal preference of course, but certainly worth trying if you haven't before.

[@Russ0107]

for some reason they make me want to STOP! I don't know why!

[@AngryMcAngry]

Excellent video! I am curious, though, especially having picked one with no handle up at a garage sale this morning: how would a through-tang chisel be given a handle? Mine's old and thick so I'm not even sure it had one originally

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

There a bunch of styles on that feel free to send me pictures and I would be glad to walk you through. You can find the email in the about tab on the channel page. Or the contact me form on the website.

[@mattf9096]

This isn't related to this topic..... but I recently watched a video of an old school cooper making a whiskey barrel and thought that might be a fun project for you to take on. He did have a fair amount of "specialty" tools, but nothing that couldn't be worked around. I know you have no use for a whiskey barrel as is, but if it holds water that's a victory and then you could cut it in half and make planters or something.

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

I have wanted to play with a bit of coopering maybe some day.

[@reliefartpyk2960]

👌👌

[@JakeCarterCarSales]

Hi James sir you look like a fun young chap with vast experience got a question on wood turning without a lathe as I'm after making my disabled sister a walking stick but want to make custom round top but seams impossible without a lathe sir any tips would be much appreciated as just starting out in woodworking sir

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

I have a video on making a plane knob without a lathe. It is about the same thing. kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5LdgnaHdryBiMk

[@jlmfoy365]

Hi James, would it help to put a leather washer on the tang chisel, or is it not really needed? Excellent video. Regards Jim UK.

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

If you have a farel that can be nice, but not with this kind as you need direct contact. With this tang style the wood pushes directly on the bolster.

[@jlmfoy365]

@@WoodByWrightHowTo Thanks James.

[@brolovski_brodog]

👌🏻

[@lourias]

I am curious if you took all the rust on the tang of the mortising chisel. If not, why? It seems like to me that the tang will still rust away while it is inside of the handle. Also, if you did get rid of the rust, did you coat the metal with a paste wax or anything?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

The video coloring made it look like rust, put it was just pitina. I did wipe it down with BLO before the final incert. That will polimerizes and protect the steel and provide a bit of binder.

[@PrinceKaladin]

James, what's your opinion on burning the handle to fit the tang. Is there too much danger of losing the temper on the chisel?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

That works really well as long as you're very careful with it. It is very easy to overdo it. Once you've done it a couple times you can usually get an idea of where it needs to be. If it's a big chisel the chances of ruining The temper are very slim. But if you're doing it with something small then the chances go up.

[@igknightor1632]

Why wouldn’t you set it like a file handle? Heating up the tang and driving it in?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

you can do that, but if not done perfectly then the hole is far too big.

[@davidelliott6143]

Take a masterpiece of forging & heat treating and "just heat it up?" No. Not a file either.

[@Beerdog95]

Is there a reason you start with a big drill and then drill with the smaller sizes, rather than starting with the smallest drill, drilling the full length of the tang, and then increasing the size of the drill step by step (going backwards so to speak)?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

Because with auger bits you need the point in the middle for the auger bit to stay in location. If you start with the small bits then there won't be a locating point in the middle to start the next bit. And the larger bits will wander all over the place.

[@tomengel8833]

Nice brass knob at 4:30 on the hand plane. Where did you get it from?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

Here you go. www.woodbywright.com/shop/reed-bronze-knobs I have a video talking about them too.

[@tomengel8833]

I just had to say that. I bought one of each when they were first offered.

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

Lol. Jeff thanks you.

[@fnafplayer6447]

Hey wright I think I overheated one of the chisels I aquired by reprofiling it. What do I do to fix that?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

Unfortunately not much other than re-hardening it. That's why I generally don't take them to the grinder it's just so easy to mess them up.

[@trackie1957]

If you dress the wheel with a slight crown instead of flat you only have a small spot touching the wheel. You have to move the work back and forth, but you heat it less than if you have the whole bevel touching the wheel at once.

[@kingmallow]

I bought a pig-sticker, I see the tip of it wasn't sharpened correctly, but I also see that the back edge isn't perfectly 180 degrees. Does the back end of a mortising chisel need to be perfectly flat?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

need to be... no. but it is good for Eyeballing that the chisel is vertical.

[@robertmccluskey1076]

Do you know of a source for unhandled socket chisels? Thanks

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

I do not. I would probably have to go talk to a black smith to make them.

[@davidelliott6143]

I've bought all mine at the thrice annual Brimfield Antiques Market in Massachusetts. An old timer at the western periphery would have a jumble of old tools in varying states of rust & disrepair at good prices. It's his like you've got to find & the kind of flea, ideally not too pricey antique flea market where he sets up shop.

[@MrMNRichardWright]

I would thing sharpening would be the last task.

[@imortaldeadead]

Comments here

[@chagildoi]

Comment down below

[@samuelgonzalez9094]

Reply

[@nevinmurtha1670]

Why not use a reamer?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

If you can find one of the exact shape and size and angle great. But that's pretty difficult.

[@LaraCroftCP]

I really prefer european or london pattern chisel handles. But only because of aesthetic reasons

[@dg3624]

Style …..?