Tap Wrench

Years ago, I bought a cheap crappy "made in India" tap handle for my larger 5/8" and 3/4" taps. The craftsmanship on this handle is so bad, I cringe every time I get it out to use it. But, since it does occasionaly serve it's intended purpose, I keep it. It's biggest problem is the handles are so long that I can't use it in the lathe, mill, or drill press. Yes, I could cut the handles off, but then I would loose a bit of leverage.

When the June/July 2007 issue of Machinist's Workshop came, I saw that James W. Hauser had another nice project that fit my needs. It's called "Straight Tap Wrench", and is a real nice design. Mine is built as described in the article, but maybe just a little bit heavier as I needed it for medium sized taps in the 3/8" to 5/8" range. The base part of the handle came from 7/8" hot roll and the knurled handle from 5/8". The tap holding pins were from other steel in the scrap bin. The 5/16" hole for the pins is 4" deep and my 19/64" jobber drill is barely 4-1/2" long, so it was just enough to get the job done.