Making your own handles - why not?

Park Swan

Park Swan

Joined
Mar 15, 2016
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After all of the handle threads I've seen and read through, and my experience with handles commonly available, I can't help but wonder why folks bother going through all the trouble rather than learning to make their own. I understand that there are situations where time is a factor, such as buying in large batches for a whole crew's worth of axes/replacements, but if you don't need 30 handles right away, I'd argue that it's actually easier (and often less time consuming) to make a handle from scratch than to try and make something from the store work, with better results. But I've been wrong before.

So, why not make your own handles? Lack of tools, woodworking experience, or confidence?
 
Lack of 1st choice wood should not be a barrier to entry for someone that wants to try out making a handle. The are lots of serviceable woods. Maple is not first pick but perfectly fine if a good specimen is selected. My reason is time. If I had a couple to rehang that is one thing, but I have way too many things on my plate to hand carve all of my handles. But, I agree that it would benefit most people to do this at least a couple of times.
 
The hassle and annoyance is the reason I make my own handles .... but a lack of a reliable, affordable wood source stops me from making a helluva lot more of them. I think your statement is mostly accurate because a lot of the steps involved in making a handle are mirrored in fixing one. But I can say with confidence that going from tree to finished handle simply takes more time depending on the tools at hand. From dimensional lumber to finished handle, not so much. I would suggest that confidence probably plays the biggest role for most people, because I don't think there is really much to "learn".
 
Not much for suitable wood in my neck of the woods, but there is crab apple and if I get a chance I'm going to grab some I spied this summer and give it a go
 
This is a great post! I have been pondering lately giving it a try, on something. Unfortunately I do not have available anything to me other than buying hickory at the lumber yard.
I have oak, beach, maple in my yard but those trees are not coming down. I have been watching the oaks in my neighbors across the way...but I think he is on to me.
 
Availability of suitable lumber, lack of tools, time (compounded by the lack of tools)

I can get ash cheap locally and I will probably pick some up in the future. Hickory is completely out of the question locally. It's not in demand and so no one sells it. If I had access to more tools such as a band saw, bench top sander and so on it would likely be a fairly quick process. Just a bandsaw alone would quickly turn 8/4" lumber into blanks requiring just as much reshaping as most "handles". Time is limited greatly by work, family, school, and household chores. I sneak off when I can to work on projects and given the tools I have at hand it's a sizable project to create a handle.

That said I should be starting on another one in the near future or as soon as I wrap up a few knife handles I'm working on. I'll be making it out of some rock maple that I picked up ages ago with the intention of making a few handles out of. Hopefully the result lasts longer than my last attempt. I'll admit that failure has me weary of anything but Hickory. Hickory truly is an amazing wood.
 
When a replacement handle is $10 at the store VS devoting an entire day at skillfully shaping and rasping and sanding at home, the majority of folks will take the easy way out. As well there is a considerable learning curve to choosing wood and making a handle. This part cannot be over-stated and is, and never will be, a spur-of-the-moment decision that leads to satisfactory results.
 
phantomknives said:
even though im well within that map, a 6 foot board is $55. i do make a few handles though. red oak is everywhere and almost as good as hickory. its a little softer but they windfall all the time. if you get a thick limb, its almost the same as hickory
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Red Oak is readily available (and affordable) here too, and easily found in long, straight and clear lengths, but the overly porous nature of the wood and fact that it turns black first time it gets immersed in water, somehow has persuaded most folks from seriously toying with it for making handles. Even Ash has long been preferred over (Red) Oak in the east.
Other than that I fully agree; oak is tough stuff!
 
Oak, ash, beech, maple, black locust...all work for axe handles with American eyes. But there are various barriers that can prevent folks from making their own handles:

•Access to wood--Getting your hands on the wood requires either land, connections, or a lumber supplier in your area that can get you the quantity and quality you need (usually small) at a price you can afford. Some folks have access to none of these.

•Access to tools--If working direct from the tree, you'll need to split billets or have access to a mill of some kind. You also have to have the tools to get the tree down in the first place. Even if buying milled lumber, you'll need tools to assist in making the conversion from raw wood to handle as painless as possible. Generally, having a band saw and at least some good quality rasps is kind of a minimum. You can do without and try chopping your waste wood out, but it'll add a lot of time and waste to the project. I often find myself using scraps from cutting handles for various small projects.

•Knowledge--Having the materials and tools means little if you don't know what makes a good handle. You could copy the shape of an off-the-shelf model, but then what are you bothering with all this extra work for? Knowing how to design an ideal handle for a given axe and intended use is necessary to really get the most out of the experience. So it's comparatively advanced compared to just popping an off-the-shelf stick in the eye and getting to work. If you're going to put the time in, you might as well end up with a handle that's shaped better than the one off the rack will.

•Time--You have to have the time available in order to do the work, and if working fresh from the tree that also means putting aside the billet for an extended period to dry out the wood properly. If you need that handle now then that may make that route unfeasible. Considerable forethought and planning is needed for that approach. But even working from lumber, you're going to be removing more material from a board to get a finished axe handle than you will be from a store-bought handle.

Add all of this up, and it's little wonder that back in the days before copy lathes most folks opted for straight handles--it was much more expedient than producing more complex forms. A lot of folks would buy handles from a local maker, but something fancy would cost ya' more. However, I firmly believe that in order to really maximize the performance of a given axe head, you pretty much need to have either designed your handle to match the head...or else designed your head to match typical store-bought handles. They're two halves of the same tool, and while the head may be doing the work it's the handle that's providing the interface between the user and the working end. It's kind of important to get that right.
 
Okay so given that Hickory is nearly impossible to get locally for me how would folks rate Ash, Rock Maple, and Red Oak from best suited to worst for making axe handles for American axe eyes with very slender handles.

I can get Ash in 8/4 within driving distance dirt cheap, Rock Maple cheap, and it seems like Red Oak should be possible to find from what I'm hearing.

In case anyone isn't familiar with the handles I perfer to make / reshape

Camp Axe Re-handle 4 by MJGEGB, on Flickr

Camp Axe Re-handle 5 by MJGEGB, on Flickr

And here is some Maple that I picked up for $9 a while back. I should be getting started on making a handle or two from it in the near future.

42" x 6¼" x 8/4" Rock Maple by MJGEGB, on Flickr

I'd started to much around with it, but it has been shelved for a long time. Looking to change than in the near future. Unfortunately work, school, tie rods, and oil pan, house repairs and all will be competing for my time. But I'm determined to make it happen. I just want to know of my options, for my uses what the best wood for future projects would be?
 
For what it's worth, rock maple is often used in bow making. Ash is great, but look for nice fat, dense rings in it with as thin of porous ring layer as possible. It's also comparatively sensitive to grain orientation, so while that's always something to be mindful of just be aware that you have less leeway with ash compared to less porous woods.
 
If memory serves correctly, Snow & Nealley used to (way back in the day) offer their axes with the dealer's choice of hickory, rock maple, red oak, or ash handles--the latter three all being common here in Maine, while hickory is scarce and was probably sourced from out of state.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
For what it's worth, rock maple is often used in bow making. Ash is great, but look for nice fat, dense rings in it with as thin of porous ring layer as possible. It's also comparatively sensitive to grain orientation, so while that's always something to be mindful of just be aware that you have less leeway with ash compared to less porous woods.
Click to expand...

Given that information it would seem that Rock Maple would be the better choice? The nice part is I'm able to be fairly selective as there is a large selection, and the owner is very laid back and doesn't mind you being picky. He actually recommend the rock maple after I told him what I planned on making. The Ash would be cheaper, but I want something that will hold up to use as I have no use for wall hangers.
 
Ash works just dandy, so I wouldn't worry too much about that, but maple would would be nice, too. The differences are probably going to be just noticeable enough for you to be able to make observations about differences in use, but all in all either is more than acceptable.
 
Old Axeman said:
I don't know where you live, but if you have red oak seems like you would also have white oak. On all the 1750 to 1850 American axes I own or have used or seen, the two primary haft woods were- first hickory and second white oak. I would use white oak.
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I'll second that. It's not so easy to come by, especially flat sawn devoid of runout, but you won't go wrong with any of the White types. Another one to keep an eye out for is Rock Elm. Dutch Elm Disease by and large has knocked the stuffing out of these in the east, even more so than the lighter/softer American/White Elms but settlers used Elm to make ox yokes, cart frames, wagon wheels and spokes for good reason.
 
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