What tool is this??

[Fish30114]

Nick Wheeler posted this video shortly ago here, and I am curious if someone can point me to whatever tool that is that nick is using to 'broach out' the hole once drilled into the handle blank for the tang. I think this would be a key piece of equipment to do this job well, if there is something else to use, please advise as to that as well.

Thanks--Don


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km-A8ozFTLU&feature=player_embedded

 

[Jason Fry]

That tool is called a broach. I'm not 100% sure but that looks like one of John Perry's broaches. Bruce Bump makes a broach that is sold at Usa Knifemaker. There are also several ways to make one yourself. Some folks grind down a sawzall blade or a wood rasp. I made my broach out of an old flat head screwdriver.

 

[i4Marc]

Knowing that Nick likes to build a lot of his own tools I'd wager that he made his broaches. I make my own broaches out of scrap knife steel. They are pretty easy to make. If you can make a knife, you certainly can make broaches.

 

[lastbrunneng]

In Nick's "stuck in the metal with you" thread he gives info on his broaches.

 

[Fish30114]

Good feedback folks--I appreciate it.

Knowing that Nick likes to build a lot of his own tools I'd wager that he made his broaches. I make my own broaches out of scrap knife steel. They are pretty easy to make. If you can make a knife, you certainly can make broaches.

Well Marc, that remains to be seen!

 

[logem]

I made my own handle broach after a small amount of research.

The following photo shows a typical tooth design for a metal broach. These are mostly used for cutting key ways in the bore of pulleys, gears, etc., yet the photo gets one started on the idea of the tooth profile needed for broaching.

The next image shows a more desirable tooth profile for broaching softer materials. The shape is very much like a wood cutting band saw blade tooth. It has a more drastic relief angle on the back side of each tooth's cutting edge, than what would be needed for broaching metal in a machine shop. Notice that this image shows each subsequent tooth having a taller profile than the one before; this is meant so that the first tooth cuts a first amount of material, the second one a bit more, and so on.

Small hand files, a grinder, and some careful attention to assure a sharp cutting edge and a consistent relief angle on each tooth will make a good broach. The sharps should be touched up after heat treating. Not too hard to make for a very specialized tool.

I used 1/8" x 1/4" O1 tool steel to make my broach. I didn't worry too much about making each trailing tooth taller than the one before. I kept their heights relatively the same.

This is a photo of the resulting broach:

I would imagine that a broaches with various cutting widths would be useful if working with significantly different tang thicknesses.

Hope this helps someone.

Mike L.

 

[Maelstrom78]

Good info.

 

[Maine1]

After searching for a while for what others used, I said F it, and used a cutoff wheel to cut various shape width strips from a farriers rasp. works and its pretty quick, and i can get several tools from 1 rasp, some taylor made for certain jobs.