House Handles Off Center?

cityofthesouth said:
Just curious where you get handles in that case.
Click to expand...

we have a "Big R" thats within 20 miles, they carry House Handles. i have never bought one, but i have bought loose wedges, they seem to be slimmer, and better grain than many i find from other suppliers.

most of my handles are Links, both Seymours and old OP links. i use the Links for boys axes and cruisers usually. once in a while i find a full size Link handle that is to my particular standard, but most of them are grossly oversized. the swells are generally huge, very "knob" like, and they are usually very thick in every dimension. the old OP Link handles were very good, slim, and with perfect swells. when i use Seymour handles, i spend a BUNCH of time slimming, flattening the sides, and narrowing the shoulder.

many of my full size single bits are on Baker straight handles. i have to sort through a lot of them to find good ones, but they are generally much more slim, with normal swells. they are also not "round" as in they have flatter sides than many others. my double bits always get Bakers. i do still thin them down, and shape them a little. not sure if they make boys or cruiser handles, i have never found any.

some of my handles are from Sears craftsman labeled, which from my understanding are Seymour Link handles, but fire finished. i have had good luck with them. i almost never find twisted or crooked handles at Sears. grain orientation can be spotty, but the handles seem to be of higher grade all around. they have BEAUTIFUL boys ax handles, BUT they are gauged wrong.. the eye is hatchet sized instead of boys ax size, which is a shame. but if anyone wants to put a hatchet on a 28" handle, Sears is where to get one!

my most recent hang was a MANN phantom bevel double bit, on a very old NOS Wards handle. very nice handle, perfect swell, nice and slim, needed little rasp work to fit up. i am almost sure it was made by OP link some decades ago.

its a shame its so hard to find a decent handle. i come across these old handles, and its so obvious that these companies actually tried to put out HIGH QUALITY handles in years past. they knew that people would not put up with low quality "contractor grade" useless handles we see today. you must specify "Grade AAAA++ straight grain, hand selected, custom slim taper, heavy hickory" to get an acceptable handle today. that same handle was simply "a handle" 50 years ago....
 
Here are a few photos of comparison.

House Handle 2nd replacement. Does this handle have a twist?

Is there such thing a quality control in these places?!




A couple that are straight. This may be a House Handle, not sure.




This one, I'm almost certain is a Link.

 
Last edited:
Well, that top one does seem to have a twist. Could it be fixed by pulling the head and re-profiling the eye portion of the handle?
 
Twoinch said:
we have a "Big R" thats within 20 miles, they carry House Handles. i have never bought one, but i have bought loose wedges, they seem to be slimmer, and better grain than many i find from other suppliers.

most of my handles are Links, both Seymours and old OP links. i use the Links for boys axes and cruisers usually. once in a while i find a full size Link handle that is to my particular standard, but most of them are grossly oversized. the swells are generally huge, very "knob" like, and they are usually very thick in every dimension. the old OP Link handles were very good, slim, and with perfect swells. when i use Seymour handles, i spend a BUNCH of time slimming, flattening the sides, and narrowing the shoulder.

many of my full size single bits are on Baker straight handles. i have to sort through a lot of them to find good ones, but they are generally much more slim, with normal swells. they are also not "round" as in they have flatter sides than many others. my double bits always get Bakers. i do still thin them down, and shape them a little. not sure if they make boys or cruiser handles, i have never found any.

some of my handles are from Sears craftsman labeled, which from my understanding are Seymour Link handles, but fire finished. i have had good luck with them. i almost never find twisted or crooked handles at Sears. grain orientation can be spotty, but the handles seem to be of higher grade all around. they have BEAUTIFUL boys ax handles, BUT they are gauged wrong.. the eye is hatchet sized instead of boys ax size, which is a shame. but if anyone wants to put a hatchet on a 28" handle, Sears is where to get one!

my most recent hang was a MANN phantom bevel double bit, on a very old NOS Wards handle. very nice handle, perfect swell, nice and slim, needed little rasp work to fit up. i am almost sure it was made by OP link some decades ago.

its a shame its so hard to find a decent handle. i come across these old handles, and its so obvious that these companies actually tried to put out HIGH QUALITY handles in years past. they knew that people would not put up with low quality "contractor grade" useless handles we see today. you must specify "Grade AAAA++ straight grain, hand selected, custom slim taper, heavy hickory" to get an acceptable handle today. that same handle was simply "a handle" 50 years ago....
Click to expand...

Don't mean to hijack but good info, thank you. Where do the Bakers come from? The same hardware store you mentioned? My problem is I am in small town USA and there is nothing here. Our Sears is the size of a postage stamp (I would be shocked to go in and find a single splinter of Hickory anywhere), our farm and ranch store carries HH, and our Sutherlands has 3 total handles to choose from at any given time - they are Links and look good to me but there are 28 inch boys or 36 inch full size - nothing else. I really wish Link had a retail site where we could get handles by grade. On the other hand I quickly searched Sears website and they want $17-$20 for a handle. HH with all the extras is still less than that, not that I personally have an issue with a $20 handle IF it were perfect every time I ordered one.

To stay on topic, yeah that handle looks wrong to me based on that shot - sure seems like it's gonna want to glance to the right when you use it. It may not be twisted so much as shaped poorly I suppose. Looks like it takes a turn halfway down the handle and it also appears as though the grain runs naturally. If there was enough material you may be able to remove some in order to move the high point on the bottom half over in line with the bit.
 
Brett, no it seems there is little quality control these days when it comes to handle turners. ordering handles online just seems like a headache to me, and is exactly why i havent even attempted it... im pretty picky on handles. i cant say if your new handle is twisted or not. i trust that you have it mounted in the vise straight, so it appears it does twist. would need a shot looking down the bit toward the swell to be sure. the second handle looks like a Link to me, as the cut off on the fawn foot is almost never straight and the swell generally isnt either. another thing is that handles these days arent nearly flat enough on the sides. they should be much more oval shaped as opposed to nearly round like they are today in most cases.

Cityofthesouth, most of Sears handles are under $10 in the stores here, but many of the Sears dont even carry handles. you must find the Sears Hardware stores if you have them. i have never seen a 17 or $20 handle anywhere.

the Bakers are found at Menards in my area. you may be able to look on Bakers website for distributors. Baker Pro Tools is the company name. their 36" fawn foot handles and double bits are some of the best i have found, but you have to search for the best of the bunch. their 36" straight maul handles are what i use for straight single bits.

the biggest thing i can suggest to any potential handle buyers is this. DONT WAIT until you need the handle to try and find them. whenever you have a chance, look through your hardware stores and find them when they are there, not when you need them. NO ONE stocks enough handles for you to be assured there will be an acceptable specimen at any one given time. i always have at the very least one of each handle style i use, waiting in the barn for a head to "appear"
 
Twoinch said:
The biggest thing i can suggest to any potential handle buyers is this. DONT WAIT until you need the handle to try and find them. whenever you have a chance, look through your hardware stores and find them when they are there, not when you need them. NO ONE stocks enough handles for you to be assured there will be an acceptable specimen at any one given time. i always have at the very least one of each handle style i use, waiting in the barn for a head to "appear"
Click to expand...
Sage advice! When you're really in a hurry the chance of scoring a good handle is almost nil these days. If and whenever you do find a good one you immediately grab it! Once or twice a year my local hardware store receives an allotment of hafts. If you're there at the right time you can compare dozens of them! Quality being what it is now (Garant in Canada for instance markets flat slab handles (7/8" thick as opposed to traditional 1 1/4"), which I detest, and that's just about all that is routinely available. Needless to say I've only found (and bought) one new handle during the past 10 years!
 
one point i would like to add to the rest is that i believe the main, number one(and two) issue with the hickory market today is that these companies are accepting logs that are too "young", and that they are not allowing the logs or blanks to dry long enough. maybe they arent kiln drying them, maybe they arent leaving the rough blanks to sit long enough to settle, i dont know. what i do know is that many companies, Seymour especially, are putting out very "fresh" handles. i would almost call some of them on the verge of being green, definitely closer to green than properly dry. they accept nearly ZERO oil when you attempt to finish them. you can feel the moisture when your are sanding or carving them. many of the super white link handles at ACE or wherever, you can push your thumbnail into the wood and tell it hasnt been dried properly. you can tap them on the store floor and hear the "thud".. on the other hand, the link handles that Sears carries are "fire finished" with darkened grain, and never feel "green", and they "ring" when you tap them on the concrete floor. heavy, dry hickory should ring when tapped on end on the hard floor. if it doesnt, beware.
 
I've emailed Garant in Canada. Does anyone know if they provide mail order? I'll try their handles next if they do, no more House Handles.
 
brettdean said:
I've emailed Garant in Canada. Does anyone know if they provide mail order? I'll try their handles next if they do, no more House Handles.
Click to expand...
I don't think this is at all what you want. 30 years ago they (Garant's major axe handle maker/supplier) were exquisite in size, shape and finish (featured yellow sanded-paint butts even!) but now they're merely trimmed-down economy slabs of hardwood 'strapping'. "Big Daddy Garant" must have retired and sold the business to modern business-trained/cut corners/reduce skilled workers/automate machinery progeny who looked more at how to make monthly payments on Vancouver-Toronto condos, upscale Mercedes cars and spend time in the Caribbean than actually cater to and satisfy customers. There being oodles of 'well to do' and over-paid nostalgia customers, naive to boot, by this time too didn't hurt sales either. These 'olden days comparisons' and manufacture 'faux-pas's do ultimately come back to bite you but by then the long-time skilled workers and well-tuned machines are long gone.
I am no practical fan of H-B in Sweden but they craftily/cunningly cashed-in on their inability to compete and entirely went off in the other direction in order to produce "boutique" (credit to someone on this forum for that apt description) implements that cost 10X as much as they should, and yet have cultivated a huge waiting list of salivating customers because of it.
 
It's almost like I need to buy 10 handles online, choose the best 1, IF there is a good one, and return the remaining 9. Sad.

I might have one source locally that may have a collection of handles, if not, and if I can't find quality on the internet, I must resort to making my own handles.
I soon be off to Ebay to find the necessary tools to do so.
 
brettdean said:
It's almost like I need to buy 10 handles online, choose the best 1, IF there is a good one, and return the remaining 9. Sad.

I might have one source locally that may have a collection of handles, if not, and if I can't find quality on the internet, I must resort to making my own handles.
I soon be off to Ebay to find the necessary tools to do so.
Click to expand...

there are guys that "cull" handles. you see them on ebay sometimes. buy a 12 pack or whatever, pull the couple that are useable and pawn off the rest to the uninformed online.

making handles is not a huge deal if you have the few tools needed to do it efficiently. a band saw, a table top 4" belt sander, a good spokeshave, rasps, and cabinet scrapers. you can make them with a just a knife, but a couple of the proper tools will make it pretty simple in reality.
 
Twoinch said:
why anyone would spend the time it takes to properly handle a tool, with those poor pieces of work is beyond me.
Click to expand...

I have to agree. It seems any store bought handle requires extensive work if you want to get it into something approaching ideal shape. I've taken to buying Tennessee Hickory handles from a local supplier where I can be selective. They let me go in the back and look through the entire stock. If I don't find one I like I just leave empty handed and come back another time. They'll have new stock again soon enough.

The TH handles are fat like a baseball bat. They need a lot of material removed. But on the plus side there's plenty there to work with in order to get your handle into a nice shape. Plus the wood is absolutely top notch.
 
Twoinch said:
i have a local supplier that has a fair selection of House Handles ........the swell at the end is usually funky shaped IMO
Click to expand...

Yes, the swells are crappy. Often twisted or lop sided. And they usually have a big lump on the under side that needs to be removed. And when they octagonalize one for you they pay absolutely no attention to symmetry. Best to order select handles and octagonalize them yourself if you want to.
 
Twoinch said:
there are guys that "cull" handles. you see them on ebay sometimes. buy a 12 pack or whatever, pull the couple that are useable and pawn off the rest to the uninformed online.

making handles is not a huge deal if you have the few tools needed to do it efficiently. a band saw, a table top 4" belt sander, a good spokeshave, rasps, and cabinet scrapers. you can make them with a just a knife, but a couple of the proper tools will make it pretty simple in reality.
Click to expand...

brettdean said:
I might have one source locally that may have a collection of handles, if not, and if I can't find quality on the internet, I must resort to making my own handles.
I soon be off to Ebay to find the necessary tools to do so.
Click to expand...

You don't need any power tools to make an axe handle to have "proper tools". I've been making them for years just using a hatchet, draw knife, spoke shave and block plane. Finished off with a piece of broken glass as a scraper. It helps to have a good system in terms of splitting out your blanks. Splitting is much faster than even sawing with a bandsaw, so cutting it close to the desired shape and dimensions with splitting really speeds up the process.

Making handles is nothing to resort to-- if you really want to seriously get into axes, I think it's just a matter of course.

Here's a picture of some of the more recent handles I've made.

 
Has anyone used Gransfors Replacement Handles for any of there standard True Temper, Plumb etc. heads? Will they fit?

Or any luck with Council tool handles?
 
*Just a little bump*

Has anyone used Gransfors Replacement Handles for any of there standard True Temper, Plumb etc. heads? Will they fit?

Or any luck with Council tool handles?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top