Favorite handle manufacturor?

What's your favorite handle manufacturer?

  • House Handle

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • O P Link

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Tennessee Hickory

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other (Gransfors, Wetterlings, etc.)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    0
filedog

filedog

Joined
Sep 3, 2002
Messages
518
I've only seen handles from 2 companies, House and O P link. The Boy's Axe handle I got from House has
good grain, and no heartwood, but the shoulder is thick, and the knob seems too long and fat. I looked at
O P Link handles at the local hardware stores, and they had a much better (slimmer) profile, but all had
nearly horizontal grain. What's your favorite brand of manufactured handle, and why?
 
I voted for Tennessee Hickory because I feel they have the best wood - straightest, strongest, best grain. They're too fat but nearly every makers' handles need to be customized to some degree. I think of TH handles as a blank - a starting point. I put House Handle at a very close second. They have better shape from the factory but many of them aren't straight or have crooked swells.

To be fair, my experience with O.P. Link is with hardware store handles. I don't think my local hardware stores are buying Link's best grade handles. Their shape tends to be good but their grains are lousy and they can't cut a straight kerf to safe their life. Honestly, I think handle makers shouldn't bother cutting kerfs unless they can cut it straight and on center. Anyone who can re-handle an axe should be able to do a decent job of cutting a kerf.
 
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Square_peg said:
I voted for Tennessee Hickory because I feel they have the best wood - straightest, strongest, best grain. They're too fat but nearly every makers' handles need to be customized to some degree.
I think of TH handles as a blank - a starting point.

So do you end up having to reduce the whole handle? What tools do you use, a spokeshave? Do you order from their ebay store?

I put House Handle at a very close second. They have better shape from the factory but many of them aren't straight or have crooked swells.

Yep, mine has a crooked swell too, that seems easy to correct.

To be fair, my experience with O.P. Link is with hardware store handles. I don't think my local hardware stores are buying Link's best grade handles. Their shape tends to be good but their grains are lousy and they can't cut a straight kerf to safe their life. Honestly, I think handle makers shouldn't bother cutting kerf unless they can it straight and on center. Anyone who can re-handle an axe should be able to do a decent job of cutting a kerf.
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Is it possible to order direct from Link? Bernie Weisgerber mentions he gets his handles custom made from them. Sure would be nice to order hand selected and no varnish, like we can from House.
 
I am my own favorite handle manufacturer. (Cheeky yellow circle face with a smug, toothy little grin, winking).

E.DB.
 
Ernest DuBois said:
I am my own favorite handle manufacturer. (Cheeky yellow circle face with a smug, toothy little grin, winking).

E.DB.
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I'd like to give that a try. Haven't found any sources for wood (I'm in the desert SW),
but I did spot a dead Elm.......
 
What are you thinking of putting a handle to?
Are you right in the desert or in town?
You got black locust there don't you?
I found a double bitted axe out in the desert in Utah one time. It had an old hickory handle held to it with bailing wire.
E.DB.
 
What are you thinking of putting a handle to?
Are you right in the desert or in town?
You got black locust there don't you?
I found a double bitted axe out in the desert in Utah one time. It had an old hickory handle held to it with bailing wire.
E.DB.
 
I'm going to be picking up an order at House Handle in Cassville, MO next month. Will take some photos to post.
 
Ernest DuBois said:
What are you thinking of putting a handle to?
Are you right in the desert or in town?
You got black locust there don't you?
I found a double bitted axe out in the desert in Utah one time. It had an old hickory handle held to it with bailing wire.
E.DB.
Click to expand...

Nothing in particular yet. I'm in town, not familiar with Black Locust by sight, I'll have to learn.
 
My experience with TH has been positive as well.
Look on eBay for 'Hickory Handle Store'
There's also Billy j Bluegrass.
 
I was pretty happy with my selected house handle order. The grain was good but the shapes were a bit uneven. They had several "by request" options and sizes and I could not find anyone else who would even be able to produce half of what I wanted (i.e. not 36") in one order. I have a half dozen or so still unmounted I can take a pic of once that camera is charged if there is interest.

I did not vote because I only have experience with them and wetterlings (those are bulky, no real shock absorption)
 
filedog said:
So do you end up having to reduce the whole handle? What tools do you use, a spokeshave? Do you order from their ebay store?
Click to expand...

I've ordered off of ebay but more often I buy from a local saw shop who stocks TH. I use spokeshaves and rasps if I have time or an angle grinder with 36 grit if I'm in a hurry.

Yes, I reduce the whole handle with particular focus on the grip area just above the swell. They're like a damned bat as they come from the factory. I bet I remove close to 20% of the total mass when I reshape one.
 
sywagon said:
I was pretty happy with my selected house handle order. The grain was good but the shapes were a bit uneven. They had several "by request" options and sizes and I could not find anyone else who would even be able to produce half of what I wanted (i.e. not 36") in one order. I have a half dozen or so still unmounted I can take a pic of once that camera is charged if there is interest.

I did not vote because I only have experience with them and wetterlings (those are bulky, no real shock absorption)
Click to expand...

Sure, I'd like to see some pics. That's funny, I just got a Wetterlings 20" haft, and it seems pretty slim (I can only compare to House or O P link though).
 
Square_peg said:
I've ordered off of ebay but more often I buy from a local saw shop who stocks TH. I use spokeshaves and rasps if I have time or an angle grinder with 36 grit if I'm in a hurry.

Yes, I reduce the whole handle with particular focus on the grip area just above the swell. They're like a damned bat as they come from the factory. I bet I remove close to 20% of the total mass when I reshape one.
Click to expand...

I'd like to get an angle grinder now....seems like several uses I could put it to. So you are not just thinning the sides, but the whole circumference?
 
Actually I wsa thinking of my Hultafors - the Wetterlings isn't too thick.

Here are the House Handles - I only asked them to select for grain as I like the colored wood and there is no basis for saying it is any weaker from what I have read:









 
sywagon said:
Actually I wsa thinking of my Hultafors - the Wetterlings isn't too thick.

Here are the House Handles - I only asked them to select for grain as I like the colored wood and there is no basis for saying it is any weaker from what I have read:









Click to expand...

Those look real good. After reading the forest service info on sapwood vs heartwood, I'm a convert too.

The bottom one looks like a boy's axe, what do you think of the swell? Seems like there's some extra length that doesn't get used,
ie, your hand can't slide all the way to the end. I'm thinking of thinning mine out in that area.
 
I have had great luck with do it best handles from a local mom and pop hardware store. Just like anything else u have to watch - sometimes grain will be incorrect, other issues, etc. I have had a lot of luck with the boys axe handles especially. I have ordered from THH and had some good luck with them.
 
sywagon said:
I thinned the one at the head, but I like the one at the end. I have piano player hands though - long and not too chunky. Here are pics from both sides after grasping it as if to use it. I wouldn't want it any shorter past the swell at all.





It is my very old WC Kelly Charleston boy's axe - if I had to keep just one....
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1041329-WC-Kelly-Boy
Click to expand...


Looks good. Yeah, I am going to thin out the shoulder too, it's a little too thick.
 
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