dissapointing handle

Frank Fusco

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Mountain Home, Arkansas
Shown is the end of a 1/2" Sorby bowl gouge. I was aligning it in my new Wolverine sharpening jig and the shaft just slipped out of the handle. Very disappointing to find that only 2 1/2" of shaft goes into the handle. On a tool this large, I would hope for about 4" in the wood for strength. And, it should have been better affixed in there, IMHO. I'm going to rough up the end with a file and reset with ape glue.
 

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Frank, I'm shocked.............. SHOCKED.......... :eek::eek::eek::eek:

.......... that you are tackling the dreaded bowl gouge :D

I have to agree, that certainly does seem to be a bit skimpy on the steel in handle department.

:wave:
 
I have never had any trouble with 2 or 2 1/2" in a handle. I have had some come out. I just rough them up a little, put a little epoxy in the hole and put it back together. Never had one come out again.
 
Thanks for chiming in, Doug, I was going to mention that my 5/8" gouge only goes about 2 1/2" into the handle. It's a steel handle with dual setscrews, so it's not going anywhere unless I take it out, but like you said, the ferrule is what counters the forces betwern the gouge and the handle.
 
I don't have much choice to accept that the 2 1/2" is sufficient. Sure seems that a bad catch (but, who gets those? :rolleyes: ) could put an awful lot of pressure on the point where the shaft enters the wood. I know the ferrule provides a lot of support, but still......
I would like to see about 4" in there. BTW, this is some tough steel. A file just didn't want to mess with it. I got a few scratches on the shaft then reinserted with poly glue.
 
Good tool steel is expensive. Extending the shank to 4" would increase the material cost over 20%. Don't forget the chain reaction. The heat treatment cost would go up as well. Higher material cost leads to higher distributor mark up etc.
The second set screw on the large steel handles (for 3/4" shank) is no further than 1-3/4".
Sorry to hear that yours has a problem. There are a lot of Sorby tools. Even they are known for their quality. A small percentage skipping their QC is unavoidable.
 
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