Well, that didn't last long

Muaddib1116 said:
Hey JB, what do you mean by run-out?

Edit: Ok, I just watched FortyTwoBlades' video from that grain alignment thread. So runout is when the grain, regardless of vertical or horizontal orientation runs out the side of the handle instead of all the way to the bottom of the handle?
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Here you go.
Every 'once in a blue moon' I am compelled to put up these graphic examples. Haft on the left is as good as it gets and haft on the right requires that you wear thick gloves first time you decide to swing it really hard or foolishly pry with it. Picture below that is of 'manufactured runout' which happens anytime you use horizontal end grain wood on curved handles.

AxehandleII003Medium_zpsd70d2b81.jpg


axehafts1003Medium_zps15485440.jpg
 
i personally don't care for the looks of a splitter, i use plastic haft! and then the hole of yours, (i mean of the maul) is very small!
i'm fully found off wooden axe hafts!
 
you could also make one off a splitted bit of wood, with a drawknife it's a piece of cake, and addictive task!
 
quinton said:
I would like to watch you physically separate a rove, air dried hickory handle. Not saying that you couldn't eventually do it, but it would be fun watching!:)
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Here's a brand of "unbreakable" hickory handles, "Unbrako", advertised as "fully guaranteed: cannot be broken for purpose intended", from the Sequatchie Handle Works catalog Dec 1965:

BookReaderImages.php


Note that they are said to be "manufactured from immaculate white, hand-split hickory", and every handle is physically tested.

https://archive.org/details/SequatchieHandles
 
Steve Tall said:
Here's a brand of "unbreakable" hickory handles, "Unbrako", advertised as "fully guaranteed: cannot be broken for purpose intended", from the Sequatchie Handle Works catalog Dec 1965:

BookReaderImages.php


Note that they are said to be "manufactured from immaculate white, hand-split hickory", and every handle is physically tested.

https://archive.org/details/SequatchieHandles
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That article demonstrates my experience with rove, air dried hickory perfectly! Air dried is nothing like kiln dried replacements from a hardware store. Thanks, Steve!
 
quinton said:
That article demonstrates my experience with rove, air dried hickory perfectly! Air dried is nothing like kiln dried replacements from a hardware store. Thanks, Steve!
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Where do they say the handles are air dried?

Bob
 
Whatever happened to Sequatchie Handle Works? I'd be ordering stuff from them tomorrow.
An older gentleman with an axe handle lathe in Cornwall Ontario was commissioned by then-fledgling Lee Valley Tools in Ottawa to supply them with air-dried Ironwood (Hop Hornbeam) axe handles 30 years ago. Same thing, either he couldn't come up with enough product, prices were too high or the market for these turned out not to be there. The handle offerings disappeared from the catalogue within a year.
 
quinton said:
They don't, Bob, and don't have to for me to see it.
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Yes, it's not explicitly stated, and your assumption might prove to be 100% correct. I just do not make that leap of faith.

You say mater and I say tomato...:)


Bob
 
rjdankert said:
Yes, it's not explicitly stated, and your assumption might prove to be 100% correct. I just do not make that leap of faith.

You say mater and I say tomato...:)


Bob
Click to expand...

One other thing..I've had extensive experience with both types of hickory. I learned that not many, if any on this board have that.
 
quinton said:
Looking at page 11, showing the Sequatchie plant in Tennessee, I see rows of staves air drying. But I don't see any signs of a kiln on the property.
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We may have different definition of "staves" vs. "billets" and maybe "air dried" as well.

From page 4 Sequatchie seems to be making significance or their billets being hand split.

31258125001_9f4424a6ce_c.jpg



The pieces you are calling staves (from page 11 below) are obviously larger than what they call billets:

30551488964_919e3e1abd_c.jpg


Do you think they would leave pieces of that size outside (possibly on the ground - can't tell for sure) without a roof to "air dry" and then go straight to be made into handles?

My take on picture of the property is that there is no evidence of the presence or absence of a kiln.


Bob
 
Bob,
It was typical here to place sleepers on the ground and stack and sticker green wood then cover the top of the stack. After a year or so the wood was considered seasoned enough to use.

The rows in that photograph are obviously staves or billets. The other photo you are referring to they are splitting hammer or hatchet sized stock. The reason I say there is not a kiln on the property is there is no boiler stack that I can see. Even a small wood or gas fired boiler has a huge stack. I've never heard of an electric dry kiln.
 
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We don't know that the photo shows the entire operation. There could easily be a kiln just out of the photo.


Handles wouldn't be made from billets left out in the weather like that. There must be some other other place where they were dried by either air or kiln. Which they used is pure speculation.
 
quinton said:
Looking at page 11, showing the Sequatchie plant in Tennessee, I see rows of staves air drying. But I don't see any signs of a kiln on the property.
Click to expand...

This old brochure from another handle company, Lapierre-Sawyer, was talking up the fact that all of their handles were kiln dried, and mentioned that "...almost 40 percent of the handles made today are not kiln dried."

https://archive.org/stream/LaPierreSawyerHandleCo/LaPierre%20Sawyer%20Handle%20Co#page/n2/mode/1up

So it seems plausible to me that Sequatchie may not have had a kiln (or at least, not used a kiln for the Unbrako brand shown in the earlier photo.) I found some old references that mention Sequatchie having a "dry house", but nothing about kilns there.
 
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Square_peg said:
We don't know that the photo shows the entire operation. There could easily be a kiln just out of the photo.


Handles wouldn't be made from billets left out in the weather like that. There must be some other other place where they were dried by either air or kiln. Which they used is pure speculation.
Click to expand...

Actually, stickering and outside drying is the first step in any lumber operation.

I say that the green billets are air dried outside for a specific length of time, then inside for some time. Stock being continually rotated as finished product is shipped.
 
Steve Tall said:
This old brochure from another handle company, Lapierre-Sawyer, was talking up the fact that all of their handles were kiln dried, and mentioned that "...almost 40 percent of the handles made today are not kiln dried."

https://archive.org/stream/LaPierreSawyerHandleCo/LaPierre%20Sawyer%20Handle%20Co#page/n2/mode/1up

So it seems plausible to me that Sequatchie may not have had a kiln (or at least, not used a kiln for the Unbrako brand shown in the earlier photo.) I found some old references that mention Sequatchie having a "dry house", but nothing about kilns there.
Click to expand...

I would say dry house, to finished handle, for the Unbrako brand anyway. The pictures in the ad are my experience with air dried hickory, not so with kiln dried handles. I wish more people could experience an air dried hickory handle, It's nearly indestructible. Thanks again, Steve for the research.
 
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