[nodrim]

Hello hello :)

I am a new member and I am turning to all you experienced wood workers with a bit of a special question I believe, as I tried Googling it quite a lot and I didn’t really find any good answers, so I am in need of some support of real living people. :)

Well, what I am trying to make is a fin key for screwing fins on surfboards and I would really like to make the handle from wood as it looks amazing in my opinion.

I have tried a couple of prototypes, first one with ply wood and second one (on the 2 photos) with hard-wood. In both cases I have glued 2 wood pieces around an Allen wrench (the one I used is bent at 45 degrees inside the wood part), after carving suitable groves on the insides for the wrench to sit in. I tried using super-glue first and then latex woodworking adhesive.

When trying to use the finished key, the plywood wasn’t strong enough for the forces of screwing and it broke and the hardwood one, split on the glue line.

 

So, my question is: how can I make a tiny wooden handle for such a tool that would be strong enough and last a long time? Dimensions of the handle (hand carved and sanded) on the photos are L:25 mm, H: 8mm, W: 10 mm.

For the other handles I would kind of like to stay in the same range of dimensions, they might be different shapes, but always hand-carved. So far I have found a couple of methods of making a handle around a wrench. Attaching 2 pieces of wood around the wrench (gluing, screwing, riveting). Sharpening one end of the wrench and just jamming it in the wood. Maybe using a small ferrule is also a good idea to keep the strength.

 

Am I on the right track? Am I doing something incredibly stupid? :) Any help will be much appreciated!

 

Regards,

Milan

Attachments:

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   finkey001.jpg

Topic

[James Wright]

#2028748

I would try to stay away from any glue joint at all in water most will just become a week point. it looks like you drilled through and then carved out a slot for the L to fit. that seams like a good track. I would love to use teak or some other water and swell resistant wood. Hard wood would be better. then seal the whole thing in Epoxy. if you really want to get into it I would do stabilize it with an epoxy in a vacuum chamber to let it soak into the wood.

[nodrim]

#2028750

Hi James,

Thanks for the advice, vacuum chamber sounds great, but I won’t be able to get to one any time soon.

As for this one in the photos, it’s actually made from 2 pieces glued together and then sanded and just oiled a bit for the look of it. It was just a test piece to see if the woodworking glue would be strong enough for actual use of the tool.

The tool itself won’t be used in water, maybe a bit damp sometimes, but in general never, so that shouldn’t be a problem. I am more concerned with making it strong enough so it doesn’t split.

I’m not sure if I can make it only from wood, maybe some metal for reinforcement? Like soldering the Allen wrench to a small metal plate that would then be inserted between the 2 wood pieces and then rivet everything together? Or is it better to stay at 1 single wooden piece and just nail the wrench in it or with a drilled hole and a bit of carving and then adding epoxy to the inside?

[Author]

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