The
Type H No.2 has had its main handle
thickened
even more, this time to its final size. That was still inadequate,
and most No.2's develop a loose handle sooner or later. The difficulty
lay in two deficiencies that were never corrected. First, Millers Falls
did not understand the need to relieve the brass ferrules that
reinforce
the handles of the stress of being formed cold, and so they all
eventually
cracked. Secondly, the shaft of the main handle is coarsely threaded,
and
the crude threads that shaft impressed into the rosewood did not
withstand
the wiggling and twisting caused by using the drill. The rosewood
simply
turns to powder in the threaded area. Note also that the side handle of
the Type H now has the more graceful shape of a modern doorknob. I
suspect
that the side handles were all made by an outside vendor. I have never
seen one made of anything but stained hardwood; never of the
magnificent
rosewood that Millers Falls used for the crank handles and main
handles;
and for the egg-shaped side handles of the early MF No.2's w.LRRCW's.