Greetings to the porch!

I own a drawknife that have a case of loose handles.  The tang that comes
through the center of it is beat over to hold them on.  It rattles around
pretty bad.  Anyone have any experience with solving this?  Pour epoxy down
the center?  Drive in shims?  What works?  The blade appears bent across
the length of it also.  Could it be straightened out?  I don't think it was
made that way on purpose.

Also, if there is a maker mark or stamp, where would one find it.  It
appears that if there were on mine, it eventually got ground off or never
had one.

Thanks in advance!!

Jim Thoreson
Interlochen, Mi.

j_thor@e...

Jim ponders:

> I own a drawknife that have a case of loose handles.  The tang that
comes
> through the center of it is beat over to hold them on.  It rattles
around
> pretty bad.  Anyone have any experience with solving this?

Jim,

I had a similar situation, once upon a time.  After Dad passed away
several
years ago, I found an old drawknife in one of his storage sheds.  This
was
high desert in Southern California (Kern River Valley), so the
conditions
don't come much drier.  The handles were pretty much as you described,
except
there were several checks in each handle, as well.

My solution was to keep soaking the handles with linseed oil until it
stopped
soaking in.  The handles tightened up, the checks closed up, and the
handles
have remained tight.  If your problem isn't due to dryness, this might
not
work, of course.

Chuck

On 24 Sep 99, at 11:24, Jim Thoreson wrote:
>
> Also, if there is a maker mark or stamp, where would one find it.  It
> appears that if there were on mine, it eventually got ground off or never
> had one.

On mine, it was stamped on the "top" (the side with the
bevel/bezel) all the way over to the left next to the handle. I doubt
there's a standard location, though.

I originally could only make out the letters "UCLA" but didn't think
they were in the oldtools business. Eventually, careful cleaning
revealed "Douglass Mfg Co.," the predecessor to James Swan. So
don't be surprised if the mark is hard to find/read.

Ken, a UCSC alumnus

Ken Greenberg
IT #321; Blue Galoot #82
400 Los Gatos Blvd., Los Gatos, CA 95032
http://www.calast.com/ken/Personal/wood.htm