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22 Oct 2025
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22 Oct 2025
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Billy Carter using a vintage handle maker at the Tullamore Show
LIKE magic, Billy Carter fashions a perfectly formed fork handle from a square piece of timber using a century-old machine.
The Portlaoise man is an expert on all things vintage and a week before exhibiting at the Tullamore Show he was indulging his other passion, steam preservation at the famous Stradbally event.
Hundreds of onlookers were captivated by his chainsaw and drag saw at the Tullamore Show, both powered by separate petrol engines.
Billy reckons the two-man chainsaw was first manufactured in the 1940s while the dragsaw is probably of similar vintage.
“I've been collecting all my life,” he said.
A Nuffield tractor (pictured below), owned by Tullamore man Joe Clancy, drives the belt which spins Billy's star attraction, the handle maker.
Billy feeds a square piece of ash into the machine: “It goes in as a square and comes out round at the other end. They had them in a lot of sawmills years ago and a farmer would come in looking for a handle.”
Billy is concerned about the impact of ash dieback on his raw material. For the moment however, he has a supply and the ash is ideal for handles.
“You get a nice straight grain in it,” he remarked.
He was among 50,000 at the show in Offaly on August 13.
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