Have you considered getting it welded back together? Shouldn't be  
to tough to do...................

On Aug 8, 2008, at 4:37 PM, Thomas Conroy wrote:

Galooterati:

A moment of lucidity, a little window, seems to have opened...

Thanks to all who responded, on and off list. I hadn't ruled out  
epoxy, but I didn't want to rush to it before I was sure it was  
necessary and would work. Even accepting it in general (all right,  
between ourselves and with no reporters around, its a good option in  
many cases) for this particular chisel its a bit problematic. Over  
the last day I've worked a bit more of my semi-subconscous thoughts  
out into the open.

When the previous owner bashed on the socket, the weld separated for  
about half an inch down from the reground open end. If I remember  
correctly, it gaped over three-sixteenths of an inch at one spot. I  
managed to squeeze and pound the gaping area almost shut (cold, since  
I don't have a forging setup) but that opened the weld further down  
to almost an inch from the end, not much open but you can see the  
crack. I put cyanoacryllate into the crack hoping to hold it at least  
in the very close and clean newly-separated area, but I don't know  
that it did any good (don't know that it didn't, either).

I have about 2" depth to the socket, and it looks to me like the  
bottom inch is still firmly welded, which would be enough to hold the  
handle; but I'm not quite sure. So I've been going very slowly on  
altering things. If the weld has separated invisibly all the way to  
the bottom, I don't think any epoxy is going to hold well enough to  
make the chisel firm. Too much leverage acting to pry the former weld  
further open; I'm sure the socket is dirty enough that adhesives  
won't stick to it, so epoxy would work as a gap-filler, and the  
prying effect on the open weld would constantly change the shape and  
size of the gaps to be filled.

I'm not yet sure what I'll do if the weld has separated all the  
way--  maybe serve steel wire around the outside of the socket up to  
the top, and then silver-solder it in place. Or wrap the outside with  
wet rawhide, which is supposed to be able to fix anything from a  
broken Conestoga wagon axle to a broken quill pen. Or maybe duct tape.

And besides, epoxy is glob glob bubble bubble screech.........

Tom Conroy
in restraint again

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