SP5315
08-06-2013, 06:45 PM
I sat down this morning to do a little casting. The wood handle on my Lee six cavity mold handles was loose again. So I grab my rawhide mallet to tap the wood handles back into place and son of a gun the handle spit apart from one end to the other. I grabbed a spare set and went to casting.
Around noon I was off to the to the hardware store to pick up parts for another project I was going to be working on and I spotted the dowel rack that got me to thinking about my broken wood handles.
I picked out a 7/8 Poplar dowel and headed to hardware. I found the 1/8 roll pins and picked up half a dozen.
After finishing up my other project I decided to give fixing the mold handles a shot.
I started by cutting two 5 3/4 inches pieces of the 7/8 dowel. I removed the other handle from the Lee mold handles and salvaged both of the metal ferrules
78478
I drilled a 1/4 inch pilot hole into the end of the dowels followed by a 7/16 drill bit to 3 inches deep.
78479
78480
I headed over to my bench mounted wire brush an beveled the edge of the handles just enough to start into the metal ferrules. I used an arbor press to press fit the ferrules onto the end of the wood handles. I suppose you could also use a wood clamp to seat the ferrules.
78481
78482
78483
I gave the handles a lite sanding. I found an old can of oak stain and stained the handles.
78484
I installed the new handles and drilled both sides for the 1/8 roll pins. I installed the pins and filed flush with the ferrules.
78485
78487
78488
Total time or repair 35 minutes and about 2 bucks.
I have a couple of older Lyman mold handles missing the wood handles, these will be my next project.
Around noon I was off to the to the hardware store to pick up parts for another project I was going to be working on and I spotted the dowel rack that got me to thinking about my broken wood handles.
I picked out a 7/8 Poplar dowel and headed to hardware. I found the 1/8 roll pins and picked up half a dozen.
After finishing up my other project I decided to give fixing the mold handles a shot.
I started by cutting two 5 3/4 inches pieces of the 7/8 dowel. I removed the other handle from the Lee mold handles and salvaged both of the metal ferrules
78478
I drilled a 1/4 inch pilot hole into the end of the dowels followed by a 7/16 drill bit to 3 inches deep.
78479
78480
I headed over to my bench mounted wire brush an beveled the edge of the handles just enough to start into the metal ferrules. I used an arbor press to press fit the ferrules onto the end of the wood handles. I suppose you could also use a wood clamp to seat the ferrules.
78481
78482
78483
I gave the handles a lite sanding. I found an old can of oak stain and stained the handles.
78484
I installed the new handles and drilled both sides for the 1/8 roll pins. I installed the pins and filed flush with the ferrules.
78485
78487
78488
Total time or repair 35 minutes and about 2 bucks.
I have a couple of older Lyman mold handles missing the wood handles, these will be my next project.