Turning A Maul Handle

[TomG]

I am making a new maul and decided to try making a leather handle like on my Tandy Stohlman maul.

I glued up a bunch of 3" squares using contact cement and clamps and then mounted in my wood lathe.

So.. I have a few questions for any of you who have done this.

1) Is leather harder on the tools than wood? I seem to be having to sharpen my roughing gouge frequently.

2) I do not have a chuck - only the spur and live centers that came with the lathe... How do I taper it down thin at the end of the handle. I have about a 2.5" cylinder now and can already see it flexing as I cut it.

Thanks

[Tinkerton]

Did you put a core in it or is it just the straight leather?

[TomG]

No core. I thought about it, but haven't done lathe work in a long time and never on leather. I wasn't sure of what to use. Like I mentioned. With only a live center and a spur, all I could think of was a wooden dowel glued in, but then, I'd have to drill that out for the mounting bolt on the maul.

What would you suggest?

[Tinkerton]

I'll admit I know nothing about turning, but looking at a leather handled maul, it looks like there's most likely a metal rod that goes through the entirety of it. That would give it strength, rigidity, and mass.

[TomG]

Yup. There is always a metal rod or bolt that runs the length of it. The leather itself will never support the torque and flexion of a handle like that.

I finally slowed down enough that I'm planning on heading the garage later to work on it.

[oltoot]

I don't know if you could chuck up the finished maul but I have done it using a drill press and coarse sandpaper. I cut the stack to near finished dimension with a knife before finishing with sandpaper. To turn out a lot, I think that they are stacked up on a threaded rod, compressed to prevent slippage, then rough turned. They are finished when final assembled. It's a bit on the hard side to do just one and get by without all the creative solutions learned the hard way.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

They are turned with a rod inside. Doing it without one can be dangerous if it comes apart while turning.

[TomG]

I had wondered about it before I started turning. But the square pieces got out of alignment when I glues and clamped, so I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to get a hole straight down the center.

I should have made my squares a bit larger to allow waste during turning and done the center dowel.

I'd still have the problem of attaching it to the lathe. I don't have a 3-jaw chuck and I'm not sure if the spur bit on the head spindle would hold a dowel of the size I want to use for the center bolt.

But now that I have it turned down to a cylinder, I can probably square it up enough to drill a center hole straight and try the dowel.

Fingers crossed... And I may just stick to wood <g>

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Get a chuck, and a live center for the tailstock....life will be easier.

[oltoot]

The easy way is to punch holes in each piece of leather and stack them on the rod/dowel one at a time instead of trying to drill a hole through the center of the stack. Oh yeah, you would be surprised at how much compression you can squeeze out of wet pieces as you build the stack, then a fan to dry before the turning/smoothing.