Hand Piece

The hand piece should fit comfortably in your hand. The size is somewhat important, your fingers should not easily wrap around it all the way as they could get in the way when the spindle is in place. Its purpose is to hold the spindle in place and apply downward pressure on it

Here are a variety of holds and sizes that have worked well for myself. The one on the bottom right is a piece of antler. The hardness of this piece of wood or bone should be the same or greater then the spindle and the baseboard as you do not want it to heat up much. .In fact, it should be lubricated to stop it from heating.

It is made by simply notching out a round hole with a knife or rock--the spindle will burn the rest away. After a suitable hole is burned (enough to hold in spindle), you lubricate it with soap, wax, Pine sap or needles. The black oozing material seen in the pictures is an accumulation of lubrication.