Jim Thompson wrote: "What is it with this broken handle?  Can you fix it? If
not, put up a picture and I'll look at it. Maybe I can fix it."

Jim, many thanks. I'm sure you could weld on a new handle easily, while it is
utterly beyond my ability to fix--- the last time I did any welding, brazing, or
soldering was with oxyacetylene in a junior college class in the late '70s.
However, I some time ago came to the conclusion that I don't want to fix it. The
left handle is snapped off cleanly at the narrow spot, about an inch beyond the
yoke. It seems to be an old break perhaps very old, because the broken surface
has the same grey (not rusted or corroded) surface as the rest of the shave.
Fixing it would make it just another spokeshave, but with the left handle gone
it is ready for that (semi-mythical?) task where cramped quarters make the
handle get in the way. And I found that I could use it one-handed as a sort of
jigged carving knife, though it is clumsy for that. Its even possible that a
previous owner broke off the handle deliberately, though that seems unlikely---
broken spokeshaves have probably never been rare. But the Stanley Universal and,
to a lesser extent, the MF wood-handled shaves advertised single-handled use as
a benefit, and I gather that lots of those turn up with one handle removed. And
there are wooden spokeshaves where one or both handles have been whittled off.
Someone used de-handled spokeshaves. Mind you, I have never actually needed a
single-handled spokeshave, but if I do I have one. I just have to switch the
blade back in.

I modify 151 bodies extensively for use on leather, and in occasional
daydreaming I have considered modifying the handles for a sharper look or a
different feel. Anything from wrapping the stock handles with leather to
grinding them down into tangs which could be used for mounting fancy wooden
handles. I come back to the fact that I like spokeshave handles as they are. I
actually dislike the feel of the wooden-handled boutique spokeshaves. And with
my old 54, a bit of personification comes in, too: it earrned its living for a
long time, so now let it rest honorably, waiting for a not-too-strenuous task it
can still do.


Tom Conroy
Still photo-deprived,and still planning to do something about it--- someday.,
After all, I always did enjoy fairy tales.