In this video, I make a handle for a 19thcentury mortise socket chisel starting with a pear tree branch. Pear is a beautiful, dense, extremely finetextured fruit wood that is great for toolmaking. This Bradford pear branch fell off during a winter storm, as is very common with this ornamental variety. I use a variety of vintage hand tools, such as axes, saws, hand planes, and rasps, to process and dimension the wood into a traditional tapered octagonal handle that precisely fits the chisel's socket.

My goal in tool restoration is to make the tool clean and functional while preserving all of the unique signs of its age and history.