Wooden handles ???

[hoggie]

I am not sure whether this is the right place to ask this but let's give it a go

I have been unable to buy tool handles (like lump hammers and hand axes) here. I have some ash growing for coppice for firewood, and I know that in the past ash was used for handles for various tools. Probably not quite as good as hickory but that won't grow here, the ash does

SO........If I cut down my ash (not a huge tree, just ready for coppice) how do I go about making handles from the wood. Do I need to use the thicker trunk and use the centre of the wood? Or do I go for smaller branches and use the full thickness of the wood? Does it need any special treatment, or just drying as usual and then shaping?

Can anyone advise me on this - everyone I know just says "just buy a new hammer" But I don't see the point in throwing away the hammer/axe part for the sake of a handle.

TIA

hoggie

[Jolly]

Down here, men made a living in the past by selling ash blocks. The blocks, cut from the log, were primarily for clawhammer and hatchet handles.

I'm guessing ash would make a decent longer handle, such as for an axe.

I know that rough lumber should dry under a shed, one year per inch thickness. I don't how long one would have to dry handles, before carving them out.

Hope that helped a smidgen...

[Curtis B]

I'm not positive, but I believe that you would need the tree to be big enough to quarter saw it. If you were you use just the center you would have a problem with checking when it is dryed.

[hoggie]

Thanks. I think that what I refer to as a hand axe you would call a hatchet maybe - a small axe for chopping kindling etc?

I guess it is try it and see then - not that I'm going to ahve handles anytime soon LOL but it could be a good experiment

Thanks again

hoggie

[poorboy]

Oncet upon a time their was a young "poorboy" (as in meself) a splitting firewood for the cookstove. came to this piece of wood that "was a real bearcat",swung that ole doublebitted axe with all my 11 yr. ole might, missed the wood stick and broke the axehandle slick as a whistle right by the head.
Dad was a coming from the east barn where he had been doing the evening feeding chores. I said dad i guess were going to have to go to town and buy a handle! he said son "we don't have time", grabbed a saw and walked out south of the house to some young timber and proceeded to cut a small hickory. He cut about a 36" blank and brought it back to the woodpile chopping block, proceeded to pick up the axehead and with it only hacked out a new handle. Sending me in search of a piece of broken glass as he hacked,he then had me fetch the handsaw. As he held the hacked out handle I cut a wedge slot in it , he then assembled it, drove a wedge in the slot, picked up the piece of broken glass and gave the handle a quick smoothing, handed me the axe. Said son you can't always buy what you need and went on with his chores as I did mine. Total time for him to cut the stave and rough out the handle was less than 30 minutes, He's long gone now and that was over 50 years ago, but I'll never forget him chopping out an axe handle with just the axe head, finishing it with a handsaw for the slot and smoothing with broken glass. Although that green handle had to be tightened occasionally, it lasted years out in the weather the axe stuck in chop block when not in use

[EDDIE BUCK]

Originally Posted by poorboy

Oncet upon a time their was a young "poorboy" (as in meself) a splitting firewood for the cookstove. came to this piece of wood that "was a real bearcat",swung that ole doublebitted axe with all my 11 yr. ole might, missed the wood stick and broke the axehandle slick as a whistle right by the head.
Dad was a coming from the east barn where he had been doing the evening feeding chores. I said dad i guess were going to have to go to town and buy a handle! he said son "we don't have time", grabbed a saw and walked out south of the house to some young timber and proceeded to cut a small hickory. He cut about a 36" blank and brought it back to the woodpile chopping block, proceeded to pick up the axehead and with it only hacked out a new handle. Sending me in search of a piece of broken glass as he hacked,he then had me fetch the handsaw. As he held the hacked out handle I cut a wedge slot in it , he then assembled it, drove a wedge in the slot, picked up the piece of broken glass and gave the handle a quick smoothing, handed me the axe. Said son you can't always buy what you need and went on with his chores as I did mine. Total time for him to cut the stave and rough out the handle was less than 30 minutes, He's long gone now and that was over 50 years ago, but I'll never forget him chopping out an axe handle with just the axe head, finishing it with a handsaw for the slot and smoothing with broken glass. Although that green handle had to be tightened occasionally, it lasted years out in the weather the axe stuck in chop block when not in use

He must have been in a good mood.My dad would have been mad or at least made me think he was mad lol. Enjoyed the story. Made me think of my dad,thanks,...Eddie

[Jenn]

po'boy I thought your story would be how YOU came up with the axhandle in the minutes before your dad got there to find out....

[MELOC]

if you are patient, you could put the hatchet head on a young ash tree and let it grow a handle into it for you.

[Wildcrofthollow]

Thought I would toss in my two cents worth here.

Most of the handles for axes that you might find in the hardware store are just garbage. They were sawn from the tree and then shaped. The best way to make a handle for an axe (or hammer or anything really) is to split the log in half, then halve it again into quarters and again and again if necessary to get it to near the right width. Throw all the "staves" you just made into a corner of the barn or in an attic or hayloft and leave em there. You have now made your little pile of handle stock. Leave it there for a year if possible. More is better. Make handles for whatever you need to make handles for out of this stock of wood. By splitting the wood all of the fibers in the wood will run the full length of the handle, making it far stronger. The handle should be oriented so that the head of the hammer, bit of the axe, whatever, is facing toward what used to be the outside of the tree. This will again make the handle stronger and will impart a bit of springiness to it as well, which is what makes wooden handles so much better than anything else. The art of helving (making handles) is something that you can take a lifetime with. But just by splitting and seasoning you will be able to make a far better handle than anything you could go buy. Best woods for handles depend on which tool you need a handle on of course, but in general, hickory and ash are considered the best. I would choose ash for an axe, but hickory for a hammer, for instance. The nice thing about making your own helves is that you can make them to fit your hands. I have very small hands and making my own helves has made a huge difference. All new tools that I buy have to get their handles shaved down so that I can use them comfortably.

[hoggie]

poorboy - I guess that's the type of thing people hav eforgotten how to do
Lovely memory to hav eof your dad though

MELOC - I should have thought of that one - I remember seeing pictures of walking sticks growing. In some places they grow the young tree, and sort of pin down the wood so that it grows into the curve of the handle

Wildcrofthollow - thank you. I guess it makes sense to have plenty of the staves split ready to use when you want them. With splitting the wood, are you likely to get some sort of shape to teh wood to work around? I like the idea of making the handles from wood I have grown myself - sort of full cycle

hoggie