I recently bought a used 2" Witherby socket framing chisel. My uncle would like to make the handle for it. He has done quite a bit of woodworking in his garage shop(pretty nice setup). He hasn't made a handle like this before. He mostly has done cabinetry -cradle, rocking chair, dresser, tool cabinets tables, etc and other type of woodwork. Not a ton of turning. Where can I get the ring that you often find at the end of the handle? Do I need to make one myself? I haven't been able to find them on the web.
Second question: What is the difference between a firmer and framing chisel? Are they the same thing?

brad_bb, I don't know if the ferrules are available commercially or not, but you can easily make one. I would look for a piece of steel pipe that had the diameter you needed and cut off a one inch piece. I have to make a couple of chisel handles and I was thinking of turning some out brass pipe fittings on the lathe, but I don't know if the brass is strong enough.

Dave

I make my rings from hardened steel. I buy adapters that they sell at the farm supply for converting cat.2 three point hitch to cat.1 implements. I cut 3 pieces out of each adapter sleeve using a cut off wheel mounted in my drill press. Tom

A Firmer is firmer than a bench chisel but a Framer is stronger still.

I was thinking if I cannot buy them that I would have to make them. Maybe from stainless tube? it should be strong enough (I've seen some with brass rings). I'm just not sure what size.
Ebay has some listings of stainless tube in 3/4, 7/8, 1", 1.25, 1.5... A little pricey for just one chisel ring, but if the tube gets sliced up into a bunch of rings maybe the cost can be made up for...
When you grip a chisel such as this, does your hand typically stay on the wood, or does your pinkie or bottom two fingers wrap around the socket itself?
How much of the handle protrudes above your hand typically? I'm sure you don't want it too close to where you'll be hitting with the mallet.
Tom, I'll keep the bushing in mind next time I'm at Farm and Fleet.

i used a piece of random hardwood i found in the shop and a block plane. it took about as much time to get all the oldbits out of my barr chisel socket as it did to put an appropriate taper on the bit of wood. if you don't like it, it's easy to try again.
on my sorby chisel for the ring i used a bit of metal i found in the plumbing section at the hardware store, it was three inches long, now i have two extra rings somewhere. i recall the handle was a bit of dry fruit tree branch i found in the firewood pile.
in one of the recent fine woodworking mags there's an article on making a handle for a socket chisel as well.

Just to speak to the handle length idea, I would say that the shorter the overall chisel is, the better. The fellow who taught me TF had an old framing chisel that he put the shortest possible handle on, which was a ferrule barely above the socket, and I remember it was a very useful tool. The longer the chisel gets, the more awkward it is in use. That being said, I would rather hold wood than steel so i make a handle just long enough to "keep my hand warm"
This advice goes out the window if you are getting a chisel ready for deep work, in that case you may need to grind the socket out of the way and also plane the handle a bit so that the plane of the back of the chisel can be extended as long as possible....

I am also a begginer turner. I have made three handles for my old chisels. One I tried to copy the old one, kind of barrel shaped and short...I don't like it. Second one I made longer and tapered from butt to chisel socket. Works but not right.
The last one I made as long as my hand is wide, barrel shaped and used a heavy copper repair ring on the end (Home Depot $2.00). I like this one.
I have found that keeping the chisel SHARP requires less work and I can get by with a smaller mallet, thus doing less damage to the chisel handle end.

Bob