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How many people fill their handles?

G

GLENN ROBERTS

Joined
Oct 5, 2008
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I am curious to know how many people fill their handles, with lead shot etc. How much do you use? (roughly) and where do you fill the handle? eg: do you put it all at the end, or along the whole handle?
What material do you use eg: lead shot?
Do you only fill handles that are used for specific types of turning? Or do you empty it out when you don't need it?

Any information would be appreciated.

Glenn
 
Hi Glenn

I have a few tools with handles that are filled with lead shot. Several of them are the HannesTools gouges, that come already filled with lead shot. On two of them, I changed the weight/balance of the tools by removing some of the shot from one tool, and putting a little bit more shot in another one.

I have another tool with a wood handle, a P & N 1/2 bowl gouge with a traditional bowl grind, that I turned out of Southern Yellow Pine. The wood was removed from an old mill in Lowell, Massachusetts during some renovations, and I thought it would be a great way to renew the materials. While the handle was fanastic, it was just a little bit too light for my liking, so I drilled a hole in the butt end of the handle, and poured some lead shot into it, and then plugged the hole. Just a few ounces of lead shot gave me the balance that I was looking for.
 
I have 2 of the Glaser gouges, and I prefer plain old wood handles to the filled ones. I use 5/8 gouges, and don't hang out too far off the tool rest, say max about 3 to 4 inches. Weighted handles just didn't feel balanced to me. I do hold in the middle of the gouge with the end of the handle under my elbow.
robo hippy
 
I like to make segmented / laminated tool handles. The patterns make it easy to tell the various tools apart in the rack I store them. I was a little concerned about the possiblity of a glue joint failure and the handles coming apart during use so I embed a 1/2" steel rod the length of the handle.

Gives it a heft and balance that I really like.

Ed
 
Help the ignorant...

What does the shot do for you?
Balance was mentioned, and somone said something about how far the tools hangs off the toolrest.

I have a vague idea of what it might do, but solicit your thoughts!

Thanks
 
The lead shot serves two purposes for me; it gives the tool balance, something that is hard to explain in the abstract. But if you picked up a 'well-balanced' tool, you would feel it, and then know and understand the concept. It just feels great in your hand.

The other purpose is to dampen vibration, which can increase the more the tool will extend, or hang off the tool rest.
 
Everyone is different, and will have different preferences. I prefer a wood handle, and I like them to be relatively light. I believe that a light handle makes it easier to control the tool for fine adjustments. I have a great big Glaser 3/4" gouge that I used to use for hogging and roughing, but it was terrible for fine cuts or detail work. I put curly maple handles on my Thompson gouges and it makes for very fine control all the time. But then, my arm weighs as much as a lot of people's legs, so maybe there is where I make it up. 😛
 
mdwine said:
What does the shot do for you?
Balance was mentioned, and somone said something about how far the tools hangs off the toolrest.

I have a vague idea of what it might do, but solicit your thoughts!
Click to expand...

It makes the end you have to support heavier. Plus, if you make metal handles rather than wood, you'll feel every vibration from a poorly planned cut. Wood will isolate you pretty well because it's flexible and has those air-filled cells to squash. If you hang the tool a long way over the rest out of necessity, make the handle of that tool or tools longer to give you back the mechanical advantage you're giving away.
 
I agree with Bill and prefer wood handles and also know that what works for me won't suit everyone.

I want a tool that moves freely and easily over the tool rest.
The shot filled handles are too out of balance on the handle end to suit me.
They are also more tiring to hold up for a couple of hours than lighter handles.

I've heard that they are supposed to absorb shock.

I was taught to turn so that the forces on go down into the tool rest.
Shock absorbing is not something I need.

I have a friend who drills out the end of his wooden handles and fills them with lead. Sort of a fungo turning handel. Whatever works for you.

Happy Turning,
Al
 
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I like a aluminum handle bored out end to end then filled with shot, they are heavier than most. IMO - a turning tool is a lever so the more weight in the back of the handle the less pressure I need to use to overcome the force of a cut... it really shows up when roughing a bowl blank. Now spindle tools should be light and balanced.
 
GLENN ROBERTS said:
Thanks for your comments so far, it seems balance is a topic worthy of debate. Any more comments are appreciated.
Click to expand...

Balance where?

If you're going to get best tool control you want your support right up near the work so that the tool is limited in its range of motion by something other than your muscle power. Any time you have enough room for the tool to get between the rest and the work you're working against a pop in the chops by the handle, too. This puts the fulcrum of your second-class lever (if you, as Doug, consider it a lever) in close, maybe a 15 or 20 to one ratio. This is great for control, because to make a tiny movement at the business end takes a more overt, perceptibly larger movement at the opposite end. Allows us to use gross muscle or even full body movement rather than try to do it with our fingers. The force you can apply with your hand, even if you're a 90-pound five foot nothin', when magnified by your leverage, far exceeds what you're going to add by making a cosh out of your handle. So why carry the extra weight?

The shot-weighted dead-blow analogy is verbally appealing but scientifically silly. The reason the mallet works is that the shot lags behind the container, sending only the container force to your arm. The main blow is delivered after the tool is in contact. You're not hitting the work, the work hits you when you turn. Now your shot, if it gets organized in the cavity, becomes a second blow to your hand. If it remains disorganized and the amplitude and frequency of the work striking the tool (all of which comes through your hand on a metal handle) is correct, it's possible to get the shot movement out of phase and have it striking a counterblow, neutralizing the impact at the other end. Possible. Probable? Not. Whereas the flex in the structure of that wooden handle will work all the time, as will the flex in your flesh if you don't have a death grip on some heavy tool.

If you stretch the tool out over the rest the extra length of the handle will automatically "add" weight by lengthening the lever, regain your mechanical advantage, and the chatter in the metal will still be dampened by the compressibility and flexibility of the wood. Look at the old bowl-bodgers with the handle of their hook tool under their armpit. That's some mechanical advantage.

Balance is worth a thought, that's for sure.
 
Wood handles with no weight added, if you do production work(spindle work) where you turn for hours the heavy handles wear you out.
 
Everyone has there own preference when it comes to handles... we are all unique in the way we turn. Spindle tools should be light and balanced but bowl gouges need extra weight and length. When I took a class with Johannes Michelsen I walked in with the standard Glaser tools and found out the first day about handle length. The standard 3/8 gouge had a 12 inch handle, Johannes had the same tool with a 16 inch handle, what a huge difference 4 inches makes in tool control, by holding the handle farther back the lever effect really took over on the 3/8 tool, now the larger diameter tools it didn't show up as much because they are not used for a finish cut.

Someone should be able to measure the forces that a bowl blank creates on a tool by the diameter. I do know a 16 inch hat blank and a tool with a standard wood handle don't make it for me... a long metal handle that's weighted is easy.

Later this year I'll show a metal handle that has the length and weight in the right place... the prototype works very well without being heavy.
 
Thanks for the comments. Yes the handle length is important. While playing around with various 'new' handle designs I was surprised to find how much I liked using a longer handle than my usual ones. Even for 'normal' (non spindle) work.

Glenn
 
I agree with MM about the DBH (dead-blow hammer) analogy -- it's mostly placebo effect. If vibration is so bad that you are getting beat up, then maybe it is time to reevaluate your turning technique. As far as heft and tool feel are concerned, if you turn your own handles, you have the freedom to play with the length and shape to give the most comfortable fit to your preferences.

Tool handles are a lot like golf clubs in that it is a very personal choice based on what you like.
 
With my bigger hollowers the shaft dia is 3/4 to 1''. All my tools have heavy Australian hardwood handles.The length will vary as per tool, mainly as been stated for balance and leverage.

As to shot filled or rod filled etc I have never got around to it and I go a long with Mitch on the dead blow effect.
 
These are handles not hammers unless you use the butt of the handle to break off a core so the dead blow effect has nothing to do with it. My thought is shot will dampen vibration more than solid steel but that has yet to be proved. One day when I make handles three will be setup to the same weight, one will have a solid weight another shot and the last with shot/oil. These will be tested by the club members to see if there is a difference.
 
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