Dreaming up a Solution – FineWoodworking

In this series, I have been exploring how to make and modify handles for common hand tools, with a focus on ergonomics. The motivation is personal: I live with chronic hand pain from tendonitis and arthritis—complications of hemophilia and years of repetitive work—and small changes in tool design make a big difference. But whether you spend a few hours a week in the shop or build full-time, it’s worth thinking about how your tools meet your hands. Today I will talk about making a new tool/sanding aid for the shop that will hopefully relieve stress and pain on my hands.
Some of the smallest repetitive jobs are the ones that hurt my hands the most. This week I fit a couple of banjo necks to the bodies. Even though these are carefully cut with a router, I want them to mate perfectly, with no gaps. The first task is to carefully cut the end grain, just the smallest slice, with a chisel. For this, I firmly grab the neck with one hand and chisel the end grain with the other. It usually takes a couple of tries to get it close. Next, I test fit the neck and rim together. If it needs a little more work, I insert a strip of sand paper between the neck and rim, push it hard together and pull the sandpaper out. We call this “flossing” the neck joint. This task seems small, but pinching the sandpaper hard enough with one hand and squeezing the joint together with the other, then flossing the paper out under pressure is a challenge.

I probably did this task for 45 minutes, twice this week, and my hands were really painful each night.

Last night, I dreamed about a YouTube video I saw of a Japanese craftsman fitting the skin on a Shamisen body. He held the skin with these little wooden clamps that pinched the skin tightly with a wedge. In my dream, I took one of these clamps and pinched the sand paper in it, so I could pull on the clamp itself, instead of trying to deathgrip the sandpaper with my thumb and finger. Here is the video, well worth the watch.

First, I went to my box of orphan handles and chose a short one, with a smooth, round shape.

Next, I clamped it in a handscrew so I can saw it in half. FYI, round things are very dangerous to run through the bandsaw, unless you can secure the work somehow. File this under yet another use for the humble hand screw clamp.

I then had to file a groove on the outside to hold a piece of wire and a groove on the inside to hold a peg as a pivot point. Note that the handle already had a groove down the middle in the wrong direction. I might need to fill it in order to get more surface area to grip the sandpaper.

After the wire is tightened, I made a wedge, added a strip of paper and tested it out.

It works well, certainly saving my thumbs, but is a little slower to use, probably because I am new to it.

I am using 120 paper, with a cellophane backing so it doesn’t mark up the body, which we are trying to not sand. It breaks frequently, which is annoying to deal with when you have to put a new piece in the clamp. I might try stronger cloth backed sanding strips, but. have to make sure they won’t mark up the body.

From a video made thousands of miles away, to my dream, to my workbench, to your eyes. I hope you will try something like this out next time you have a puzzle to solve in the shop. The solution might be out there, waiting for you to sleep on it.