Saw Mill & Axe Handle Lathe - Making a Hickory Axe Handle!

[rjdankert]

There has been a lot of posts about axe handles here, where to buy, what makes a good handle etc. There is currently a lively discussion on grain orientation. I don't really want to go there, but all the discussions got me curious about how handles are produced. A little searching turned up a video from Hickory Handle Store (Beaver-Tooth Handle Co.). Initially they cut the logs into boards. I believe they are plain sawn. The grain orientation for the eventual hafts is set at this point. The boards are then ripped into blanks. I'm guessing that the logs were green. They don't say, but if so this would be a good time to to dry the wood in a kiln (smaller pieces dry faster). Anyway, the next step shown is shaping the handles on a lathe. I would have liked to see how they cut the kerfs.

[video=youtube;Sy-sY1a5L0k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy-sY1a5L0k[/video]

I can't say if other companies saw the logs in the same way, but it seems likely that they would. They would want to get the most blanks out of a log to be competitive.

Bob

 

[Lieblad]

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[markv]

you tube link nixed
plays in you tube.
the sawyer is not an axe guy, otherwise he wood try to cut straight grain billets
imho

 

[rjdankert]

. . .
But given I see huge number of hafts with poorly sawn wedge kerf, I would say thats done by hand feed on bandsaw by a mind numbed assembly line zombie.
...

I suspect you are right.

 

[rjdankert]

you tube link nixed
plays in you tube.
. . .

Not sure what you mean.

. . .
the sawyer is not an axe guy, otherwise he wood try to cut straight grain billets
imho

The sawyer is just doing what the employer is paying him to do. "He who pays the fiddler calls the tune". But I agree about the grain. Quarter sawn would be better. But would increase the cost. I don't know for sure, but I've read quarter sawing yields half the number of boards in a log than plain sawn, so the cost would double.