Steam fair haul - Marples gouges

[Sheffield Tony]

At a steam fair with the familiy at the weekend I happened upon (to their dismay !) a tool stall. They had a few new old stock items, including some Marples carving gouges, like this one:

The gouges were branded Marples both on the handle and the steel. The plastic packaging is Bacho Record. I presume there was an era where all three brand names came together ? Still, clearly never used so I thought worth a look. But look at this:

As common with these Marples gouges, the ferrule is cracked through the little dimple that helps hold it on. But the handle was loose, and prising apart the ferrule and a bit of a tug, apart it came. The handle is drilled to the full depth of the tang, at the diameter of the widest part of the tang, so little holds it in at all. The tang is short and looks like ot belongs moulded into a plastic handle. I presume this was not from a better era of Marples chisels - I have others that I know to be 70's, but they have some sort of mahogany substitute handles. I'm guessing these are later ? It takes a nice enough edge though.

I could either plug the hole in the handle with some dowel and re-fit it, or maybe as it is not terribly special I'll turn a new one that's more comfortable in the hand.

 

[monkeybiter]

I think you'd be better off getting rid of those, I'm sure I could help you out :wink:

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Hi - I think Bahco owned Record/Marples between 1982 and 1985 or thereabouts - cheers, W2S

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Fill the bottom of the hole with 2 part wood filler and quickly squeeze the iron back in using a vice or a sash cramp - it won't move again.

 

[ED65]

The handle is drilled to the full depth of the tang, at the diameter of the widest part of the tang, so little holds it in at all.

:shock: Clearly made at the high point of their production standards eh?

If you did want to use the existing handle and you're not averse to epoxy that'll hold it. Mixed with some sanding dust to about the consistency of mayonnaise it makes a perfectly decent cutler's cement, with a clear advantage that its grip can be loosened by heat should you ever want to get the handle off and don't want to saw it apart.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

So simple, filler or epoxy. Why didn't I think of that ? Thanks. Just need to sort a new ferrule - I have several sizes of brass tube to hand, and of course this is none of them !

 

[ED65]

If you find the ferrule is a size that can't be had any longer ever used a wire or cord wrap? Works just as well apparently.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I use PU on turning tools where sometimes the hole is huge - just be sure you have a cramp handy or it will blow the tool from the handle. Wet the wood and watch it blow.