Has anyone had success with different woods?

Skiv said:
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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Silver maple is right up with Box Elder (Manitoba Maple) for toughness and durability! I don't even think it qualifies as 'soft maple' with is usually the firewood/woodworker term for Red Maple. As opposed to 'hard maple' which is the general moniker for Sugar Maple.
If ever I find a good slab of Ironwood at a mill I will alert folks on here. If it's a small trunk you want that I can come up with that easy enough. It has to be sawn, I have never been able to split the stuff. There are 2 types and equally tough; Blue Beech and Hop Hornbeam. Blue Beech rarely gets beyond a trunk diameter of 4 inches whereas Hornbeam can be had up to about 12 inches.
 
I find a lot of exotic woods and better selects from your local lumber yard online. The best come from the forest where you have the most options. That's usually where I get my maple and oak from. I think I'm going to get some ash or Osage orange from online and go for a few handles. Fruit woods should be good enough for hatchets?
 
You still can't beat hickory in most cases, especially longer hafts. Don't forget to visit the handles section when you're at the hardware store. Every now and then you get lucky and find a good one. I usually have several extra handle laying around waiting for a good axe head, or a a good axe head w/a broken handle.

Real perfectionists want a handle with the grain running the long axis of the oval end section. I've had plenty of handles with less than perfect grain that have lasted for years of hard use.
 
bbforstr said:
Real perfectionists want a handle with the grain running the long axis of the oval end section. I've had plenty of handles with less than perfect grain that have lasted for years of hard use.
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It would be advantageous for a handle maker to post an information sheet on how to choose handles! How many youthful years did I re-handle shovels and spades (straight round handles!) with a total disregard to orientation of the grain before I caught on the properties of wood.
 
My first choice for an "exotic" wood (e.g., something besides hickory, ash, maple) would be Eastern Hornbeam. I've used it for several projects and it is tough, hard, and dense. The trees are kind of small and Hornbeam isn't normally used as a commercial source of lumber. Your best bet would be to harvest your own small tree from a creek bottom and curing it yourself.

The only problem is that it may be a bit too dense and heavy for a full-length axe, even though it could survive a nuclear blast. It isn't a really decorative wood, though...

TedP
 
phillipsted said:
My first choice for an "exotic" wood (e.g., something besides hickory, ash, maple) would be Eastern Hornbeam. I've used it for several projects and it is tough, hard, and dense. The trees are kind of small and Hornbeam isn't normally used as a commercial source of lumber. Your best bet would be to harvest your own small tree from a creek bottom and curing it yourself.

The only problem is that it may be a bit too dense and heavy for a full-length axe, even though it could survive a nuclear blast. It isn't a really decorative wood, though...

TedP
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I dug up a small Blue Beech version of Ironwood (a 2 inch dia. sapling) this summer in order to incorporate a perpendicular root into the handle of a walking cane for my 90 year old dad. I had fears about it being too heavy but once it was uniformly shaved down to about 3/4 inch it was not much different weight-wise from any commercial hardwood or bamboo job. Nice thing about the natural curve handle it will never separate! I also did notice (it had been fresh-cut less than a week before it was finish shaped and sanded) that it never cracked or crazed over the following 3 months, despite not having been oiled or treated with anything. Pretty impressive stuff. I have to replace the rubber tip once a month now that 'the old boy' refuses to go anywhere without it.

20 years ago Lee Valley Tools sold Ironwood (Hop Hornbeam) axe handles that were milled and manufactured by a retired gentleman in Cornwall, Ontario. I bought one at the time and hung an "Iltis-Canadian" head on it. Aside from the novelty of having an Ironwood handle it was very light in colour, had no visible grain and behaved and felt just like any other commercial axe handle.
 
I used osage orange on the pipe 'hawk I made a while back. The stuff is incredibly strong if you try breaking it across the grain, but it does have a tendency to check & split if you let it dry too quickly. However, it doesn't split completely apart like other woods- the fibers are ingrained and if you try to split a log intentionally, you'll have to chop and cut the thing apart. The stuff is a bear to work with. Because the fibers are more stringy, almost like bamboo, you can't easily carve on it with a draw knife or plane. It just wants to dig deeper and peel out too much, even with a razor sharp blade. Once the shape was getting close, I had to use rasps & the belt sander for everything. The stuff is about as hard as bone, yet can flex without breaking, which is why it's a favorite among bow makers. The trees naturally grow in twisted curves though, so it's rare to find a straight piece long enough for an axe handle.

I want to try black locust and persimmon next. Black locust is known as having the best mix of strength and hardness of about any native American wood. Persimmon is extremely hard (it's the only cousin to the ebony tree native to America) and looks nice, too. It's the wood that was traditionally used for "wood" golf clubs.
 
phillipsted said:
My first choice for an "exotic" wood (e.g., something besides hickory, ash, maple) would be Eastern Hornbeam. It isn't a really decorative wood, though...
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Well, I have nothing against decorative, that's for sure. "Looks good, gets the job done" is a fine motto. But I have a special place in my heart for those things I've beat the absolute hell out of, that got me through a tough spot, maybe have a few dents and dings but they're still good. I take care of my tools for two reasons. I want them to be in good condition, and I know what it's like to have to ask the maximum effort out of a tool and have survival hanging in the balance.

A solid handle that won't win any beauty contests but that fits my hand and allows me to work until the job's done -- I'll take that any day.
 
..... (｀_´)ゞ

The site wouldnt let me, or I couldn't figure out how to delete my posts.
 
The old standby of hickory with no run outs and properly heated/stained/oiled is still the best in my book.
 
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