The Garden Tiller - Part 1

   Every now and then this question pops up -  "Can you fix something like this?"    I usually answer "Sure - no Problem", but in my mind (which seems to be fading more and more each month)  I wonder how one would fix this item.   Especially since it looks worn out and is well past its intended purpose in life.  (What?  After coming up with that thought I broke out in a cold sweat thinking about my next medical checkup and what might be going through my doctor's mind as he is looking at my chart.)

   The picture to the left shows the next project I will be working on.   There used to be several of these around the country and I guess they must of been a handy little machine to weed between  garden rows or something.   I'm not sure.    I looked one up E-bay and one like this in decent shape sells for $150.00.   The tiller pictured here is one that the kids bought on my In Laws farm sale a few years back and they had asked me if I could make some new handles.   I don't think there is any thought about gardening - I think it will end up being a lawn ornament of some sort.  I could just cut out a duplicate from a board in the scrap pile, but I wanted to try my luck at bending wood to form the handle.   (It's the experience that counts - right???)   One of the handles was  already broken and the other one, although complete, had deteriorated quite a bit.  (This is where I take a $150 antique and reduce it down to a $5.00 value.)

   To my best guess, It looks like the old handles were made out of oak.    I have never done this before, but I have see the results of someone else doing this process to bend wood.   So my plan is to try to duplicate their efforts.  I started by taking some Burr Oak that I had in the scrap wood pile and running it through the table saw making several strips that were a little over 1/4th of an inch thick.    From there I took each of those strips and ran them through the planner so that each strip was equal in thickness which was roughly 3/16 of an inch.    It will take 10 strips to make one handle about 1 3/4 inches wide.

      So the goal here is to form a jig with a curve in it.   Then I will put glue on the 10 individual strips and clamp the strips around the curve of the jig.   (It makes sense doesn't it - first saw a board into strips and then glue the strips to make a board. -  Maybe I should get out of the shop and have fun or something...)   The picture to the left is some scrap particle board that I have laying around.    I glued two boards together and then drew the curve part on to the top board.   I then cut the curve part out and glued and screwed that part down onto a third board.

    The picture to the right shows the jig.    Hopefully this works.   My fear is that as I am bending the wood, something might snap.   (Like my temper.)   Next week we will blog about my attempts to make the curved handles.   (I don't know why I bothered with the compass - I should have just followed the curvature of that tail !!!  Hey you!!   How about a smile for the camera.   I wonder what is going on in that little mind right now.)