Has anyone had success with different woods?

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Portman30-06

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Oct 18, 2013
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I've always had hickory or today's fiberglass and other "plastic" handles for my hatchets and axes. But has anyone experimented with other materials or woods? I'm just trying to think of something exotic for when I replace my handle on my single bit axe.
 
06

I've got a TT Kelly Works Dynamic DB with a walnut handle. I'm not impressed with the walnut as a handle. Osage orange should make excellent handles if you can find pieces big enough. I've heard some say that ash makes good handles. It's good enough for baseball bats. I've heard ironwood is good to. The only ironwood I've worked was from Arizona. It was so gummy it would foul up any tool.
 
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Osage Orange-1/4 sawn Oak-Tiger striped Oak if you can find it-Figured Pecan.Osage will turn brown in time depending on how much sun light gets to it
 
I might try to make one out of Osage orange. Its a little pricey on eBay but its not much more than a replacement one. You guys gave some good options.
 
camoninja said:
Would Cocobolo work ?
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I honestly wouldn't use cocobolo for anything past a mini hatchet, and even then it's questionable. I've carved enough knife handle scales out of it to know the wood structure is finnicky and unreliable. Some sections might be somewhat soft and porous while others are hard/brittle to the point of causing minor chipping in the scandi grind of my carving mora. Transitions in the grain/growth rings are also pretty weak...

Stuff sure is pretty though:
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Portman30-06 said:
I might try to make one out of Osage orange. Its a little pricey on eBay but its not much more than a replacement one. You guys gave some good options.
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Another one to think of would be cherry wood. Some pieces have some really good coloration and I've actually had success using some for a hatchet handle. I'd imagine it would be fine for anything up to a 2.5lb head depending on the grain structure. Osage is quite pretty though and I'd assume it to be tough enough (used to make bows after all).
 
ash is the first to come in mind.
i tried service tree , tends to be brittle when dry,gets loose to.
apple is a nice wood ,not the best may be.

hawthorn is a good one,but i can't remember the way it behaves

elders used holy also as a flexibe an yet solid wood.

hornbeam is a good one if not exposed to moisture when stored .


sorry for the spelling off the woods it'a bit hard for me.
 
Hatchets are not subject to the stresses of longer (and often curved) handles so you really can go to town on this to concentrate on appearance. With an axe I'd be a much more careful unless it was mostly destined to be a wall-hanger. Walnut is not particularly strong but it is really pretty and dimensionally stable. Black Cherry is rather light and of moderate strength (and very flexible) but it too becomes quite pretty after a couple of years. I've been saving slabs of Apple only because it (like cherry) develops a really rich colour with age and is also happens to be very hard and rigid (I know that from turning some on a lathe). You'll never break an Ironwood or Blue Beech (e. North America) handle but they're not exciting to look at and the wood is mostly unavailable on a commercial scale. I suspect the reason you don't see White Oak handles (hard/heavy/strong/decay resistant) is the cost relative to infinitely more common Hickory and Ash.
I know squat about tropical woods but for sure there will be some spectacular ones for strength and appearance.
Easiest of course is to visit hardware stores on a regular basis and keep rubber-necking until such time that a 'perfect' handle shows up in one of the bins. I was lucky enough to find the nicest Hickory handle I've ever come across in decades about a month ago while visiting my out-of-town sister. I don't have any broken handles nor project heads on the go but that one came home with me anyway. Not much risk when we're talking $16.
 
300Six said:
Easiest of course is to visit hardware stores on a regular basis and keep rubber-necking until such time that a 'perfect' handle shows up in one of the bins. I was lucky enough to find the nicest Hickory handle I've ever come across in decades about a month ago while visiting my out-of-town sister. I don't have any broken handles nor project heads on the go but that one came home with me anyway. Not much risk when we're talking $16.
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That's what I do. It' just planning for the future. It never hurts to have extras on hand either in case you damage one.
 
An old book on trees says "Cork Elm" (aka "Rock Elm") is good for axe handles:

"Axemen of the old North Woods often preferred axe handles of cork elm to any other."
"...even hickory scarcely surpasses Cork Elm in toughness. With its interlaced fibers, it is almost impossible to split..."

from "A Natural History of Trees of Eastern and Central North America", by Donald Culross Peattie, 1948
http://books.google.com/books?id=u7OVkfjEOAcC&q=axe#v=snippet&q=axe&f=false

This tree grows in the Midwest. There is a town in Wisconsin named "Rock Elm".
 
Just a curiosity- has anyone tried Gum? Grain twists as it grows and is tough not brittle. Someone brought in some "Hedge Apples" to work as examples last week!!!!! I am trying to find out where they got them and if wood might be sourced.

We have a few old hickorys at our old family farm. I plan to cut them maybe early next Summer and cut out 5 or 6 4' sections to seal the ends and dry. Then either look for a sawmill to handle short pieces or dust off the chainsaw to cut s\labs from. Then again.....I get So little basement time as it is. I do like many here and make rounds of hardware stores sorting through for decent handles or trust the luck of ordering. About 20 handles ordered recently and only a few disappointing pieces.

Bill
 
I would throw Mulberry in there as a very good choice. I have never made an axe handle from it, but I have made bows out of it.
You would want all heart wood, much like Osage. Not as hard, heavy or tuff as osage, but a dang good wood. White or red mulberry, its pretty good.
It's Osage's poorer cousin, will darken with light exposure.
 
I made a 37" ash haft for a double bit that i like. It seems to perform well but is a little less durable than hickory when it comes to the occasional over strike.

The 28" curved beech haft I made for a boys axe turned out incredible. Some say beech has no character and is a boring wood when it comes to looks. I think mine turned out beautiful as it took on a pleasing color from the coats of BLO that were applied. It hasn't seen a lot of use but it sure does feel good in the hands and I can't imagine it failing unless seriously abused..

The rock maple I used for my Finnish broad axe will probably never break. Yeah I know the borad axe will never see the stresses that a full size chopper or splitter will see but still that rock maple is hard and feels very durable. I would like to use some someday with a full sized head.

I made a purple heart 18" haft for a Norlund "Hudson Bay" head. Its beautiful and works well for the oversized hatchet. The wood is a little heavy and a bit stiff so I don't know that I would use it for a full sized axe. I would be concerned about the haft transmitting too much vibration on impact but who knows. I am sure that if I came across the right piece I would give it a shot on a larger axe.

I have done a couple mardona hatchet handles. One was a half hatchet that I was really just experimenting with a marginal piece of wood. It had a small knot right up by the eye. I was messing around throwing it and it snapped right at the knot on the third or fouth throw. Not a real surprise. The other hatchet haft has been holding up just fine. It was knot free and from the very base of the tree so it is full of subtle colors. Let me tell you, it was not easy finding even a hatchet length of madrona that is clear.

Figured cherry went on my hewing hatchet with some offset to the handle. It looks fantastic and works great for what it is. It certainly would not be suitable for a full size axe nor even a boys axe or cruiser I would imagine.

I have access to some holy that I have been contemplating grabbing. It is not much more than 3 inches in diameter so it would need to be a straight haft and also looks like a challenge to get a suitable knot free piece.

Black locust I have heard will make a good haft and I would like to get my hands on some of that too.
 
CedarEater,
I use Black locust for handles on occasion. Froe handle, vice handle, hatchet handle. Works well for all I have used it for.

I would think that you might be close to some Vine Maple. Tough wood for its weight, i would think it has all the right properties for a very good handle. I have only made bows from it.
 
A couple more that I think would be good and make an attractive handle.

Honey locust. It has thorns growing from the trunk and not just the branches is the easiest way you can tell it apart from Black locust. Not as heavy as the black, but I would think it would be plenty tough. A good looking wood.

Russian Olive. Again a very attractive wood. I would go with the heart wood. Not as heavy or tough as some others. But it seems to have good elastic properties.
 
bbforstr said:
That's what I do. It' just planning for the future. It never hurts to have extras on hand either in case you damage one.
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Ain't that the truth! Especially these days with what I call 'summer student' lumber pickers/graders, and commercial industry general downsizing of handles (made from 1" material instead of 1 1/2").

As Steve Tall suggests Rock Elm or for that matter American Elm ought to make a prize-strength handle but appearance wise it's kinda homely looking. There's a real distinct repeating "W" or "zipper" pattern to elm and the grain is not prominent. And likely difficult to come by unless you have a chainsaw and access to some scrubby farmland. One of my old axes has an Elm handle.

CedarEater: I'm glad there are a few experimenters out there. If you had a pantograph and router jig so as to be able rough out/copy handles in fairly short order I figure you could try out darn near anything. You really want to be a purist (or retired with oodles of spare time) in order to devote 4-8 hours sawing, carving and rasping away on a chosen piece of wood just so as to try to save $15.
This may be of interest: I laid down 400 sq feet of White Ash 3/4" t & g floor in my house last year. So I can report from experience that it is overall softer, lighter in weight and easier to bend than any of the Oaks, hard Maples or Yellow Birch equivalents.
 
Portman30-06 said:
Another quick question how do you guys oriented the grain in relation to the head?
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Parallel with the orientation of the head. Force is mostly downward/upward and not side to side plus this allows you to curve the handle with no risk of losing strength. Appearance-wise though this is not as pretty as quarter-sawn (perpendicular grain to the head).
For quite some time I gathered broken hockey sticks (we're talking many hundreds of them) for various school woodwork projects (I was a shop teacher) and have noticed (aside from the fact that composites and graphite tubing sticks are taking over the market) that natural wood and laminated sticks are very strong when layered parallel to the blade whereas 5 & Dime sticks tend to be laminated/layered perpendicular. I've given up using the cheap sticks for novelty chairs etc because they won't tolerate much downward stress at all unless they're turned sideways.
 
CedarEater said:
I made a 37" ash haft for a double bit that i like. It seems to perform well but is a little less durable than hickory when it comes to the occasional over strike.
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I have a bunch of silver maple but it's probably only hatchet handles and such. I'd like to find a suitable piece of hop-hornbeam to try out. I found a nice piece of ash (heh) at the lumber yard. Three inches thick, ten wide, and has grain running the right way. It's flat sawn but pretty close to quarter sawn orientation. There's enough there for a few handles. I'm thinkin' it might be something to occupy my time this winter.
 
CedarEater said:
I made a 37" ash haft for a double bit that i like. It seems to perform well but is a little less durable than hickory when it comes to the occasional over strike.
Click to expand...

I have a bunch of silver maple but it's probably only hatchet handles and such. I'd like to find a suitable piece of hop-hornbeam to try out. I found a nice piece of ash (heh) at the lumber yard. Three inches thick, ten wide, and has grain running the right way. It's flat sawn but pretty close to quarter sawn orientation. There's enough there for a few handles. I'm thinkin' it might be something to occupy my time this winter.
 
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