Wood Grain Orientation question.

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paleomanone

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Apr 7, 2012
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I have a few old shovels made by Union Fork and Hoe that apart from the broken handles still have plenty of life left in them. I compared them to what is being sold today and found they were made of thicker metal so I thought about picking up some new handles and rehanging them. What I am not sure of is what direction the wood grain should be once rehung in order to get the best strength from the handle. My gut instinct tells me perpendicular to the shovel head if one were looking down the handle when using it i.e. the shovel being the horizontal plane and the grain vertical. Is this correct? I also need to know if I should get handles that have a nice tight grain like old growth (my preference) or wood with wider spaced grain. Any thoughts?
 
You'd want it vertical in use. With ash handles you'll want thick bands of the solid rings with thin porous rings. Whatever configuration most minimizes the percentage of the wood the porous rings represent.
 
Perpendicular to the blade flats is what you want (and don't take anything less) and do not accept grain runout along the length. These instructions were simple at one time but garden tools etc are increasingly shod with metal tubing or plastic because QC has lost it's ability to judge wood.
 
With foot on the blade in using position, you want the belly in the handle facing back towards you regardless of orientation of the grain.
 
Thank you 300Six, FortytwoBlades and Quinton for your answers. 300Six, I couldn't agree more with you about the garbage that is sold nowadays be it garden tools or any kind of hardware. This is why I go to such lengths to reuse old tools. Could you (Quinton or anyone) elaborate on what is meant by the "belly" of the handle?
 
paleomanone said:
Thank you 300Six, FortytwoBlades and Quinton for your answers. 300Six, I couldn't agree more with you about the garbage that is sold nowadays be it garden tools or any kind of hardware. This is why I go to such lengths to reuse old tools. Could you (Quinton or anyone) elaborate on what is meant by the "belly" of the handle?
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Sight down the handle, the natural sag in the handle (belly) however slight, should face the user while the shovel is being used.

Same thing as crowning joists, or rafters, the crown should face the load.
 
Yeah, in a straight handle that's rotationally symmetrical, you can just orient the handle however you'd like and then install it. If there's any arch in the handle, that arch should be vertical in use and so should be the determining factor in how it's installed, so then you have to play luck-of-the-draw (when buying sight unseen) or dig through the available handles for one with reasonably good orientation. How important it is increases with the amount of strain said handle is expected to experience and how long it is.
 
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