Re Hafting Wiith Kiln Dried Hickory

C

Cooter Brown

Joined
May 22, 2011
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173
I'm a cabinetmaker and I've made a couple of hickory kitchen cabinet sets in the last couple of years.

I've got scrap enough to come up with a handle or two with good grain orientation. This is kiln dried lumber from my supplier. I'd just as soon make my own handles as I can make exactly what suits me.

Would this stuff be appropriate for handles? Are there any issues I should look for? Any advantages to cutting a tree and splitting and air drying hickory for a handle?

Thanks for any advice.

By the way, hickory is tough stuff to work with. I've worked with most all native species and many exotics and hickory strained my machines, particularly my little 3 hp. shapers, more than anything I've worked with.
 
Well, as you are aware, hickory is tough to work! Working green is easier. But the advantage of splitting a billet and making a haft from that is you can work with the grain, suiting curves and such to the grain, rather than try to fit a handle into a block of wood. Plus there is a lot of satisfaction in making one from a tree. Just be aware of grain runout, and you should be ok.

-Xander
 
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