I like the feel of an octagon handle.
That's a "beauty", no ifs or buts about it. When you think about it octagons would be difficult to produce on a copy lathe (rotating shaft over a template-guided sawblade) and then belt sanded smooth, which is likely why store-bought handles are invariably oval. Back when folks carved/shaved their own hafts octagons were probably quite common and considerably easier/faster to produce. Doing a 'round-over' to make them appear 'store-bought' would not have been a biggie.
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