House Handle, love hate (mostly love but....)

jblyttle said:
All of the ones I have requested no lacquer have been sanded and lacquer remnants are visible.
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Yep. And then when they remove the lacquer or octagonalize they make the grip too thin. They just don't have time to put any care into anything. I still use them for rake and shovel handles or other special tool handles. But I usually turn to TH for my axes handles, realizing that I'm going to have to thin them out.

If I were going to use a haft as delivered I'd order from House Handle. But if I have the motivation to finish a haft myself I'll buy from TH.
 
jblyttle said:
Right, like if there was someone there, that for a couple of bucks would sort through and hand select good handles whenever we wanted...oh wait. Damn.
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Probably something lost in the translation of 'select', for an extra couple of bucks, when the girl in the office/order desk has to go into the stockroom to pick a handle rather than trust this to the packaging department.
 
halfaxe said:
Wood borer gallery
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I’m sure you’re right Halfaxe! An "Ash borer" maybe?

Just checked in late last night, read 300six’s post:
300Six said:
Probably something lost in the translation of 'select', for an extra couple of bucks, when the girl in the office/order desk has to go into the stockroom to pick a handle rather than trust this to the packaging department.
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Visualized the one of women that works there having a bad day and was making myself laugh. Actually had a funny scenario typed up and back-spaced it when I got control of myself…

Lit cigarettes and/or borers in a handle factory are both bad news lol.

For some reason their site keeps coming back with some privacy error on my end… I was going to copy and paste their statement on wedges included with handle orders. If I remember right, they state that the wedges are a “gift” with handle orders and they don't replace them if damaged or include them in swap outs on returned orders.

I’ve ordered several times from them but the first time I did I called them. I spoke to a woman named Megan if I remember right. She was patient with me, professional. That order was quite nice actually but subsequent orders seem to have declined a bit.

That was a little over 2 years ago.
 
Agent_H said:
For some reason their site keeps coming back with some privacy error on my end… I was going to copy and paste their statement on wedges included with handle orders. If I remember right, they state that the wedges are a “gift” with handle orders and they don't replace them if damaged or include them in swap outs on returned orders.
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Oh yeah, not something that I would even mention to them, I just thought it noteworthy. It's nothing by itself, but it's a sign of how QC is viewed.
By itself it isn't an issue, but what it represents is.
 
Always been a crap shoot but it seems to be getting worse. I used to be an FFL and one distributor stated "select grade" were- "Hand picked by Nugene after lunch"- seems a business model these days.

Bill
 
jblyttle said:
Oh yeah, not something that I would even mention to them, I just thought it noteworthy. It's nothing by itself, but it's a sign of how QC is viewed.
By itself it isn't an issue, but what it represents is.
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JB, that is dead right.

I don't know what competition looks like for them, working conditions, employee training or satisfaction for that matter.

They supply the local Coastal Farm and Feed stores here - not a huge chain but more money comes from that than personal orders.

This is all assumption but if you search House Handle quality on the internet enough - whether you are the guy who orders them for his store or someone looking to place a personal order and you see this discussion or others like it...

Last time I was rifling through their stock here I took some pictures of them and posted them on page one – some dogs but not like what you are receiving. The guys who regularly shop at Coastal maybe won’t talk about a replacement handle much or maybe they make their own – I don’t know – but we seem to and share pictures.
So, I am thinking that it could be in their best interest to be a bit more careful with personal orders as they get more air time than their bulk store orders do – Smaller, more discerning market – yes. Probably seen as picky - I don' know.

At a certain point one might affect the other. Maybe not as well.

Or maybe Nugene needs lunch delivered the same day you place an order lol.
 
I live about 4 hours from House's factory. I really need to make the trip down sometime. Maybe I'll take requests for handles and do some real hand selecting for you guys...
 
Bridger said:
I live about 4 hours from House's factory. I really need to make the trip down sometime. Maybe I'll take requests for handles and do some real hand selecting for you guys...
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Now there is a wonderful offer! Only, for an 8 hour round trip you'd want to be picking out a tall order, and praying that staff at the factory will indulge your poking around all through their inventory for what might turn out to be hours.
No doubt there are already talented 'pickers' going there regularly on behalf of various craft industries.
 
Have ordered a few times from HH, and am done with them. I always order hand select and who ever is selecting them Need to be trained in. Have had much better handles from Seymour link. I like there code system so you know what your getting. Do pay a bit more, but worth it to me.
 
Mn musky said:
I like there code system so you know what your getting.
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Except when they put the same code on multiple products and ship you the wrong one. Yes, I've had it happen. When I complained they sent me another copy of the same wrong product. I gave up and just modified one to work for me. But you'd think that after I explained what was wrong and the error they had made and which product I wanted that they would be able to get it right the second time. But nope.

And yet they sell a lot of handles that I can't find anywhere else. And the oddballs have always been OK. And I remain an occasional customer.
 
I think he was referring to Seymour/O.P. Link's coding system?
 
I sent them a note on Friday regarding that split up handle. I have not had a reply yet.

In other news, Link has a boys axe handle on Amazon for $10-11 with free shipping for Prime members....
 
My last dealings with costomer service took 3 calls and 2 emails. It was not a pleasant experience but they finally did come through and replace a couple of badly twisted maul handles. I'm done with that place
 
I hit up my local saw mill yesterday. I may have mentioned this in the past but there is no such thing as a straight tree in Kansas. However, they had some big ole Hickory logs sitting around waiting their turn and the guy was happy to take my info so that if they ever came across something straight, Hickory, Ash, or whatever, they'd cut me some. They also saw Hedge and had some 2 inch, but even straight-ISH Hedge is a pipe dream, otherwise I think I would have tried some. It's still looking like harvesting my own wood is my best option. Pretty sure Red Elm is the straightest tree in this state, so that might be the route I take. Should be lots of fun to rive.
 
Today I got an order of Axe handles from House handle. I ordered 13 handles, hand select no lacquer. A mix of double and single bit handles 28 and 32 inch. All the handles were real nice with perfectly centered kerf cuts. One was a heartwood and one was half heartwood, the rest were white sapwood. The grain orientation was good on all of them. Most were vertical end grain with just a couple at about 10 o'clock. All were straight grain with no run-out or waviness. I ordered on the website and it took them three weeks to fill but I didn't call to hurry them. The best part is they included two extra handles, a 30 and 36 inch premium single bit handles. With the extra handles and shipping cost included, it came to about $11.60 per handle. I'm totally happy with this House Handle order.
 
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