Wa Handle Jig?

Hi All,
I recently had problems making a Wa handle when i tried to take down the corners. The angles were totally off on all of them and it looked horrible. Has anyone thought of a jig or some device that would allow for a perfect 45 degree angle every time? Thanks

Anthony

router table with a 45* bevel bit

Disc sander with the table at 45 degrees?

The angles were totally off on all of them and it looked horrible

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This just means you're keeping it real, as most of the wa handles out of Japan aren't particularly consistent on their angles either

Be well,
Mikey

I don't do a lot of octagons...prefer to make D handles... but for octagon, if you have a bandsaw - take a look at the jig here. Gives a rough idea: http://www.wkfinetools.com/contrib/jThompson/londPatternChiselH/londPatternChH-03.asp

It's a short leap to adapt that for handles that taper front to back...or works right away for equal width octagons. And concept is easily adjusted to work on a whole bunch of other tools including a router table or a belt/disc sander.

There's a different style you can use here: http://www.penturners.org/forum/f30/pen-blanks-corner-removers-jig-55143/

Look up chamfering jig on google and you'll find tons of other variations

I do a mix of 45* angle on the disc sander and a jig similar to the penturner one for the band saw. Band saw is much faster and I can then do the fine-tuning on the belt. But if a handle has metal, stone etc in it, I only sand it - sanding discs are much cheaper than saw blades....

Stefan

If you make some marks you can reference from while using a sander it gets a lot easier.

But as Mikey said, the chamfer bit is a good way of doing it.

I do all shaping freehand on disk sander (without rotating table to 45 degree). Yes all the angles are off, but you'd normally have to look pretty hard to notice it. In normal day to day usage you'd never feel that. Yet, all those above advices would help you to achieve more predictable results much quicker, then freehanding.
In my eyes errors makes handle a bit more "handmade"

I did totally free hand when I started, but I got lazy.... However, I only start the angles to have some guidance and then finish them free hand, so there are plenty of opportunities to mess up and make them look "handmade"

Stefan

router with 45 degree bit is a great idea, just make sure you do it with small increments and absolutely no metal spacers

pkjames said:

router with 45 degree bit is a great idea, just make sure you do it with small increments and absolutely no metal spacers

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Oh yeah, big +1 to that. Very important to use small increments to avoid tearout. Also need to pay attention to the direction of the grain.

Be well,
Mikey

Thanks everyone for the input. I have been doing it freehand with fairly simple tools, namely a 1x32 sander. Unlike some of the more patient and methodical members here I tend to jump right in when the handle, spacer and ferrule are relatively square. Things might not have been square this time and could have caused the issue. I have found hand sanding the angles tends to eliminate most of the imperfections. If I ever get around to registering for a photo upload site I'll post some pics. Thanks again.