• August 2025 Turning Challenge: Wooden Version of Non-Wood Item! (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to David Croxton for "XOXOXO" being selected as Turning of the Week for August 11, 2025 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

Remove handle

Joined
Jun 28, 2015
Messages
14
Likes
0
Location
Manchester, CT
I purchased a Cindy Drozda detail gouge and made a handle for it. The gouge is epoxied in the handle. I don't like my handle as I made it too long. How can I best remove the gouge from the handle. I have searched the forum and can't find the answer though I'm sure it must have been discussed before. Thanks.
 
Since I don't use epoxy, I take my handles off by putting the gouge in a vice and tap the handle off. Sometimes I can remove it by twisting.
Sometimes I put an end wrench that closely fits the tool and hit on the wrench.
I often reuse the handles with a new replacement tool so I don't want to damage the handle.

You can probably knock the epoxy handle off the same way. If not split the handle.
The epoxy will probably chip off the metal easily. If not you can hold the tool in a chuck with tool inside the lathe spindle and clean off the epoxy with a scraper.
Heat from a torch will break down the epoxy and you knock the handle off to reuse it.

I usually just dry fit my tools and hit the handle on the end to seat them. They stay tight without glue. If they get loose at some point I put a couple drops of thick CA to hold them a hit breaks the CA.
 
Last edited:
I have had success by heating the shaft. It softens the epoxy enough to remove the tool. Doesn't have to be real hot. Maybe 200-250 degrees (F). May have to use a pliers to twist is out.
 
Al has some pretty good advice here.......I've found that wrapping the tool shaft in cloth, and clamping it in a vise works to hold it tightly without damage. Then use an open end wrench to straddle the shaft between the vise and tool handle. Use a hammer, or mallet to strike the wrench gives it directed force against the end of the tool handle. Since you've used epoxy, this may not be good enough.......and an alternative would be to split the handle, as was suggested by AL........

ko
 
All of the above. Epoxy will soften quite easily with heat. If you don't want to overheat the blade just put a wet rag on the good end or clamp a pair of vice grips an inch or so away from the handle to absorb any heat. It doesn't take much. Then put the blade in a vice and use the open end wrench like the others have said and hammer on that to knock the handle off. done that many times.
 
I guess no one here uses golf shaft epoxy. To break loose shafts from the club head took very high temps. Why not stick the steel through the headstock with a chuck on and remachine the handle.
 
Whatever Mike Hunter uses to bond his handles takes a lot of heat and impact. I'm not sure I ever did get it to melt but did manage to get the handle off. I like his handles but I needed that particular tool to break down for travel so I removed the handle and had a very hard time getting it off.
 
Bill, you must be good at puzzles. Your thought seems so logical. Not sure the shape would have permitted remachining to a desired result but I love your thought process.
 
I re-machine many of my handles as Bill suggests, but never have taken it down to the metal......I suppose that would work, too.

Here are some gouges where the tool shaft went into the hollow spindle, and clamped in a Stronghold chuck. The butt end was in a revolving center. It was just like normal spindle turning. Being a little shorter, and more ergonomic shape works better for me.......:D

Shortened Henry Taylor handles.JPG
 
Last edited:
Most of the thread seems to be about saving the steel and wasting the handle. I have some gouges that are very short so therefore I would like to preserve the handles. I was thinking I could use a Dremel with a cut off wheel to remove the ferrel and then as was state previously heat the steel to break the epoxy bond.
Any other ideas.
 
Sometimes it takes a lot of heat. I clamp the tool in the vice then put a large crescent wrench on the shaft and hit that with a dead blow hammer to drive the handle off.
 
Ditto on not removing the Ferrell.

Many wooden handles will come free with a whack without heat. Many use no adhesive.
I put the gouge in a vice with an end wrench that fits the gouge against the Ferrell and give the wrench a couple hits with a hammer. If the handle moves it will come off with a twist or a couple more hits.

If it doesn’t come loose heat the gouge near the handle with a torch.
This will break the bond with CA or Epoxy. Then use the method above.
 
I guess no one here uses golf shaft epoxy. To break loose shafts from the club head took very high temps. Why not stick the steel through the headstock with a chuck on and remachine the handle.
Now, I can't believe I never thought about this solution! Clever....
 
English is my second language, but I believe we are talking about a Ferrule here, and not about my favorite funny actor Will Ferrell. I have been using Doug Thompson handles, 2 set screws so you can remove the tool for easier sharpening, and lately, I have about 6 tools with the Stuart Batty system, super fast and easy.
 
Two part epoxy will break loose about 180 degrees F. It worked on fishing rods and golf clubs- Two Ton Epoxy for both.
 
English is my second language, but I believe we are talking about a Ferrule here, and not about my favorite funny actor Will Ferrell. I have been using Doug Thompson handles, 2 set screws so you can remove the tool for easier sharpening, and lately, I have about 6 tools with the Stuart Batty system, super fast and easy.

I believe that if you're a woodturner then English is your second language. :D I was severely tempted yesterday to post the same thing. Anchorman, with Will Ferrell playing Ron Burgundy is one of my favorite comedy movies.

I don't remember if I have posted this before, but this is a good time.

image.jpeg
 
lenght and thickness are highly personalized....your Initial lenght was that different lenght from the rest of your tools.....ie....was it design problem

woodturner in Chapel Hill likes 6-7 inch handles for certain jobs

what was the job for that tool
 
I believe that if you're a woodturner then English is your second language. :D I was severely tempted yesterday to post the same thing. Anchorman, with Will Ferrell playing Ron Burgundy is one of my favorite comedy movies.

I don't remember if I have posted this before, but this is a good time.

View attachment 28536
That's funny! English is a tricky language, we do not have words that are pronounced the same, yet spell differently.
 
That's funny! English is a tricky language, we do not have words that are pronounced the same, yet spell differently.

Their, There, and They're are pronounced differently although it isn't always easy to distinguish it in the spoken word due to the listeners hearing or distinguishing subtle differences in regional dialects. People often write and learn what they believe they hear .... it's sort of like the way that words get butchered in closed captioning on the TV if you're familiar with it.
 
Their, There, and They're are pronounced differently
Really? IMHO, it goes back to basic grammar learned in school. Sort of like vice and vise. There is a big difference in the two word meanings. In addition to being a nice guy, I'm also a writer. Misspellings, bad grammar and bad punctuation get you transferred to either the wastebasket, delete button or the manuscript will wind up hanging on the wall in the restroom.
Are we off topic here or am I just imagining it?
Cut the handle, shape on a disk sander then apply a bit of finish.
 
Leonard Elmore novels set in Florida
 
Really?...

Yes, really, except in Tennessee and Texas. :D

... Are we off topic here or am I just imagining it?...

You're not imagining things, but the Internet police look the other way as they pass through this place ... :rolleyes: We try to not be too pharisaical about staying on topic since there isn't a formal rule regarding staying on topic. In normal casual conversation the subject tends to drift once the original topic has run its course.
 
Yes, really, except in Tennessee and Texas. :D



You're not imagining things, but the Internet police look the other way as they pass through this place ... :rolleyes: We try to not be too pharisaical about staying on topic since there isn't a formal rule regarding staying on topic. In normal casual conversation the subject tends to drift once the original topic has run its course.
I could not agree more with you on this Bill. We need a little humor every now and then. I can't speak about how it is in school here, but in Argentina, Language, is very complex, we can conjugate our verbs in countless ways. Our pitfalls are accents, where to place them, and if you didn't pay attention to several grammar rules when you use a B or V, or M or N... Since I have been writing for Woodturning magazine, I use Grammarly, works great, but I also have my wife and our son or daughter double check. Articles still get a little corrected to the "proper" Brittish English. We also have butchered out Spanish roots, like American English. Way off topic now! :p
 
Since a forum isn't a book or magazine, as long as the reader understands the intent of the writer then that is really all that matters. Sometimes the spelling checker gets involved and really messes things up so I try to carefully proofread what I wrote. Despite that I still don't catch many of my mistakes until much later if ever.
 
Back
Top