I have bought a fair few secondhand drawknives over the years and this time made a bad call. The blade is good, the maker Cornelius Whitehouse. The handles where both cracked, always a bad sign. Take a look at this.
This drawknife will need a new tang welded onto it. I do not do welding so this is more time and expense to renovate this knife. Note the bit of the tang still left in the split off handle.
Split handles often mean that the tool has been stored in the damp. The handles being wood tend to soak up any moisture making the tangs rust, and then due to the rusting process the handles can split.
When buying old tools with tanged handles, beware of split handles, it often means the rust has blown them apart.
If you want to know how to put new handles on a drawknife then have a look at this post I did a few years ago. http://seanhellman.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/how-to-handle-drawknife-and-other.html
