Dinamitek presents a guide on how to create DIY gouge handles.

Create gouge handles with Dinamitek

Do you have gouges without handles? Here's how to make handles for your tools.

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First of all choose the right wood:

• hard
• robust
• it must not flake
• nice to see.

Highly recommended for this use are: boxwood, bubinga, white ash and sophora.

It's also important to determine the length of the handle , which obviously must be proportional to the steel part. Here's how the basic principle works: if you have to hollow out a deep pot, a gouge works with the cutting edge far from the tool rest, generating an unfavorable leverage and making it difficult to control the tool itself. A trick to make the leverage more favorable is to lengthen the handle , which is very easy since you're creating it to measure. You can also make the leverage more favorable by moving the tool rest closer, but this isn't always possible.

What type of lathe do the gouges you're about to make need? For a small lathe , you'll need tools with a 25-30 cm handle so you're comfortable working.

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Once you have obtained the wood you can proceed

• size of the squares 4x4x25-40 cm

• Roll the squares from the tailstock side with the mandrel, the same one you'll use later to drill the hole for the gouge. Before finishing, it's a good idea to turn it over to finish the other side. This way, it's ready to drill a hole in the center.

• Drill a small pilot hole , then enlarge the hole. To do this, you can salvage a drill chuck from a broken drill; attached to a handle, it becomes an excellent tool for drilling holes by hand. Use the tailstock hole as a center. Hand drilling is perfect for diameters up to 6-8 mm, making it easy and quick to do.

If you need to drill a large hole, mount the chuck on the tailstock .

WARNING : If you're working on a handle longer than 30 cm (for long and heavy gouges), it's best to attach a bezel , which provides greater stability and safety. If you don't have one, you can create and attach small plastic wheels on the bearings to avoid scratching the wood. Aesthetics are also important.

• Separately prepare the ferrules . These are metal safety rings that are placed on the tip of the handle to prevent it from breaking and coming loose when used under stress. The ferrules can be made from recycled pipes; it doesn't matter whether you have iron, brass, or aluminum pipes. The diameter of these pipes should be 24-32 mm.

• Prepare the ferrule fitting using the bezel. Remember that the metal ring must be inserted into the handle with some effort to be effective. When finished, you should have a piece where the outer edge of the ferrule and the handle are perfectly flush.

• Now you need to shape the handle . Turn the wood of the mandrel over and use a roughing gouge to create the shape and a profiling gouge to create the hemisphere at the end of the handle.

• Now you can think about the finishing , even just a pass of medium-grit sandpaper may be enough

• the handle is finished , ready to assemble

MORE IDEA

To create the housing for the trapezoidal rod to make the cutter:

• If the bar is 15mm or more, create 2 pieces with the milling to insert the bar, glue them and put a safety screw to hold the handle

• If the mitre saw bar is 10 mm, drill three 3 mm holes side by side and join them with a cross-tip bit.

Proceed as follows:

Drill three holes, close together and tangent to each other, which you will then join by swinging the drill bit . Start by removing the protrusions. You will end up with a single 3x10 mm hole that you will use to secure the tool's steel rod to the handle.

As the dimensions increase, instead of complicating your life by trying to create a single large rectangular hole to measure, take two 1.5x4x40 cm rods, plane them on one side, and create a groove with the router . After gluing them together, you need to turn them following the instructions for making the handle , exactly as explained above. The safety screw will ensure the handle holds. Remember to make the cut a little wider than the tool because if the tool rubs against the wood, it will overheat and damage the wood. To do this, simply oscillate the miter saw while cutting.

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Create handles for gouges, with Dinamitek