Originally Posted by
georgerkahn
I was in need for handles a while back, and a light kind of lit up when I saw the broom handle with threaded tip broken off which had been standing in shed for year -- yes, I couldn't throw it away as it might come in handy.
I cut it to good lengths, and drilled hole in its center for the tangs. Chucked it in my wood lathe, and turned it down a bit. Put on a coat of beeswax+ boiled linseed oil mix -- and they function well, plus look good.
On the first set, I made the hole too small, and in hitting metal handles with a mallet to raise the new wooden ones, one cracked right down the middle. Lesson learned? Don't make the holes too small. Commercial manufacturers probably learned this, too -- which is why some handles loosen and fall off after a bit of use. A bit of whatever-epoxy one has at hand cures that fault.
Just what I did...
geo