File Handles

I've been using my metal files more lately than I have in a long time.  I recently acquired a small hatchet that I wanted to reshape for carving, and I decided to reshape and sharpen my full sized axe as well.  Flat files are great tools for this sort of work, and they're a lot easier and safer to use with wooden handles covering up those tangs.

I decided to make a batch of handles in a very simple manner that I've seen in numerous articles and videos online.  I started by rounding up all of my files and digging through my hardwood scraps to find a little block that matched the size of each file.

I drilled holes into the ends of the blocks to receive the tangs.  These holes are about the diameter of the tang at the halfway point.

I hold each block up to its matching file and mark the approximate depth that the tang will reach.  All the tang holes have been drilled a bit extra deep.

I then drill a very small hole in to intersect the tang hole from the side of the block, below the depth that the tang will eventually reach.  This is to allow steam and smoke to escape when I fit the handles.

To fit the tang to the handle, I heat the tang until it just starts to turn a dull red.

While its still hot, I insert it into the hole I drilled into the end of the block.

After I get all the blocks mounted to the files, I give them overnight to cool down.

 I start out shaping them on the belt sander.  The longer I do woodworking, the more I hate sanding.  I ended up getting frustrated with how slow the shaping was going and turning to a knife to whittle the rough shape of the handles in.  What good timing, considering I recently made a whittling knife!  These are red oak, too, so they whittle very easily as red oak splits very easily as long as the grain is straight.

After roughing in the shape with my homemade knife, I smooth them up a bit with a rasp and file, then go back to the belt sander to final shape and smooth them out.

Here are the finished handles.  I put some mutton tallow on them in lieu of a finish.  Typically people would use boiled linseed oil for this, and I have often done that myself.  But I think the linseed oil has a slightly unpleasant smell and slippery feel than lingers with the handle for a long time, especially if you really soak it good with the oil.  I prefer the smell and feel of the mutton tallow, personally.  Plus the completely old school nature of it really appeals to my inner Luddite.  If you're interested, you can get it from Lee Valley.

This was an easy project, but very satisfying.  These files are so much more likely to get used now that they have nice comfortable handles on them.  Get out there and make some for your files!

Whittling Knife

John Heisz has done several videos on really simple techniques for making knives.  I have really enjoyed these, and this last video he made on the subject inspired me to try my hand at making one.  I wanted a knife that was a bit longer for rougher shaping and whittling work than the design he made in the video that inspired me.

John used a new sawzall blade, but he had mentioned in previous videos and articles that one could use old circular skillsaw blades as well.  I had several old dull circular blades around, so I decided to use one of these.  You can see I've laid out the shape of the blank I'm going to cut out.

And here is the blank cut out from the circular blade.  I used a handheld angle grinder with a cutoff blade to cut these out just like John did.

 Then I freehand cut an approximation of the final shape I wanted with my angle grinder to minimize the shaping I had to do later with the belt sander.

I ground the rough bevel shape on the belt sander the same way John shows in his video.

Then I heated the blade using a propane torch.  You may notice the bend in the blank in the picture below.  It's actually a different blade than the rest of the pictures, but this was the best picture I could find to show.

After quenching the hot blade in water, the blade is covered in scale and discoloration. I tempered the blade in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes per John's instructions.

I sand the blade down to 320 grit to shine it up.

I made my handle out of a piece of an old broken laminated maple cutting board that someone gave me.  One of the planks on the end had split off because the glue joint failed after years of service.  You can see the legs are still on the plank in this picture.

I drilled a hole through the blank longways like John shows in his video.  Then I cut the shape out roughly at the bandsaw, and sanded it down to final shape on the belt sander.  The blade is installed using a split dowel and glue just like the video I was working from.  I think John used epoxy in his video, but I didn't have any epoxy on hand so I used polyurethane construction adhesive.  For the record, the epoxy is probably a better choice, but I think what I did should hold up fine.

Here's the finished knife.  I just applied boiled linseed oil to the handle for a finish.

I have since bought a Morakniv 106 carving knife.  To be honest, the blade I bought works better than the one I made.  Comparing the two is a great way to learn something about what makes a good whittling knife. Here are a couple of side by side pictures.

Purchased blade on top.

Purchased blade on top.

Purchased blade on top.

In the pictures above, you can see that there are several noticeable differences between the knife I made and the knife I bought.  The purchased knife is shorter, more curved, and made of thicker metal.  The purchased knife also has no secondary bevel  I think all of these differences contribute to the purchased knife being more effective.

The curved shape of the blade allows less of the knife to be making contact at a time during a cut.  This makes the knife easier to push through the cut.  The purchased knife blade is about 3 1/8 inches long, but the homemade version is about 3 3/4 inches long.  The difference in length also works in the purchased knife's favor.  There is just enough difference in the length to make the homemade knife catch the tip of the blade at the end of the cut whereas the purchased knife does not.

The thickness of the steel is, I think, a relatively minor factor in terms of effectiveness.  The homemade blade is about 1/16 of an inch thick at its thickest point; the purchased knife is about 1/8 of an inch thick at its thickest.  My homemade blade does flex more than the purchased knife during use, but this doesn't really cause any problem for me.  The lack of a secondary bevel on the purchased knife, however, is important.  The purchased knife glides on its primary bevel all the way to the tip where it is guiding what is essentially a tiny splitting wedge through the wood during whittling.  This gives me increased control and helps to form a straight cut. 

The handles are really pretty similar, although the handle I made is a bit more beefy.  I find both handles to be pretty comfortable.  But if I had it to do over again I might make mine a little thinner.

As you reach the end of this article, you may be asking yourself, "What is this guy saying, that I should just buy a knife rather than making one?"  Well, the answer is not necessarily.  I love handmade and homemade things, and if you want to learn about making knife AND end up with a useable whittling knife, absolutely you should make one using John's videos as examples.  If you just want to do some whittling and don't care about making a knife, then buy one.  You can't beat a nice knife made by a good blacksmith if you're purchasing one, but I have found the inexpensive one I purchased to be quite effective as well.  Incidentally if you're in Arkansas and looking for such a blacksmith, let me recommend Justin from JB's Forge.  He does commissioned work, and has been receptive to just about every crazy idea I've come up with so far.

Odds and Ends: New Tool Hangers

This edition of Odds and Ends is workshop organization themed.  My big top drawer in my workbench has been a place to just throw anything without a home for months.  I finally decided to make a little drawer divider organizer for it.  It's made out of 1/4 inch with but joints glued and pin nailed together.

I made this neat little hanger for my coping saw.  It's a scrap piece of pine with a slot cut into it for the bar to rest in.  Then I glued on another little piece of pine on the front with a rabbet in it to hold spare blades.

Here's a hanger like this one for the broad hatchet that I used in this post.

 

 A hanger for marking gauges.

And last, a hanger for a little egg beater style hand drill.  The little arms that hold the drill are attached with some crude through mortise and tenons.

Upgraded Shop Lighting

Since my shop is a standard 2 car garage and was never intended for anything other than storage by its original builders, it only had one built in light fixture.  The single 2 bulb 48 inch fluorescent fixture that's positioned near the center of the room was not enough light even when I was just getting started in the shop, so I quickly added a hanging shop light style fixture over my main workbench.  This is also a 2 bulb 48 inch fluorescent fixture.

Original light

Hanging light over workbench

 Upgrading my shop lighting has been on my list of projects for a while, but it has fallen back to the bottom of the list time and time again.  But I finally decided to make time to get some better lighting.  I started out by marking out some positions where I wanted the lights to go on the ceiling.  Then I attached a fixture by one screw, marked the center where I needed to make a hole in the ceiling, then slid the light over and traced the size of a ceiling electrical box on the ceiling and cut this out with a drywall saw.

Then I went up into the attic and installed some blocking in between the ceiling joists in order to have something to mount my electrical box to.  I attached this blocking with screws, toenailing them into the joists.

I turned off the breaker, then ran 12-2 wire to the existing light's electrical box to tie in.  There is plenty of current on this circuit since it was only the one light fixture originally.

Yes, if you're wondering, the drops in the above pictures are sweat.  What can I say?  It's summertime in Arkansas so it's HOT in this attic even in the evenings when I'm doing this work.  Hooking up one of these lights is really simple.  I connect it to the new fixture with wire nuts and to the existing fixture and incoming current lines with wire nuts as well.  Here's some pictures of the first new fixture installed.

 

I repeated the process with another more identical fixture over on the other side of the shop where we normally park the car.

I could not find an angle to take a picture that showed all the fixtures.  And since I didn't take any before and after type shots, it's hard to tell just from the pictures what an amazing improvement in the level of light I gained from doing this project. 

If you think you might not have enough light in your shop, do some sort of upgrade right now!  The cost pales in comparison to just about any new tool or piece of equipment you might be considering.  The increased light has helped the quality of my work, and I feel the brighter surroundings even improve my mood while working in the shop.  I only wish I'd done it sooner!