Home Built Tap Wrench Project

Winegrower said:
I think not…these taps are pretty hard, many with a small pyramid on the end. My center drills wouldn’t be able to drill into them.

Congrats on a great find at a staggering price!
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That makes sense that it wouldn't work, then. That's too bad because it might have been an easy solution. Thanks on the set I found. I figured at the time it was a good deal and have since learned it was an amazing deal!
 
afreeland said:
Aahh nooo, those were looking great too! Been eyeing the Starret tap wrenches and thought I might try my hand at some when I stumbled across these, which look awesome. Appreciate you posting this even though I'm sure this was probably pretty frustrating. Did you ever remake this and if so how did you go about hardening this to hold up? I am new to machining and never tried any heat treating, so any advice is appreciated.
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I love it when we bring back old threads. They are still of good value.
I had not seen these shop made tap handles. Well done for sure.
In reading through these comments it occured to me that most of these members are absent today.
Do we just lose interest? Die off? Go another direction?

afreeland, (welcome)
The Starrett 91 series are very well made tap wrenches. I have the 91B and 91C. I did have to lap the pivot point (the end where it grinds against the opposite when tightening) It felt like there was grit in there.
After that they work slick.
I can see the weak point is where this one broke. Lots of stress there.
 
Winegrower said:
I see. The issue for me is that some taps have a centering hole as a reference, but others don't. In fact many of my taps, especially the smaller sizes actually have a pyramid, just the opposite of what I'd like.

Well, maybe I need all new taps. :)
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I think all my taps have center holes. =very handy for alignment in the mill.
I’ll have to check. I don’t know how I would line up without them??
 
All my smaller taps use a cone point sticking up.
 
If you'll read @Jake M post above. Most of the tap followers like he shows a link to, you can flip the point around and there is an indent on the other end to use the pointed taps.
 
Jake M said:
I know that buying tools isn't really in the spirit of the thread, but I have one of these and it's quite useful, quite cheap (in every sense of the word), but it does a pretty good job. The pointy bit can be reversed to capture the cone on top of many smaller taps.

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That's a very handy looking tool. I'm going to order one today. I'm not sure what the tops of my vintage Wells Bros/Greenfield taps look like offhand, but I don't recall there being a recess - I think they are just a more flat top. I'll have to look when I get home, but regardless, this slick tool is going to be headed my way!
 
You unscrew the knurled section and turn the pointed tip around. There is a cone on other end.
 
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