tiny tang

[sunnybob]

I'm temporarily out of projects :shock: so I decided to rehandle a little wall paper scraper that I use a lot.

I realised quite quickly this is well above my pay grade

How do you put a handle on a scraper blade that is only 0.5 mm thick?
Tried cutting a piece of wood in half and scraping out an area for the tang to rest in so I could reglue the wood and then epoxy the tang. That seems to be above my skill level as the groove ended up too deep.
Tried the knife handle route of heating the tang and burning it into the wood. Nope. The tang is so thin that when its heated it becomes too soft and bends over rather than burning into the wood.
I cant drill a line of holes only 0.5 mm thick without snapping the drill in the wood.

Sensible options please, I would rather not throw it away and get a new one as the blade is the right size and now worn to an acceptable sharpness.

 

[AndyT]

A picture of what you have would help, but the scrapers I own just have a narrow, flat end as wide as the handle. The handle is a pair of thin pieces of wood, ie scales, riveted on. The metal is visible at the edges, between the scales, like the ham in a sandwich.

For the sort of low stresses involved, you could probably just slap some 2-part filler or epoxy onto new scales, clamp them to the metal, then sand to shape when set.

 

[sunnybob]

This is a very old 1 1/4" wide fully wooden handled scraper. But as usual, I have abused it by hammering on the wooden handle and forced the steel into the handle, splitting it.
There isnt enough steel to fit scales. Its only (like the title) a tiny tang about an inch long x 3/8" wide.
Should be simple but it aint.

I've decided to mix approaches. I've made a very shallow cut in one half, and glued the two halves together. Tomorrow I will try to heat the tang and force it into the partially made groove and then epoxy it.
Its old enough that the tool steel is superb, would be a shame to ditch it for modern 2 mm thick chinesium.

 

[Chris101]

Fixed that for you Bob.

I've decided to mix approaches. I've made a very shallow cut in one half, and glued the two halves together. Tomorrow I will try to heat the tang and force it into the partially made groove and then epoxy it.
Its old enough that the tool steel is superb, would be a shame to have abused it by hammering on the wooden handle and forced the steel into the handle, splitting it.

If that doesn't work mate, what about epoxy the tang to a bit of off cut metal then rehandling that from new. Nowt fancy just enough to get it working again.

 

[AndyT]

I understand your desire to keep the old one going - so much better than the cheap and nasty items offered now.

If you do need a replacement, G&M Tools still have some new old stock of the real thing. Possibly only the 3" size left. I bought one, it's superb.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/James-Oxley- ... 890.l49292

 

[Chris101]

Crikey Bob. You'll have to hurry. They had two. Seems some other chancer bought one of them just now. :lol:
If you want, I'm happy to post it over to you. If you're quick enough lol.

 

[sunnybob]

i'm fine Chris, hope youre happy with your new toy errr, tool. its no longer viable buying stuff from the UK to ship to Cyprus. Jolly old brexit has canned that avenue for me.

I'm not a sentimental person, if its broke its binned. but as I said, I have a completely blank order book at the moment, so I thought I would do something I havent done before and try to ft a new handle.
If it becomes too much of a faff, it will go in the out tray as its main use is just scraping hot melt glue off the granite slab in my router sled.