Your favorite shop-made hand tools

I haven't made many shop made tools, but what I have made I simply love…

So far it has been 2 mallets, 1 turned, and 1 rectangular with a turned handle. I have a Disc sander attachment / table I rigged up for my lathe, and I have also made what can best be described as a "Sanding Float" which works far better than I anticipated.

I do have a few projects in mind when time permits. I want to build a wooden plane, not to mention turn handles for screwdrivers and chisels. I believe Lee Valley has the hardware kits for those projects…

I have a BIG shop made tool project that is underway, slowly, but underway none the less. I am building a shop made 24" wide drum sander. I have the drum made already. I initially tried cutting out 3/4" MDF disks but they disintegrated before I could glue them up. I have since moved on to using a hole cutter and jointing / planing scrap 2×6 stock to get my 4" disks (1" wide) hogged out. I have the disks cut, but need the threaded rod, nuts and washers to bring the drum all together. Once that is one piece, I will clean it up on the lathe and set it to the side to be able to epoxy in the rod.

I am working with a metalworking friend of mine to fab up a carriage, and elevation mechanism as I am trying to build this as a cantilever type sander. He has some ideas, I have some of my own… My biggest problem is what bearings to use…

One item that over the years I keep making over and over are various carving chisels. They are a quick project, the material cost is very modest and they look good and it is satisfying to use chisels you made yourself. Because they are made iexpensively its easy to treat yourself to a variety of fishtail styles and widths that if your budget is tight you might be reluctant to buy store bought (but once you start using them are really handy).

Easiest to find scrap metal that gives good heat treat that I have found are various coil springs . Over years I have accumulated lots of old coil springs from various applications in various sizes 1/8" (ordinary wind up coil spring from garage door) up to 5/8" diameter (some sprt of truck spring…the older are easier the newer ones have plastic coating that is a pain to get off).

One spring that is especially convenient for gouge style carving chisels is approx 3/8" diameter and the coil is maybe 6" x 48" long ( ...it came out of an industrial overhead door) . You can forge these with a actelylene torch but its easier cheaper and more convenient if you put together a simple propane forge. Handes are typically turned from something grabbed from wood pile (burning logs) and the ferrule is usually short section of copper pipe.

another shop made tool that I have made again again are gravers (use 1/8 square HSS lathe tool bits and turn the wood handles). The ones shown are ground to be iused for engraving but the method could be used to make very small wood carving chisels. The trick to these is to take a short length of carbon steel and make a sort of "chuck" ...just drill a hole so when a square taper is ground on the end of the HSS lathe tool that it will jam into the hole …the HSS is harder than the carbon steel ferrule or chuck and will "bite and lock in place" the taper allows it to jam tightly and as you use pushing it jams tighter.This trick of the chuck or furrule to grip the small 1/8 square bit and prevent it from being driven deeply into a wood handle could have application for some sort of marking took or awl or scribe for woodwooking