Bought a chisel. Too grungy for any normal person to touch, but I thot I saw
some potential and it was cheap. Looked like a pervious (ab)user lost the handle
so resorted to a steel hammer and went back to work. Later he found the handle
and forced it into the now mushroomed socket. The sharp edges on the inner side
of the mushroomed top soon dug a groove in the wood till by the time I picked it
up the handle wobbled around like a spinning top about to topple over.

Because of the goodly amount of rust and really hard grunge covering it I
resorted to an unmentionable to remove the "patina”. Found it to be a Buck Bros.
1 1/4 inch chisel w/ about 8 1/2 inches of good steel after grinding it back
1/4” to get past the chipped off corner. It will never win a beauty contest, but
is now a serviceable blade. On to the handle.

The handle was in good shape other than the conical part that inserts into the
socket. Seemed a waste to toss it. Carefully marked its centers and put it into
the lathe. Turned the cone into a 1/2” spigot, drilled a piece of hardwood to
match, a bit of glue and I had something to work with. Back into the lathe to
turn it to fit the freshly cleaned socket and Bob’s your Uncle.

Don’t know why I never thot of this before.


Bill