Process

We had a bit of a trip out this evening, so I am very late in adding anything. I thought rather than try any sketching I would quickly jot down what I learnt from this handle making. The top of the list was not to make the back plate first as the handle part is much harder to make, so it is easier to make up two handles and then cut back plates to an appropriate size.
I made eyerything except the last few hammer adjustments by drawing down and as noted before that is a lot easier than jumping things up. I deliberately made the ends as in the third unit. this gave them a natural tendency to curve that way, but I knew I would want that tail to bend right over and bend back on itself. It was really useful having an assistant on hand for the twisting as I needed to keep the heat really local to one spot and we had to use a water spray to cool down certain parts while still heating others. I should have put the heavy center section in the vice and twisted each end, but I put one end in and tried to twist the middle, which worked, but it would have been easier the other way. So twisted one way in pic 4, then put the center section in the vice and twisted each end back the other way to give a counter twist at each end in pic 5. It would have been better to keep a proper count of twists, as it is easy to lose track in the heat of the moment.
Then it was easier to work with the handle of rebar taken off, so I sawed off the lump of excess steel and worked each end in turn holding the end of the piece itself. The last stage was bending the ends round after doing some more shaping with the hammer, which gave the handles their final length. You can jump up the ends a little when they are bent over by heating the flat of the end really yellow and whacking it down on the anvil like it was a hammer. This gives just a little more flare to the end and can flatten it out for you a little, but until I become an expert there is always going to be a bit of grinding to mate up the back plate and the handle. I drill a wide hole where the handle meets the plate and then weld the edge of the hole to the handle from the back. All jibberish I imagine, as I am ready for bed.