Galooterati:

A few weeks ago I posted about a Hibbard, Spencer and Bartlett 1-1/2"
bevel-edged socket chisel I found. I filed and ground away mushrooming
of the socket and made a handle out of narra. The socket weld is a bit
sprung so I didn't want to strain it by pounding on it, and the chisel
is fairly long and light; so I made a push-only handle for paring.

http://galootcentral.com/index.php?option=com_copperminevis&Itemid=2&pl-
ace=displayimage&album=lastupby&cat=0&pos=20&uid Trouble is, the handle
kept falling out. The inside of the socket is pretty irregular, the edge
of the weld was left square and proud on the inside. I spent literally a
couple of weeks on and off working at the fit of the socket with carbon
paper and scraping. Sometimes I got a fairly firm fit, but it was a bit
crooked. By the time I had it straight it was loose again. It was firm
enough in use, no wobble in pushing on it, but if I tried to pick it up
by just the handle or just the blade it would come apart. It came apart
in sharpening. Irritating, though the chisel was usable.

I came to the conclusion that the narra was too hard a wood for the
socket. I figure that most woods, even pretty hard ones, will compress
one or two thous when the handle is rapped on the bench, and this brings
the wood into full 100% contact with the metal. The narra is so hard
that it has no compression at all, so even if I scrape it to 50% or 60%
contact, there is not enough contact for the taper to lock. Getting full
contact by scraping just wasn't possible because the socket was so
irregular. That's my hypothesis, anyway. The brutal fact is: the handle
kept falling out.

I toyed with the idea that I was being punished for insensitivity in my
thoughts. See, a couple of months ago someone wrote to the Fine
Woodworking questions column about how his socket chisel blades kept
falling off the handles, and would it be all right to epoxy them in? Got
an answer back that it would be all right. "Yes." I sneered to myself,
"if you want to crap up a lot of nice tools instead of learning to fit
the handles properly. I've never had any problem." Teachers, for
instance people who answer in question columns, should teach better
methods of doing things, not encourage quick-fix shortcuts that will
make proper repair harder. So I thought in my orgeuil. And then my new
handle started falling out. Ye who would sneer at loose chisels, I now
thought, will be punished with loose chisels. I thought of maybe gluing
shavings of a softer wood onto the handle and fitting those to the
socket, to provide the bit of "give" that was lacking. Thought again: it
seemed way too complicated.

Last night I was reading for the umpteenth time about leather washers
between the handle and bolster of tang chisels, and something clicked. I
went, cut a piece of thin leather to exactly cover the end of the handle
with no gaps and no overlaps. Probably .7 mm. French chagrin, a pin-
grained goatskin, if you want to know. Wrapped the leather around the
handle, pushed the socket on, rapped the butt of the handle once on the
bench. Firm fit! Full contact due to the give of the leather! Feels
great! Leather was a bit too thick if anything; in fact, I think even a
single layer of thick, soft paper might work. Useful trick to know.

Now that I've posted about it, it will probably fall right apart the
next time I pick it up. But I feel great today.

Tom Conroy Berkeley


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