Making Pipe Handles

Pete Jordan

Member
Messages
455
Location
Mason Michigan
Last night at my house our local group came over and made handles. I went to Lowes and bought 10' galvinized 3/4 inch pipe. I had them cut it into 2ft lengths for handles. The first picture is the drilling station. Each person drilled two holes for the set screws and two holes for the screen spline. They then went to the vise to tap the holes for the set screws and finally to the lathe to put the spline on the handle. It went really well and everyone was happy with how they turned out.
 

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Sorry about that.
 

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Those look pretty good. What did you use for the spline/wrap cord, and how is it attached at the back end? Not knowing much about pipe and tubing, is 3/4 the inside diameter of the pipe? Is is accurate enough to take 3/4" HSS tools? THanks.
 
Pretty cool idea, but what about the weight... aren't they heavier than wood handles... I would imagine on hogging off wood there would be less movement in the handle than with wood, but for every day use, they would seem heavy to me.
 
Pretty cool idea, but what about the weight... aren't they heavier than wood handles... I would imagine on hogging off wood there would be less movement in the handle than with wood, but for every day use, they would seem heavy to me.

The weight can be an advantage. Like you mentioned, it's handy when roughing out a piece and hogging a lot of wood, but it also helps smooth out the ride on regular cuts too...at least it does for me. All of my good gouges are in metal handles (the ones from Monster Lathe Tools) and I've gotten accustomed to and comfortable with the extra weight. Now when I pick up one of my wood-handled tools, it doesn't feel right to me...too light. For some of my tools, I've even made them heavier by adding lead shot to the hollow handles. I've got a 3/4" Thompson gouge in a Monster handle, and with lead added, it weighs nearly 5 pounds. It's a wood-eatin' machine for hogging, but I also like using it for finishing cuts as well, since the 3/4" gouge has more edge to work with and thus can go longer between sharpenings. (I even like to use the 3/4" gouge for making bottle stoppers and pens.) At the other end of the weight scale, I've got a 3/8" Thompson detail gouge in another Monster handle (without the lead shot), and it's a bit over 1 pound.
 
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