A long time ago, like another lifetime, I ordered some chisels from Lewis Luthier Supplies in Canada.

This was the mid seventies, I was just beginning a career as a guitar maker and repairer. I needed good quality tools and earned money working for Skilled Engineering as a boiler attendant. That was a qualification I gained though contacts and then an oral exam. Really old school. All a part of the plan to use part time work while I was building my guitar related skills. I’m still big on plans.

It was a quite a thing in those days to order from overseas needing bank drafts and of course snail mail and very long waits between contacting people.. Yes there was life and commerce before the internet. I remember getting a spare handle with the order but I’d never used it…until now.

I’ve cut down this beautiful Brazilian rosewood handle and added a steel insert with a 3/16″ ID for accepting an AN3-24A bolt. It was the pick of my handle collection.

Here it is installed in the plane as my canopy handle. It is super secure and I may be hanging on to it during severe turbulence.  It is certainly strong enough to use moving my rather heavy canopy open and closed from the inside.