Ok,  cleared the bench,was going for a glue up.....hmm, where is the glue?    Time out!  had to go to the store for a bottle of Elmers.  Took awhile, as the Boss had to go along. 

Got back home, finally.  Dug out the acid brushes  I got at an auction awhile back.   Spread alot of glue on the dovetail pins, brushing it out.  used pipe clamps to clamp it up....and then the cussing started in.

 

Pipe clamps were a bit LONG...how long?

Yeah, at least I kept it simple, and did just the bottom one first, the other end wasn't much better.

New use for the D handle of my sander?  Was going to use a series of wedges to help the clamps.....Not enough hands to hold the wedges in place, and clamp things down at the same time....several wedges got flying lessons, while getting their family tree traced.  Finally got things to tighten down

One end at least the clamps stayed put.  Was able to add some others.   Wound up adding a third clamp at each end, to pull the middle in tight.  Whew....

Tossed the bottom plank on top of all this mess, to keep it where I could at least reach it.   Now, time to shape the handle......now where did the handle go??

 

had to crawl back under the clamps, as the blank for the handle was clear back behind all the action...more cussing.  Hard on the old knees, too.  Tried a 1" spade bit, to drill the finger grip areas....bit was too long....more cussing.   Dug out the 7/8" Forstner bit, and a scrap of pine.  Five overlapping holes, then slide the bit around to remove the ridges....almost

had just enough room in the end vise.  Spokeshave to start a roundover.    "shave" won't fit into the grip area....well, we have ways.   drag the beltsander out from under the clamp.  Sander has a very small front wheel.  Used that to get inside the grip area and round over the edges, even removed the rest of the ridges in there.  Small plane to add to the round overs along the long edges, beltsander to sand areas the shave and plane can't.  Got one end done

then flipped the handle around and worked the other sides

Until all the top edges were done.   Turned it so the bottom edge was showing, and just knock the sharp edges off with a #3 plane.   Took a few swipes.   A lookat the three planes?

Millers falls No.56B, a Stanley made for wards #3 from WWII era, and a Stanley No.64 spokeshave.  I think I'll call it a night,and wait til tomorrow to remove all them clamps.   project is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel....stay tuned

Nothing like trying to put pipe clamps on an angled surface- by yourself. There's just not enough hands to go around.

Nice work on the tote handle.