How do you get a handle to stay in a socket chisel?

D

David Conley

Well-known member
Besides using epoxy, how do you get a handle to stay in a socket chisel? 

Specifically, I have a Stanley 750 chisel with its original handle.  The problem is, the handle keeps falling out.  I can temporarily put the handle back on by assembling it and pounding the handle end first against a wooden block.  However, the seasonal change keeps loosing the handle. 

Is there a nondestructive way to keep the handle tight, or should I mix up the epoxy?

Thanks in advance,
David
 
Dave: I cut a piece of sandpaper to fit the taper and then insert in the socket  Tap in  Not elegant but works  Tom
 
I am not sure it would work, but I don't see why it wouldn't,  How about contact adhesive.  I would be able to come apart if need be and would hold up really well to the seasonal movements of the wood.
 
Before you reach for the epoxy try to bake all the moisture out of the handle in a toaster oven. That way all the handle can do is expand with seasonal change. Roughen up the inside of the socket too. The handle sliding around too much polishes the inside. If you're making new handles melt a candle into the socket to make a pattern. Make sure to leave enough string in it so it won't break when you pull it out. Some wet finish helps too just like hairspray on bicycle grips as crazy as it sounds.
 
Everybody,

Thanks for your comments!!  It really helps me and everybody else who reads this thread to hear other people?s solutions and suggestions.

Tom, I really like the idea of using the sand paper.  It?s quick and easy.  It also creates the roughness that Mark mentioned. 

Mike, Silicone caulk is like duck tape.  It?s great at fixing everything. 

Justin, I don?t use contact cement.  So, I don?t know much about it.  But if it every came apart in the future, I assume I would have to clean out the handle and hosel.  I have already had to clean out a hosel where someone used wood glue.  That wasn?t any fun.

Mark, you had several great suggestions, roughen up the insides of the hosel, baking the handles. I had to think about the lubricant suggestion.  I use Windex to slide grips on and take them off a bicycle.  It does make it a lot easier.  I think that was what you were talking about.  I will be making a socket handle in the near future and I will use your candle trick.  I was going to lay the chisel on the bed of the lathe and sight over the handle to the outside shape of the hosel to get the shape.  But, generating the pattern from the inside of the hosel is much better.

I think that next time the handle comes off; I think I will bake the handle, then wrap it with a piece of sandpaper (effectively roughen the inside of the hosel), and drive it back in.

Mark suggestions also spark another thought.  When I re-grip a golf club, I put double sided masking tape on the shaft.  Then, I use lighter fluid to melt the adhesive and slip on the grips.  If the baking/sandpaper trick doesn?t work, I may try this.  (Just in case the masking tape adhesive has to be removed sometime in the future, it can easily be removed with lighter fluid.)

Thanks all,
David
 
Dave,

I have one more suggestion, one that has worked very well for me.  I use Chair Doctor, a Veritas product.  It's designed to swell the tenons on a chair that have dried and shrunk.  It does the same for the tool handle.  I clean the socket of any rust and dust and rough of the handle taper a little because itis usually burnished hard (this facilitates absorption) and shoot in a little of the liquid and reseat the handle.  In a few minutes it should be almost impossible to remove.
 
Make sure that the handle isn't bottoming out in the socket before you do anything. Instead of the candle wax just pack aluminum foil in the socket to get the shape.
good luck
Mike
 
I have the same problem with socket chisels. I take plane shavings and wrap them around the tenon and shove it back in. If it doesn't work at first I add a few more shavings. Works like a charm so far.

This is my first post hope it helps.

jim
 
Here's a really suprising answer I stumbled on.

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/chris-schwarz-blog/new-stanley-chisels-a-fix-for-loose-sockets
 
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