Making stick tang handles on a lathe?

[Samon]

Yeah, anyone hot a lathe that they use to make handles on?

I could do with a few handles or a lathe to make my own, but I'm wondering if anyone can do it for me?

If so, what sorta price we looking at for simple coke bottle shape handles for knives?

Cheers chaps,

Any pictures of lathed handles post them up!

 

[pieinthesky]

I dont think it would be a very useful shape and I am not sure I have ever seen such a handle.

An oval/rectangular handle is better for control as it is less likely to slip round and you can feel which way the knife sits in your hand.

 

[Samon]

I think it'll be ideal for draw knives etc where the handle doesn't need to move around much. Or a carving mora 106 handle that needs to be rounded for comfort.

But I'm sure with some tinkering on a flat sander a coke bottle lathed handle can be made more than usuable.

 

[Stew]

I'm sure the wooden Mora handles are lathe turned (head stock marks in the end) but some fdancy jiggery goingon to make them oval. Guessing either reciprocating cutter or offsetting the work piece.

Turning round then flattening the two sides actually sounds quite a good idea that I may try on mine some day.

 

[Samon]

If a large owner is present and willing hopefully won't have to wait too long.

Tinkering gets us far!

 

[Stew]

I have a lathe just not the time to try that last the mo.

 

[Seabass]

Oval or complex forms are made on a copy lathe like this. More of a incremental router cutter head and rotating workpieces.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OCgUpY9485c

 

[Macaroon]

Oval or complex forms are made on a copy lathe like this. More of a incremental router cutter head and rotating workpieces.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OCgUpY9485c

What an amazing machine, eh?

 

[demographic]

Its possible to get chisel handles that have been turned but for a start off they are a bit round. Too round for a knife IMO.
Plus even for use on a chisel its worth drilling a tapered or stepped pilot hole on a lathe otherwise its a right barstool to get the chisel in properly straight.

 

[Stew]

What an amazing machine, eh?

Certainly is.

I love interesting machines like that. Have a search for guilloche machines on youtube

 

[Samon]

I reckon its worth pursuing, withthat in mind... Can someone make a few for a minimal fee?

I'd like two, and if needed I can mail some drawing PS of the shape I'm after!

 

[Macaroon]

Certainly is.

I love interesting machines like that. Have a search for guilloche machines on youtube

Oh boy!!! that's something else altogether, manual dexterity of the highest order; I just spent an hour watching Mr. Phillips engraving a watch dial on three different engines - breathtaking skill

 

[Stew]

I reckon its worth pursuing, withthat in mind... Can someone make a few for a minimal fee?

I'd like two, and if needed I can mail some drawing PS of the shape I'm after!

Minimal fee? Might help if you put a rough idea of budget as that's a bit vague.

 

[Stew]

Oh boy!!! that's something else altogether, manual dexterity of the highest order; I just spent an hour watching Mr. Phillips engraving a watch dial on three different engines - breathtaking skill

I would love to have a play on one. I think it would be an interesting experience, though I have no doubt I would make a mess!

 

[GGTBod]

Sounds a lot of hassle for something that could be knocked up in minutes with a whittling knife starting with a spindle or pen blank

 

[Dave Budd]

thee are tuned handles found historically, though as mentione they are basically cylinders with bumps to add grip. Not my thing but they would be quick to make. It is possible to turn an oval o barrel shaped handle on a normal wood lathe with no special tools. You basically turn a barrel, then move one or both centres on the ends by a few mm, return and repeat. I did a handfull of carving knife handles this way years ago to explore it as a technique. In the end I decided that it was faster to just glue a block to the tnang and hit it with a belt sander!

The fastest handle is a simple stick with a hole in one end for the tang

 

[Samon]

thee are tuned handles found historically, though as mentione they are basically cylinders with bumps to add grip. Not my thing but they would be quick to make. It is possible to turn an oval o barrel shaped handle on a normal wood lathe with no special tools. You basically turn a barrel, then move one or both centres on the ends by a few mm, return and repeat. I did a handfull of carving knife handles this way years ago to explore it as a technique. In the end I decided that it was faster to just glue a block to the tnang and hit it with a belt sander!

The fastest handle is a simple stick with a hole in one end for the tang

Ah! Well I broke my sander so..

Gona get a new belt grinder soon by in the mean time right?

Illask my local woodshop if they have a lathe I uselol. Worth a try I guess.

 

[GGTBod]

The fastest handle is a simple stick with a hole in one end for the tang

This was my thoughts but with a little bit of shaping with a knife and maybe splash right out and use a bit of sand paper to finish

 

[rancid badger]

If you want an oval cross section, build yourself (or buy of course) a traditional pole lathe.

Everything that is or ever was, made on a pole lathe is slightly oval in cross section by default.

That's one of the ways you can tell genuine, original old Windsor chairs, from mass produced versions, just check to see if the spindles are round or oval, if their oval, their almost certainly very old or else hand crafted by a more modern bodger. Same goes for staircase spindles and chair legs etc. It's something to do with the fact that the job rotates both forwards and backwards and you only actually cut the wood with the chisel/gouge etc when its turning on the down stroke ( top towards you).

As for the actual finished shape, you can have as simple or intricate as your skills and tools allow.

I'm not sure how you would bore the centre holes mind you

I made a few bark awls a few years back, with handles I'd turned on my pole lathe and every single one was slightly oval in cross section, as were the fishing priest blanks, bog pull handles and other odds and ends. I've not made anything on my pole lathe for about 8 years now, since the pole lathe stepped in to serve as a trestle for my canoes! It's free again now though. I should really get it spinning again but I've little or no raw material and even less interest if I'm honest.

I was actually thinking of selling it but you tend to need a shave horse to go with the lathe and it'd be a strictly collect only job!

 

[Dave Budd]

the oval nature of old turnings is nothing to do with the type of lathe used. It is entirely down to the fact that wood was almost always turned green and shrinks when it dries out I often tun green wood bowls on my electric lathe purely to encourage that feature.