[dww2]

The weather has finally started to cooperate a bit as far as getting into the shop is concerned (Up into the low to mid 30s. Woo-hoo heat wave!!) I cut the bits for this back in Dec and finally got them glued up the other day.

The handle is an ash branch from a dead fall. The pic is after stripping the bark and microwaving it to make sure it was fully dry.

I did some initial shaping then taped the shank and handle together to cut them at the same time. I figured this would save some time when trying to fit them together. It worked ok but shifted slightly during the cut. What should have been an ogee curve turned into more of an elongated S. I think next time more of an overlap and a few more turns of tape will help.

One downside was that it shifted slightly during glue up. Managed to fix some of it by taking material off one side of the handle but it does have a noticeable bend.

The shank is dogwood. A couple of coats of Danish oil so far.

Overall, I'm fairly happy with the result.

 

[CV3]

Well done dww2! I reaky like the way you fitted the handle to the shank.

 

[Rodney]

It's hard enough to cut that joint on two flat square pieces of wood and have them fit well. Two round pieces that are trying to move around as you cut them must have been interesting.

Very nice job and I love the ash handle. It's a really pretty piece of wood.

I've learned to grab every piece of it I can get. Ash grows here but I don't have a lot of access to it.

Rodney

 

[MJC4]

Great job ddw! Love the contrast between handle and shank!

 

[dww2]

Thanks guys.

The really tricky part was making sure the handle and shank (taped together) stayed perpendicular to the saw blade when cutting. The handle had some flat spots on it where I did some initial shaping with the jigsaw, but where it connected to the shank was round. The shank stuck out a good yard or so from the place where the two bits were taped together, so there was a lot of torque on the tape joint.

Makes me wonder how fancy a joint could I cut with this method?

 

[Gloops]

Great job, first non-traditional joint I have seen and it looks good, you were certainly thinking outside the box on that one, whats next a dovetail?

 

[dww2]

Well, I think I'd need to practice a bit but I think it would look good. Maybe the impossible dovetail.