HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN LATHE TOOL
HANDLE By Ron Brown Ver 2.00–2024
Some lathe tools have great steel but crappy handles. They just don’t feel good in your hand either because they are too small, too short or just have a funny shape that isn’t comfortable. Sometimes handles fail due to age, hidden flaws in the wood, or they just break. Garage sales are great places to pick up older tools that may have rotten handles due to improper storage. You want to keep the tool and be able to use it, but what to do?
The Secret Is To Drill The Hole Before You Shape The Handle
Make a handle in the shape and size you love. I really appreciate the shape of Robert Sorby tool handles. They are far and away my favorites. There are several sizes scaled to fit various tools and they just seem to work for me. Over the years, I’ve made dozens of handles for various tools and there are two universal challenges: 1) drilling the hole straight so the blade is in line with the rest of the handle, and 2) fitting the ferrule.
Firstly, I’ve been told and given convincing reasons not to use copper ferrules. I use them anyway. If you must rely on the ferrule to not split during use, you probably shouldn’t be around a lathe in the first place. Any time you have to depend on a ferrule to keep you safe, you might be doing it wrong.
The purpose of a ferrule is to keep the wooden handle from splitting when subjected to stress from use. The ferrule helps hold the wood together as the wood is often very thin around the shaft of the gouge or the tang and can be prone to splitting under vibration.
I took my inspiration from the pen makers. They drill the blanks and glue in the brass tubes BEFORE the attempt to turn the bodies of the pen. It works for tool handles as well. I’d like to give you an outline of the way I successfully made handles. The key is to drill the hole before you shape the handle. That way, the HSS tool is much more likely to run true to the handle.
Step–By–Step
Blank – Must Be Sound, I Prefer Dry WoodOak, Hickory, Hard Maple 2–3” Longer Than The Final Handle LengthBetween Centers – Turn Tenons On Both Ends. Four Jaw Chuck – Mount the blank in the 4–jaw chuckOptional StepIf you have a steady rest, use it now. You haven’t shaped the handle yet. You’ve just turned a flat (tenon) on both ends. Position the steady so it supports your tool handle on the tailstock end of the tool handle blank. (Either a full–sized steady rest or our mini steady rest works fine for this step)Use a Jacobs Chuck In the Tail StockDrill a ¼ Hole 3” Deep beginning in the divot left by the live center when you turned the tenon. If the hole needs to be larger and if you are using a twist drill bit (not a Forstner Style bit), mount the larger bit and drill it now. If you are using a forstner bit (usually for holes larger than ½”) begin with the proper sized Forstner bit making sure to start slowly so the bit doesn’t wander too far off center.
Insert a Cone Center into the drilled hole.After the hole is drilled to the proper depth and size, insert a cone live center in the hole as you are now ready to begin shaping the handle. Shape tenon & fit ferrule (do not install ferrule yet) on the tail stock end. Sneak up on it and get it right.Shape the handle, add details, begin to turn end of handle. Leave enough wood for sanding and finishingI usually apply the finish on the lathe and buff afterward. Install and secure ferrule. Install (glue if necessary. Install your HSS tool. I usually don’t epoxy them in. A friction fit is normally adequate.
Note: To remove most HSS tools, skews, scrapers, roughing gouges, bowl gouges and spindle gouges, simply hold the tool by the handle in a vertical position and use a heavy scraper or gouge to strike against the material beside the HSS tool. You will be hitting the ferrule or the wood inside the ferrule. Usually, two or three blows and the tool falls out. BE SURE TO HOLD THE TOOL OVER SOMETHING THAT WILL NOT BLUNT THE CUTTING EDGE. (NOT YOUR FOOT)
Some examples of handles we’ve made for our own use:
Above is a handle for holding our new “P” Type parting tool kit for our Bowl From A Board Easy Cut System. The blade holding tube is 0.675”. It is right between 5/8” and 11/16”.
I made these years ago as you can see by the well–worn finishes. The bottom two are made from scrap
laminated colored plywood used by Keystone Arms Gun Manufacturer.
The black handle above is made from the same laminated colored stock and was inspired by the Robert Sorby gouge below. This is a very large tool with a 7/8” shaft. I use this pattern scaled down as my inspiration for many of my tool handles. This style fits my hand and feels right to me.
I dug around in my tool box and here is my collection of different sized ferrule material. I cut them in half so I get two ferrules from each coupler.
These are the two steady rests I use. The mini opens up to 2” so it works for most handles. The larger ones close down to around ¾” so they work well also. It makes drilling a straight hole much easier.
