Re-Handling Two Socket Chisels

I've needed to make new handles for two chisels for a long time.  I found them both at a garage sale a couple years ago.  One of them had a detached handle and the other had no handle at all.

Stiletto at top with loose handle, unknown maker "Made in USA" at bottom

A while back, I experimented with making a handle sans lathe and had some success, but it was far from perfect.  Now with the bungee lathe it was finally time to make real handles.

First a little about the Stiletto chisel because it's interesting.

This (roughly) 1/4" chisel is quite long ...

... and very thick in cross section (this is a side view)

The part of the handle that fits in the socket was much shorter than the depth of the socket would allow

The heel of the handle has leather washers and a steel ferrule

This combination of back end hardware indicates to me that this chisel was meant to be struck with a metal hammer.  I don't believe this is a mortise chisel.  Look at this side view of the two chisels next to each other.

Stiletto at top

My best guess is that the Stiletto is a light duty mortising chisel - perhaps a sash mortise chisel.  Anyway, on to the re-handling of these chisels.

Take a known diameter rod and insert ...

... to see how far in it went (I did this with 3/8" and 7/16" dowel rods)

Got a model of the socket's interior

Then make a model of the handle and note key diameters

Mark the key locations on the blank

First thing to do is to shape and fit the socket portion.
This took multiple iterations of shaping and testing the fit.

Once the socket part fit properly, shaping the rest was reasonably easy
(and this was literally about the third piece of wood I've ever turned)

I first made a practice handle in some scrap oak.  That came out so well, I almost used it as the final handle.  But it had some plugs that filled holes, so it didn't look very elegant.  And I wanted to use some cherry for looks.

A final fitting before adding some finish

A still-wet coat of BLO - used three coats total over three days
(Excellent use of binder clips, huh?)

The old Stiletto handle was quite short.  I made the new one about an inch longer.

Old and new handles for the Stiletto

And finally, here are the two chisels with freshly made handles.  I'll have to see over time how the cherry holds up.  But I might not be bashing them with a mallet too much.

Glamour shot