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252395 John Holladay <docholladay0820@g...> 2014‑12‑19 Re: Birdcage awls-and then there were four
Ooh!  Ooh!  Pick me!  Pick me!

Just kidding (not really),  but they do look totally awesome.

Doc
On Dec 18, 2014 1:40 PM, "JAMES THOMPSON"  wrote:

> Shortly after I made my copy of Scott Grandstaff’s perfect handle birdcage
> awl, I found 3 more junk perfect handle screwdrivers for almost nothing,
> and bought them for the purpose of making more awls.
>
> I learned something while doing this. It is quite difficult to do the
> grinding on a bench grinder. I used a cheapie Horror Fright disc grinder on
> the shaping part while the screwdrivers were held fast in my vise. This
> makes the main part of the grinding go a lot faster. Then I went to the
> bench grinder for the final grinding. By the way, the flats on the blade
> are the reference surfaces to grind the other 2 sides square. Adjust the
> tool rest to get a square grind while you hold the flat on the tool rest.
>
> Of course, the grinding process ruins the temper of the tool, so I had to
> re-harden and temper each one.
>
> Making the scales: I learned that a piece of white paper held on the
> handle and rubbed with a dirty finger gives me a good pattern. I cut out
> the papers and glued them to the wood for the scales. When dry, I cut the
> scales out on the bandsaw. Then used my stationary disc sander to grind
> them to fit. They are still flat at this point. Now I epoxy one in place,
> then drill the holes. Now I epoxy the other one and drill the remaining
> holes in the other scale. It’s easy to lose the hole location if you put
> both scales on at once.
>
> Now to the vise to hold the tool while I rasp off what isn’t needed, then
> sand and polish. The last thing I do is put in the cutlery rivets. See the
> picture:
>
>
> https://picasaweb.google.com/102358420595488787966/December182014?aut
huser=0&feat=directlink">https://picasaweb.google.com/102358420595488787966/Dece
mber182014?authuser=0&feat=directlink
>
> Of course I do not need 4 of these tools. I plan to use 3 of them for
> gifts, provided I can find some people I like well enough to give them to.
> :>)
>
>
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