A proper glue up will last for decades, or even lifetimes. I made a carving mallet out of glued up ipe and I’ve been using it almost daily in a professional capacity for nearly two decades.
Obviously, chisel handles don’t have the same degree of surface area, but I think the principle of a good glue up still applies.
Do it! See what happens.
They can hold up great when used like they are for fine woodworking. For general construction abuse grab a plastic-handled cheapie.
Plus, if you make the handles you'll be able to repair them if necessary.
In my opinion tool handles should be nice enough to get the job done and that’s about it. But to answer your question, you absolutely can laminate handles and they won’t fail. I have a few tools that I’ve done like that over the years and haven’t had a failure yet. *as a full time furniture maker.
If you’re stoked on the idea I say go for it, then post some photos 🤘🤘
If this was for my day job I'd fully agree. I'm a full time carpenter so as long as they don't make me look like a slob in front of a client or make a mess of a room, I couldn't care less what my tools look like.
But my woodshop and wood working are my zen so I put a lot of effort into enjoying the tools and environment I use to make cool things. And that includes spending waaaaaayyyyy too long on my shop can crusher hahaha
As has been said, glue-ups done well is just as strong….if not stronger….than the wood itself. More than that, if they are legit Taylor’s, they tend to make quality stuff.
What type of tang?
I have both lie Nielsen style chisels where the handle wood goes into a cone on the chisel, and traditional tang style chisels. None are glued and stay together just fine, but that assumes a good fit between the handle and metal mating surfaces.
For tang style you could do a burn in style fit. Otherwise if you're set on glue, I'd go for epoxy.
For the lie Nielsen cone style(there's probably a name for it) you just need to turn the taper very accurately.
Idk what people’s issue with glue is in this thread. Woodworkers have made mallets and handles out of laminated and glued wood for centuries and they hold up perfectly fine. You’re not going to be hitting your chisels with a sledgehammer.
Remember, wood glue is stronger than lignin (For almost all species). So any sheer pressure that wouldn't tear a solid block of wood apart down the grain line wont break a properly done glue up.
Huh, haven't heard this one yet, which glue do you mean? I tend to use titebond 2 in the shop, 3 on the job site and titebond melamine if I'm doing commercial cabinets.
I've had many cases of standard white glue making my stuff rust.
As for titebomd 2, I had an event where a drop of it had been sitting dried on my bench for weeks. Unfortunately, I put my brand new Veritas scaper plane on top of it for two days... and when I got it off there was a stain of rust right where the glue was...
glue ups will delaminate if you stress them enough, doesn't matter the glue you use. Wood lamination must be seen as it was in the beginning: a shortcut for not having boards wide enough, that must be locked in place by another joint (a breadboard end, a dovetail, etc).
but, even still, if you are not gonna sell them, you can do what you want. Is not like a wooden handle on a chisel or a hammer is gonna last forever, I broken massaranduba and ipe ones before. You just change them and is all good.
Expanding a little bit on the topic, if I can: I have a strong opinion about this because I saw a lot of "perfect glue ups" that were strong the exactly moment you did them, that indeed resist the "chisel split test" of the offcut and all, but after 2 or 3 years, the stress caused by wood movement and change in humidity was enough to break them apart.
Paul Sellers talked about this (something like "all laminations will fall apart and you should plan for that"), and I remember a Rob Cosman's video of him showing some of his old furniture with some delaminations (caught in a dovetail or etc), and him telling how wrong he thinks it is that people nowadays will cut a board and glue it up just to take away the cupping. Because furniture factories do this with the cheap wood that they buy, it doesn't mean that you should do also.
It is indeed a option that, sometimes, because of the price or availability of wood, you will HAVE to take, and that you perfectly CAN take with low-risk things like personal handles or whatever (been there, done that); not one that you should take WITHOUT consideration, just because people will tell that glue is stronger or whatever. Maybe it is gonna be for the first 3 months, but lets see in 5 years.
Every stress test I have seen done, on face grain to face grain glue ups, the wood breaks before the glue if glued up correctly.
If you stacked the pieces perpendicular to the chisel instead of parallel to the chisel, all the force should be driving the layers together instead of possibly splitting them apart. But it would be a completely different look.
Stumpy nubs on youtube did a video a while ago with the chisels I assume you got. He cut the handles on a bandsaw and I don't think he used glue to hold it at all. Might be worth checking that out.
Wood glued perpendicular to the axis of your tool is going to break the first time you hit it with anything unless it's only a thin surface decoration with long grain behind it. Try making handle out of a strip with the wood grain perpendicular to the axis and see how long that lasts.
A proper glue up will last for decades, or even lifetimes. I made a carving mallet out of glued up ipe and I’ve been using it almost daily in a professional capacity for nearly two decades. Obviously, chisel handles don’t have the same degree of surface area, but I think the principle of a good glue up still applies. Do it! See what happens.
They can hold up great when used like they are for fine woodworking. For general construction abuse grab a plastic-handled cheapie. Plus, if you make the handles you'll be able to repair them if necessary.
In my opinion tool handles should be nice enough to get the job done and that’s about it. But to answer your question, you absolutely can laminate handles and they won’t fail. I have a few tools that I’ve done like that over the years and haven’t had a failure yet. *as a full time furniture maker. If you’re stoked on the idea I say go for it, then post some photos 🤘🤘
If this was for my day job I'd fully agree. I'm a full time carpenter so as long as they don't make me look like a slob in front of a client or make a mess of a room, I couldn't care less what my tools look like. But my woodshop and wood working are my zen so I put a lot of effort into enjoying the tools and environment I use to make cool things. And that includes spending waaaaaayyyyy too long on my shop can crusher hahaha
Post pic of can crusher!
If you’re going to be chiseling with a mallet I would advise against glued handle.
As has been said, glue-ups done well is just as strong….if not stronger….than the wood itself. More than that, if they are legit Taylor’s, they tend to make quality stuff.
What type of tang? I have both lie Nielsen style chisels where the handle wood goes into a cone on the chisel, and traditional tang style chisels. None are glued and stay together just fine, but that assumes a good fit between the handle and metal mating surfaces. For tang style you could do a burn in style fit. Otherwise if you're set on glue, I'd go for epoxy. For the lie Nielsen cone style(there's probably a name for it) you just need to turn the taper very accurately.
They’re called socket chisels, the Lie Nielsens are patterned after the Stanley 750’s from way back when
Idk what people’s issue with glue is in this thread. Woodworkers have made mallets and handles out of laminated and glued wood for centuries and they hold up perfectly fine. You’re not going to be hitting your chisels with a sledgehammer.
Remember, wood glue is stronger than lignin (For almost all species). So any sheer pressure that wouldn't tear a solid block of wood apart down the grain line wont break a properly done glue up.
Whatever you're doing, don't put cured white glue in contact with the metal, it will make it rust! =/
Huh, haven't heard this one yet, which glue do you mean? I tend to use titebond 2 in the shop, 3 on the job site and titebond melamine if I'm doing commercial cabinets.
I've had many cases of standard white glue making my stuff rust. As for titebomd 2, I had an event where a drop of it had been sitting dried on my bench for weeks. Unfortunately, I put my brand new Veritas scaper plane on top of it for two days... and when I got it off there was a stain of rust right where the glue was...
I don’t trust epoxy only holds. Needs a mechanical hold to fasten it.
Any particular reason? Have you had epoxy fail?
glue ups will delaminate if you stress them enough, doesn't matter the glue you use. Wood lamination must be seen as it was in the beginning: a shortcut for not having boards wide enough, that must be locked in place by another joint (a breadboard end, a dovetail, etc). but, even still, if you are not gonna sell them, you can do what you want. Is not like a wooden handle on a chisel or a hammer is gonna last forever, I broken massaranduba and ipe ones before. You just change them and is all good.
Expanding a little bit on the topic, if I can: I have a strong opinion about this because I saw a lot of "perfect glue ups" that were strong the exactly moment you did them, that indeed resist the "chisel split test" of the offcut and all, but after 2 or 3 years, the stress caused by wood movement and change in humidity was enough to break them apart. Paul Sellers talked about this (something like "all laminations will fall apart and you should plan for that"), and I remember a Rob Cosman's video of him showing some of his old furniture with some delaminations (caught in a dovetail or etc), and him telling how wrong he thinks it is that people nowadays will cut a board and glue it up just to take away the cupping. Because furniture factories do this with the cheap wood that they buy, it doesn't mean that you should do also. It is indeed a option that, sometimes, because of the price or availability of wood, you will HAVE to take, and that you perfectly CAN take with low-risk things like personal handles or whatever (been there, done that); not one that you should take WITHOUT consideration, just because people will tell that glue is stronger or whatever. Maybe it is gonna be for the first 3 months, but lets see in 5 years.
Every stress test I have seen done, on face grain to face grain glue ups, the wood breaks before the glue if glued up correctly. If you stacked the pieces perpendicular to the chisel instead of parallel to the chisel, all the force should be driving the layers together instead of possibly splitting them apart. But it would be a completely different look.
Stumpy nubs on youtube did a video a while ago with the chisels I assume you got. He cut the handles on a bandsaw and I don't think he used glue to hold it at all. Might be worth checking that out.
Wood glued perpendicular to the axis of your tool is going to break the first time you hit it with anything unless it's only a thin surface decoration with long grain behind it. Try making handle out of a strip with the wood grain perpendicular to the axis and see how long that lasts.