Fourth of July Handle Fitting Clinics

This thread is to document a Handle Fitting Clinic that I am running tomorrow, July 4th. My extended family hosts a big Fourth of July party every year. With a large captive audience, why not introduce them to a skill that will bring their tools back to life? Everyone in a rural area has a broken shovel or ax. Some people will bring broken tools and new handles and we will fix them up.

On Saturday I gathered my drawknives, drill and miter saw, with some other tools, in my cart. I'll bring my shaving horse over in the morning, with an assortment of tools in different stages of handle-fitting and refinishing. I will talk people through the process, and we will see what we can complete.

Jeremy, that's freaking awesome!

And it's totally the right thing -- a lot of older tools are much better quality steel. They just need a little bit of love!

Looking forward to your reports!

Thanks, Douglas!

The workshop went really well. The people who stopped by were really excited. I was thinking I might be able to earn the PEP badge, but I didn't have quite enough people.

We replaced the haft of an ax and the handle of a hammer. The ax probably took an hour and a half, all told. Which is the fastest I have ever done. Onlookers provided good tips whenever we reached a choke point. Removing the remains of the old handle and getting the round wedges out were the trickiest part. Other than that, it was a matter of spending some quality time with the shave horse.

While that was progressing I taught how to replace a riveted shovel handle and how to finish handles with linseed oil. I had several work-in-progress shovels for reference. So it was a great workshop. The participants left with some knowledge and skills.

I also learned of a source for reasonably priced handles! The new ax haft had an $8 price tag on it. So I asked the man where he bought it from? He said that there is a man who brings them to the Packwood, Washington flea market on Labor Day. He has also gone to other swap meets that no longer occur.

I gave a plug for permies and SKIP, since SKIP inspired me to learn these skills in the first place.

Another picture I took while standing in line for supper.

Tomorrow is another Fourth of July. So I will teach another handle fitting clinic! This year I have several copies of the SKIP book to give away. Maybe I will give those to the most enthusiastic participants.

We might make some mallets as well.

I ran another clinic and we replaced a shovel handle. I have a friend who was talking about starting a Trail Life troop or SKIP Scouts or something. So I taught him how to replace his handle and gave him a copy of the SKIP book. In the end, he decided to teach an outdoor skills class for the homeschool group at his church. It is quite a ways away so I haven't joined in. But I like teaching people to repair tools. So I am looking for more opportunities to do that.