O Galoots:
Millers Falls #2 eggbeaters descend on me from time to time, and I have at least
two lacking their chucks. I'd like to replace them, to bring the tools back to
working condition. I'm not interested in "restoring" them, i.e. tarting them up
with a scrub with solvent followed by shiny new paint so they look fresh off the
factory line. I like seeing that they have worked for their livings. So I'm not
worried about whether the new chucks are "appropriate" to the #2, much less
whether they are appropriate to type. I just want chucks that fit and work well.
Nor do I want to rob a chuck off another eggbeater, which seems to me to offer
no net gain in the number of serviceable tools. I figure that someone must be
making a good chuck that would fit a #2.
It seems to me that there are three issues: 1) What is the size and thread count
of the quill (if this is the right term), and was this consistent on #2s over
all types? and 2)What is a well-made chuck that will fit this quill; and 3)
where can I obtain them, perhaps even have a choice of chucks? If anyone could
give me advice on these issues I would appreciate it.
A while back I asked advice on the width and angle of skew for skew chisels. I
got excellent replies from a bunch of people. The upshot is that I have two new
pairs of skews, one made from 1/2" Buck Brothers square-edged tanged cast steel
chisels with original handles (the match is not perfect, but is good enough for
the moment), the other from 1/4" Buck Brothers bevel-edged tanged chisels
mounted in the hickory Best London Octagonal Pattern handles I made as a
demonstration at Bagathon a year or so ago. I'm still considering options for
fishtails, I don't want to take that much metal off a first-rate chisel, but I
don't want to put that much work into anything less. Maybe a carver's fishtail
can be repurposed. Thanks, belatedly, to all who offered advice; particularly to
Ed Minch without whom I might not have gone for skews as large as 1/2".

Tom Conroy
Berkeley