handle review thread

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phantomknives

Joined
Mar 31, 2016
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post your reviews and requests for info here, i thought i'd make this thread because i'v found myself not knowing much about which companies make premium handles and which don't. House handle will be the control to compare other companies to, since they seem to be the standard here.
 
so, if i may, i'll start, Beaver tooth handle, good or not, i may be getting a puget sound in the mail and i want a very nice handle for it. so house handle or beaver tooth?
 
I have had good luck with beavertooth. Good alignment and symmetry. Consistant quality. I would rather have to thin out a handle than have to deal with crooked asymmetrical handles.
 
I have never been able to buy from Beavertooth. I have no use for a 36" inch haft on an axe. Their smaller ones always seem to be less than optimal or sold out when I go to order or they will just have one premium grade that I would be interested in. Meaning that I can't get all that I would want in a premium grade handle. It just doesn't pencil out to pay shipping on a couple of hafts.

I get the impression that Beaver Tooth is just a place to get rid of seconds.
 
phantomknives said:
so, if i may, i'll start, Beaver tooth handle, good or not, i may be getting a puget sound in the mail and i want a very nice handle for it. so house handle or beaver tooth?
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This Puget is hung on a Tennessee Hickory Products (Beavertooth) haft.
Axe_head_width.jpg


It came fat and I octagonalized it.
 
I tried a beavertooth 24in boys axe handle and found it cut way to small for most boys axe heads. I had a Collins head that it worked on but would not on most. Nice handle other wise.
 
I figured I would make you guys jealous with my first post. I live about 30 min away from Tennessee Hickory Products.
24liii8.jpg

2q0299d.jpg

$2 reject bin. I love these
eju2ht.jpg

And the best part
2e151ly.jpg
 
garry3 said:
Sunny Brae Tool Handle? Any Canadian's use them. Just curious.
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I haven't been able to track down whoever it is that makes hickory axe handles for Canada's national Home Hardware chain. These are overly generous in thickness, are sanded smooth, have no finish coating, are without maker ID sticker or stamp and have no wedge included. The easy peel bar code sticker on them says BM 7631 and these are available in lengths from 28 to 36". I've spent 40+ years buying axe handles and 30 of these knowing how to select them properly, and the newcomer BM 7631s I've been rubbernecking on a monthly basis over the past few years (and which has forced Garant-stamped 'flat slabs' right out of the market) are well above average quality when it comes to wood quality, grain and orientation. There are a few duds in any given lot but there are many more good ones and always some that are fantastic.
 
Whiskey_Jim said:
The first one. I am spoiled though getting to hand select everything I buy. I also tell them not to cut the kerf since they never cut it straight anyway.
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Roger that.

Personally hand selecting them on site like that is foreign to me - that must be fun to say the least. :thumbup:
 
I'm very interested in this thread. I wasn't happy with my last order so time to try somewhere new. With spring coming I'll be ordering everything from rakes & shovels to hammers & axe hafts. (No hatchets or mini's, I cut the majority of my last order down to that size.)
 
garry3 said:
Sunny Brae Tool Handle? Any Canadian's use them. Just curious.
Click to expand...

Not Canadian, and never knowingly used one. Your post triggered my memory of watching these:

[video=youtube;9kzpjPyIM28]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kzpjPyIM28[/video]
[video=youtube;XEtRvSYJyeA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEtRvSYJyeA&t=29s[/video]
[video=youtube;_evHbHFv6cE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_evHbHFv6cE[/video]

Part 4 of 4 in my next post.


Bob
 
Part 4

[video=youtube;aNxD7w82onk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNxD7w82onk[/video]


Bob
 
Great videos! I'm still in #2. As a carpenter it's a little frightening to see a saw blade that large without a guard on it. But they have a system designed to keep their fingers out of it.

The rotation of stock looks to be serving two purposes. First to square the stock and get it down to a size their saw can manage. Second to get more pieces with vertical grain alignment. More comments to follow.
 
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