Source for Plastic Handle Material

Dec 16, 2006 6 Replies

I've looked all over Helen Back to find a supplier of fluted plastic rod material, the kind used for tool handles, etc. Does anyone know of a source for this material?


- Jack M.



The fluted handles on my tools were molded as handles, not machined from fluted rod. The blade (which has non-rotation ears or fins) is forced into the handle.

If you need only a few handles, buy some cheap screwdrivers and pull the blades out of the handles. It's easy.

I did this once, to make a joke tool - a "screwdriver" with two handles (one at each end) joined by a steel rod, but no blade.

Joe Gwinn

The rod does exist. I saw it used in a show on making tools. Don't know where to get it. Karl

jlmanatee wrote:

I have some acrylic rods about the right size but they crack if you try to pound on them. These were for trophies. The plastic you want is usually molded to shape and the exact blend escapes me however it is similar to PETG or lexan. Call GE polymershapes and see if they did a short run of the stuff and have leftovers. You may even be able to blend your own using a slurry of polyester resin and vinyl ester resin poured into a silicone mold.

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see

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if you need lots
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Unka' George (George McDuffee) .............................. Only in Britain could it be thought a defect to be "too clever by half." The probability is that too many people are too stupid by three-quarters.

John Major (b. 1943), British Conservative politician, prime minister. Quoted in: Observer (London, 7 July 1991).

It is commonly butyrate. That is the dictinctive small on Craftsman screwdrivers.

IIRC it is a cellulose based plastic.

Brownell's has these:

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The used to carry the butyrate rod in various sizes, round and fluted, but looks like they've discontinued it. Was intended for making tool handles but had other uses. One brand name was "Tenite", if you get to searching.

Stan

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