Questions re: hickory for handles

Generally speaking scrub planes are narrow bodied and bladed (Ā± 32 mm), allowing them to go deep, and single ironed not double. So modified improvs. will only hint at the potential.

This is all borne out in historic surfaces from that time before machine work displaced hand work.
 
Here in Southern Spain I see lots of wooden planes, now & again they have curved blades for scrubbing & a wide throat, they often look like they could be an old worn plane that then got put to scrub duties rather than repaired (wooden soles wear resulting in a larger throat opening).
Beams inside & out often display this scrub finish and to a lesser extent some "rustic" furniture both old & modern.
But we've got right off topic with planes in this handle thread. One thing I think we can agree on is planes like handles fall into the "ask ten different people get ten different answers" category!
;)
 
Hickory is a strong wood, and I donā€™t know much about whether sapwood or heartwood is better for tool handles. I have never had a problem with decent quality tool handles, but I canā€™t say that for cheap hammers out of China. Perhaps they are making them better today, but I have seen a workman actually rip the head off the handle of a hammer when trying to use it like a crowbar. I have done a bit of woodworking in the past, and I always have avoided sapwood. It tends to be less stabls, because it is wetter. Sapwood isnā€™t as pretty in many species of wood, and it is especially problematic when a board contains part sapwood and part heartwood, since you would expect uneven shrinkage.
The ā€œbestā€ type of wood depends on what you want to use it for, and what you want it to do.
Has anyone here had axe handle breakage that didnā€™t come from inappropriate grain direction In the wood?
I am curious to know about this, and if tool handles donā€™t work loose with sapwood handles, how long does the wood need to be dried before it is useful for a tool handle?
 
Artyh said:
Hickory is a strong wood, and I donā€™t know much about whether sapwood or heartwood is better for tool handles. I have never had a problem with decent quality tool handles, but I canā€™t say that for cheap hammers out of China. Perhaps they are making them better today, but I have seen a workman actually rip the head off the handle of a hammer when trying to use it like a crowbar. I have done a bit of woodworking in the past, and I always have avoided sapwood. It tends to be less stabls, because it is wetter. Sapwood isnā€™t as pretty in many species of wood, and it is especially problematic when a board contains part sapwood and part heartwood, since you would expect uneven shrinkage.
The ā€œbestā€ type of wood depends on what you want to use it for, and what you want it to do.
Has anyone here had axe handle breakage that didnā€™t come from inappropriate grain direction In the wood?
I am curious to know about this, and if tool handles donā€™t work loose with sapwood handles, how long does the wood need to be dried before it is useful for a tool handle?
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Don't use a hammer as a prybar, about anyone could break a hickory haft on a hammer by using it as a prybar.

Most hafts on hammers and hatchets break just below the eye. Most of the hammer hafts today are weaker by design. The extra thickness of the neck and the resulting shoulders serve a few purposes in my opinion. They take less time to manufacture, they help hide poor handle to eye fit, they give the illusion of being stronger when in reality they are just stiffer and actually weaker because of the sharp shoulders.


Here is an example of a more modern haft on a Daluge hammer compared to a Hart from the 70's or 80's to illustrate what I am talking about.


I used to do a lot of framing with rigging axes. I broke handles for a variety of reasons but the one thing I could always count on was when the weather warmed in the spring. No haft lived through the winter into the summer.

The sapwood does have more moisture when the tree is first cut, at least the sap wood that is close to the cambium layer. What dry is depends on where you live and the time of the year. When air dried hickory from down south comes up to my dry climate it is nowhere close to being dry. One way to check if the wood has reached equilibrium with your climate is to weigh it, when it stops losing weight it is dry.
 
O Old Axeman I got the document a couple days ago--thanks much! Looking the wording over it does look like it's most likely a later revision of the Simplified Practice Recomendation bulletin R77 which underwent several revisions after its initial introduction in 1927. I've found a copy of R77-39, which was the 1939 update, and it doesn't match the one that was sent to me. I know that there is also an R77-45 revision but have yet to turn up an actual copy of it; only references to it existing are popping up so far. It seems plausible that it may be R77-45 from which the excerpt was derived. Will report back if I turn anything up. However, the R77-39 edition I found has some notes on the development of the recommendation that I haven't had the chance to dig through just yet, but a quick scan seems to indicate it was adopted at the behest of the Hickory Handle Association by the National Bureau of Standards rather than using direct input from the Forest Products Laboratory.
 
Werenā€™t they the ones who recommended particle board for subfloor in trailer houses?

<heavy sarcasm> Especially in kitchens and bathrooms, that turned out great!

Parker
 
catspa said:
Werenā€™t they the ones who recommended particle board for subfloor in trailer houses?

<heavy sarcasm> Especially in kitchens and bathrooms, that turned out great!

Parker
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Who, specifically. Citation for the assertion, please. :)
 
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