Here’s ho(o)ping

Hi again faithful reader,

Recently I was required to set some chisel hoops, and as I have not yet mentioned how I go about this, I figured I should take some pictures, write some words and let you all in on the secret. And the secret is, there is no secret. And there is no right or wrong way to do the job, so long as the hoop hold together the wood at the whacking end of the handle, it’s fine.

However, there are some tricks and arguably a more ‘correct’ way to do the job.

And this is how I do it…

First, you will need to get ready and round up the required tools for the job.

Nothing really special here, just a decent hammer, an adjustable spanner(wrench), a small ruler and the chisel you plan to set the hoop on. There are a few other bits and pieces, but we shall see them as we go. The small anvil looking device is obviously, a small anvil. It’s not necessary, but can be useful at times.

The first step is to get the hoop off the handle. Normally, the hoop is pressed onto the handle as a rather tight fit, and can be very difficult to remove. I’ve seen various methods to get the things off, but have settled on using the adjustable spanner.

The good points are that it is universal fit, does not mark the hoop up like a single point tool might, and it takes the hoop off in a relatively straight manner. Do be careful as a skewed handle can end up being marked by the jaws of the spanner.

Simply clamp the handle of the spanner to a solid surface (I’m using my cheapo Workmate clone), adjust the jaws of the spanner so they are snug on the handle, then backed off just enough that the handle can move freely and then using a drift (chunk of something)drive the handle out.

By holding both the drift and handle in one hand, and using the hammer with the other, you can avoid the chisel being out of control when it finally sheds its hoop.

Next, you will need to inspect the hoop for anything that might cause later trouble like burrs, sharp edges and protrusions. As this hoop is a premium model, it’s ready to go with no adulteration by me. Most better quality chisels have hoops that really don’t need any adjustment, but you should still check every time in case a questionable one sneaks in.

(Note the heavy beveling on this hoop. Very useful.)

Now, we need to temporarily reduce the diameter on the end of the handle so the hoop can slide down further than it could before we started messing with it and this is where the various methods can begin to diversify.

Some descriptions of this process call for trimming the wood, filing the wood or sanding the wood so the hoop will slide down. This is ok by me if it’s ok by you. If you are keeping silent on the matter and waiting for what I suggest, then I suggest you never remove any wood unless it becomes absolutely necessary. You won’t know that right now, so put the rasp down and get your eyes off the knife.

I always pound the wood with a hammer. Always. Of the many chisels I have set hoops on, less than 1 in 10 require anything more than a good whack or twenty. I even bought myself a hammer for the job, kinda…

On the left is a standard octagonal style Japanese hammer/gennou. It has a flat face and a convex face and we want to use the convex face here. Even better is a hammer with a rounded striking face that has no sharp edges, like the common garden variety claw hammer on the right. I really did buy this one to set a chisel hoop, and it even gets used to drive the odd nail or two which I think is obvious.

Now, what we are going to do is hit the area where the hoop will live with the hammer in order to compress the fibres and reduce the diameter so the hoop can slide down just a little further and with no forcing or whacking. I like to get the handle small enough to allow the hoop to slide down under its own weight so the top of the hoop is flush with the handle. And we are only going to hit the very end, like it shows in the picture.

You can put the handle on a chunk of steel to hit it (which I used to do) or something that has enough mass that it won’t be affected by the hammer blows. I now use a short chunk of hardwood sitting on the concrete floor, held with my feet. Left hand holds the chisel in the right spot, right hand wields the whacking implement. It’s a little convoluted and yoga like, but it works for me. Whatever you do, consider that you will be hitting the handle about as hard as you would be driving a framing size nail so make sure that what you are resting the handle on is up to the job.

Whilst hitting the handle, continually roll the handle so you are not hitting the same spot twice. Continually checking the fit of the hoop and then hitting the handle where required until you get the hoop to fall down as far as you need it to. Compare the compressed handle on the left to the ‘as delivered’ handle on the right. It doesn’t look like much of a difference, but the one of the left is sitting there without being pushed at all, the one on the right is fixed tight.

Next, we need to set the hoop down further on the handle, and again this is where my own preferred method varies a little. You can simply tap the hoop down with a hammer, use a drift to do the job or even a nail puller/cat’s paw tool to push the hoop down. I prefer to make a small hardwood block with a hole drilled into it just the right size and depth.

First, measure the handle’s outer diameter.

Then, take a nice, solid piece of hardwood (I used beech) and drill a blind (not through!) hole about 3mm-1/8″ deep.

Then simply place your special purpose tool on the end of the handle, give it a tap or three and stop when the hoop stops moving down. Hey Presto! Your hoop is pre-set on the handle 3mm further down the handle than when we started, nicely square to the end and undamaged. Amazing, isn’t it?

Now, we need to flare the wood of the handle so that the hoop will never come off, and this is where you need to give the chisel a little drink of water. Just a small shot will do…

After the wood is well soaked (10-20 minutes), take your hammer and tap the outer edges so that the wood will flare out over the hoop. You may find that the wood may appear to dry out as you go, and a quick dip will wet things again. Ideally I like to use hot water and on occasion I will use a hair dryer to add some heat to the wood and make it a little more pliable.

All we are looking for is enough of a flare in the wood to prevent the hoop from moving. I tend to leave the flare very slight, but you can really beat the wood into submission if you wish. I prefer to save my hammer swings to actually cut wood, so only flare enough to hold the hoop and allow the wood to further flare with actual use.

The next pic shows how little a flare is required to make sure hoop never slips back, not that it can since by now it’s effectively locked tight.

Next, we let the chisel dry out (hair dryer mayhaps?) and a quick spritz of lacquer or a dip in preserving oil to prevent the hoop from rusting and the handle picking up unsavoury marks and your chisel is ready to use.

At no point in the process did the blade touch anything harder than air. In the past I have driven the blade into a nice, large chunk of wood which does make the flaring operation faster, but also risks chipping the edge. Do not hold the handle in a vise while flaring, you will almost certainly separate the blade from the handle. At no point in this process should be blade be uncontrolled, you should always be able to keep a hand on it so that it won’t turn around and bite you at any point.

So, there you have yet another way to get this potentially annoying, but ultimately important task done. I won’t lie to you and say it’s a fast process since it takes about 30 minutes start to finish, with 10-20 minutes spent actually doing something to the handle, and 10-15 minutes allowing the handle to suck up some moisture. If you have more than one chisel to do, then the process should be to de-hoop and prepare the handle then drive the hoop down and put it in the water, then move on to de-hooping and preparing the next handle, once it’s ready for wetting, pull the initial chisel out and get to work flaring the first chisel. Once that’s done, de-hoop and prepare the next handle and the process continues until you are done. On this particular day, I had 6 to do and it took me just over 2 hours at a leisurely pace.

There is also the possibility to ‘tune’ the handle to some extent. All this means is that you can make the handle stiffer or softer, depending on what you do to the finished handle. As the hoop will hold the wood fibres together regardless of what you do to the wood, by ‘smashing’ the fibres over the entire area of the handle end, you can make the handle absorb some of the impact from the hammer used to drive the chisel. Conversely, I have also heard of some users setting the hoop, flaring the wood and then soaking the handle in lacquer until the handle is a solid mass of wood fibres and lacquer making the handle extra stiff. I can’t see why anyone would wish to do this, but it has been done before. I don’t think this is easily reversible however, so try it at your own risk.

The next time you find yourself needing to set some hoops on your Japanese chisels, I do ho(o)pe that this little guide helps you out.

Or you could just order them with the hoops pre-set…

Thanks for reading, as always…

Stu.