Mixed color wood handle

M

Maine20

Joined
Aug 8, 2017
Messages
306
Just got lucky and found straight double bit handle with acceptable grain at Lowes. It’s fat but that can be fixed. It does have some dark wood but for $10 I figured it was worth a shot.

Thoughts on mixed color in handles?
 
I think mixed color handles are attractive. You hear occassional stories of mixed handles cracking along the color lines but I think that's occuring when the handle already had bad grain runout. So long as you have good continuous grain along the handle it should be fine. Studies have found the darker heartwood to be just as strong as the lighter sapwood. 5-20 growth rings per inch is the best hickory with ~12-15 gr/i being optimum in my opinion. You might want to avoid color changes that coincide with a dramatic change in gr/i.
 
Square Peg could not have said it any better. Obviously it is person preference but as far as the science goes... as long as it has good continuous grain and you like it then it will be a great work horse!
 


This is a 3.5lb woodslasher that I use often. Recently cleaned it up, but I put that handle on about two years ago. It is a multicolored handle that is about 50% heartwood 50% sap wood and the two woods meet at a 45 degree angle directly in the center of the handle. If these were prone to breaking or even “more prone” to breaking I would think this example would have broke a long time ago (because of the grain and how the woods meet). It has been abused to say the least.
 
I avoid them. Two different quality's. I do have some hatchet handles with that flaw in them though.
 
Brian Rust said:


This is a 3.5lb woodslasher that I use often. Recently cleaned it up, but I put that handle on about two years ago. It is a multicolored handle that is about 50% heartwood 50% sap wood and the two woods meet at a 45 degree angle directly in the center of the handle. If these were prone to breaking or even “more prone” to breaking I would think this example would have broke a long time ago (because of the grain and how the woods meet). It has been abused to say the least.
Click to expand...
Providing a handle isn't subject to overstrikes (and your's hasn't) or brute prying, you can often get away with suboptimal grain orientation and/or runout. But I don't think I'd be lending that tool out unsupervised. I realized years ago if you want to destructive stress-test something all you have to do is turn husky 18 year olds loose with them.
 
Yes I would agree with that statement 300six. I tend to try not to make over strikes and the axe has still seen a lot of use from myself. There is no way to “prove” use (especially since the picture was taken after it was sunk in vinegar for the second time since I have had it, not something I do with all axes). But in my opinion, with some exceptions depending on overall quality of grain and the handle itself at time of purchase, I think multicolor wood is fine. Especially when you are talking about a $10 handle for an axe that will be a user. But that is just my opinion and experience. Take it for what you will.
 
Brian Rust said:


This is a 3.5lb woodslasher that I use often. Recently cleaned it up, but I put that handle on about two years ago. It is a multicolored handle that is about 50% heartwood 50% sap wood and the two woods meet at a 45 degree angle directly in the center of the handle. If these were prone to breaking or even “more prone” to breaking I would think this example would have broke a long time ago (because of the grain and how the woods meet). It has been abused to say the least.
Click to expand...
Good to hear it has held up well. I like the look of some dark wood. This will see occasional use by myself only, most of the time it will hang on the wall so I’m thinking it will be fine.
 
As long as the normal potential problems of orientation and run-out are not a problem, I find these mixed handles to be no problem at all and they can be quite attractive.
 
Hickory n steel said:
I've had handles with heartwood without issue and don't find heartwood a big deal at all.
Click to expand...
When a portion of the nutrient transport system of a tree gradually becomes blocked up with residue (minerals and debris) a newly formed annular growth ring takes over that task. Heartwood is mineral-stained material that is no longer in use for moving liquids up and down the trunk and has been re-purposed as superstructure. "Trees" have successfully evolved into doing this for a very long time. Whether an axe handle is made from live wood vs dead wood ought not to differ that much.
But, as trees grow in size the incidence of hitherto unseen/unknown knots or blemishes in billets of exterior (live) wood diminishes plus the radial curvature of the grain straightens out. This grading 'rule of thumb' is probably why sapwood has traditionally been more desirable than heartwood.
 
300Six said:
When a portion of the nutrient transport system of a tree gradually becomes blocked up with residue (minerals and debris) a newly formed annular growth ring takes over that task. Heartwood is mineral-stained material that is no longer in use for moving liquids up and down the trunk and has been re-purposed as superstructure. "Trees" have successfully evolved into doing this for a very long time. Whether an axe handle is made from live wood vs dead wood ought not to differ that much.
But, as trees grow in size the incidence of hitherto unseen/unknown knots or blemishes in billets of exterior (live) wood diminishes plus the radial curvature of the grain straightens out. This grading 'rule of thumb' is probably why sapwood has traditionally been more desirable than heartwood.
Click to expand...

Sounds technical and sciency enough for me.
 
Thank you,300Six,i've worked with and around wood for decades now,but somehow didn't know this.

I've always assumed that heartwood is somehow more... "different"...,as it "works" so differently with our tools(and finishes too).

What you've said motivated me to look into it a bit more,and i found this link i found well-written and to the point:https://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/what_is_the_difference_between_sapwood_and_heartwood

In addition to what you've explained this paragraph from there seems also pertinent:

"This sapwood-heartwood distinction has important implications for woodworkers beyond the obvious implications of color. Because sapwood contains the sap-conducting cells of the tree, it tends to have a relatively high moisture content. This is good for the living tree but it is not so good for the woodworker, because sapwood tends to shrink and move considerably when dried, and it is much more susceptible to decay and staining by fungi".

So thanks again,this is something that we all really should understand better.

Also,specific to hickory per se,was there not some official statement in one or more US gov't agency type instances like the NPS or some shop regulating the import of hickory or something?Saying that their testing has come up with no measurable difference in bending moment or other physics in heart-,vs sapwood?....Wonder if anyone remembers such document being posted at some point...
 
Thanks Bob.
If unfounded rationales are allowed, I think I like my handles one or the other - either all sapwood or all heartwood.

I was looking and most of my handles have been chosen that way or if mixed then primarily sapwood with heartwood around about the swells but not really the length of the handle or half and half in the eye/shoulder.

My bias is not at all based on science. :)
 
Agent_H said:
Thanks Bob.
If unfounded rationales are allowed, I think I like my handles one or the other - either all sapwood or all heartwood.

I was looking and most of my handles have been chosen that way or if mixed then primarily sapwood with heartwood around about the swells but not really the length of the handle or half and half in the eye/shoulder.

My bias is not at all based on science. :)
Click to expand...
And some of us put little faith in any government study. Especially by a government that is in bed with manufactures that is in both party's interest to sell consumers hickory. It was just a good business practice. What else are you going to do with all that heart wood?
 
garry3 said:
And some of us put little faith in any government study. Especially by a government that is in bed with manufactures that is in both party's interest to sell consumers hickory. It was just a good business practice. What else are you going to do with all that heart wood?
Click to expand...

A drumstick manufacturer called Los Cabos had the University of New Brunswick do testing for them regarding sapwood vs. heartwood and they actually found the heartwood (which they refer to as "red hickory") to be denser and tougher, which is rather counter to the conventional line of thought.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top