Comparing axe handle shock between hard rock maple, yellow birch, and hickory.

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The birch around me IMO would not make a good axe handle compared to hickory.
Not to say you cant but its just not tough enough imo
 
droppoint1 said:
I have read through some of that information, and other similar info as well.

I am not sure if handle shock can be concluded from those specs or not. I am more interested in peoples experience and perception from using the materials.

I wonder if there is any truth to the idea that hickory has more of a dampening effect than hard rock maple and yellow birch.
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There is a lot that goes into it. Including the cross section of a handle. Which is more important than the wood used. A more rounded cross section will bend and absorb shock better then a narrow one. A pop-sickle stick is flexable in only one direction, same as an axe handle that is to narrow making it kind of whippy in one plane and to stiff in the other. A mistake that I am prone to make because I like the feel in my hand.
 
Shock absorption seems complicated, not depending on a single factor. Making some "standardized" axe handles and comparing the performance (while chopping) is probably the most direct and sure way to see how much difference is felt in the real world.

From a technical book, two main measures for energy absorption are said to be impact bending and toughness:

11.2.6.3 Shock Resistance
Shock resistance or energy absorption is a function of a material's ability to quickly absorb and then dissipate energy via deformation. This is an important quality for baseball bats, tool handles, and other articles that are subjected to frequent shock loadings... Shock resistance can be measured by several methods. With wood, three of the most often used tests are work tests (to maximum load), impact bending tests, and toughness tests. Both of the later two test methods [impact bending and toughness] yield measures of strength and pliability, mutually referred to as energy absorption. These two measures of shock resistance are similar but not particularly relative to one another....
from Handbook of Wood Chemistry and Wood Composites, edited by Roger M. Rowell, 2005, p. 316


The Wood Handbook (that Square_peg provided) gives toughness values for only a few species of hardwoods, in Table 4-8. Here's how the toughness (tangential) compares, in units of joules:
Hickory, 12% moisture: 10,700
Yellow Birch, 12% moisture: 10,100
Sugar [Rock] Maple, 14%: 5,900

For impact bending, here are values from Table 4-3a (mm):
Shagbark Hickory, 12% moisture: 1700
Yellow Birch, 12% moisture: 1400
Sugar [Rock] Maple, 12%: 990

So, for both of these measures related to energy absorption, yellow birch is almost as high as hickory, with sugar/rock maple significantly less. In theory, at least, the maple handles would transmit more impact to the hands and be more jarring than the hickory or yellow birch (all other factors being equal, such as dimensions, grain orientation...)


Here's the impact bending data again, with some more wood species included:

Shagbark Hickory, 12% moisture: 1700
Black Locust, 12% moisture: 1450
Yellow Birch, 12% moisture: 1400
White Ash, 12% moisture: 1090
Sugar [Rock] Maple, 12%: 990
White Oak, 12% moisture: 940
 
Thanks Steve. These numbers would 'blow you away' when you consider that 'the' Major League baseball bat material of choice has been White Ash for 100 years. An entrepreneur from Ottawa, Ontario jumped through various hoops 15 years ago in order to get Sugar Maple (rock maple or hard maple) sanctioned as an alternate. "Sam Bat" is still out there (but relocated to nearby town of Carleton Place) flogging their version of bats and still using maple. Howcum 'ultimate' Shagbark Hickory never entered into the fray?
 
300Six said:
...Howcum 'ultimate' Shagbark Hickory never entered into the fray?
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Maybe it had something to do with hickory being heavier than ash or maple, for the same size bat? Or maybe ash is more widely availability and/or less costly?
 
From Bear Valley Bats, a company that makes baseball bats ("custom-made by hand"):

Genuine Yellow Birch, Northern White Ash, and true Hickory are the only species of wood we currently recommend for game
bats. We are always looking at other wood species
We recommend most Hickories for game bats only for those accustomed to the weight.
(They always make great training bats of course!)
...and Maple for furniture and flooring.

Impact_Strength-600x465.jpg


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Thanks Steve. So who are we to believe now. Bear Valley even goes so far as to show Pignut Hickory to be superior to Shagbark.
 
300Six said:
...So who are we to believe now. Bear Valley even goes so far as to show Pignut Hickory to be superior to Shagbark.
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The data in the Wood Handbook (that Square_peg posted) shows higher values for Pignut Hickory (over Shagbark) for Specific gravity, Modulus of rupture, Modulus of elasticity, Work to maximum load, Impact bending, and Compression perpendicular to grain.
 
droppoint1 said:
I want to try yellow birch for an axe handle.
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I want to try black locust but my 3 staves have all warped. One might still be usable. One warped right away. The other two stayed straight for 6 months then bent in the August heat. The ends were painted and they were kept in the shade. Ya just never know.
 
jblyttle said:
I'm surrounded by yellow birch, the woods near my house are loaded with it and I've never considered it. It looks much better than I ever knew.
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Up this way Yellow Birch (and don't confuse this with any of the 'White Birch' types) has been favoured (over maple or oak) for gymnasium floors, bowling alley lanes and for commercial flooring for well over 150 years. It's not pretty (no obviously visible grain, texture or pattern) but it is light in colour, stable and tough, and 'holds up' to abuse better than anything else.
 
I really like pignut for handles. Pignut hickory seems to have thicker sapwood than the other hickories too. The only fault I've found with pignut is it has a few, small encapsulated knots that show up out of nowhere when making a handle.

Here's a horizontal grained, pignut hickory handle I made back in the 80's. At the very start of the video you can see one such knot on shoulder of the handle. A friend who is in his 90's gave me that Flint Edge axe head in the early 80's. It was issued to him when he entered the CCC's in 1937.

*Note a few years ago, out of the blue, my son wanted to film me chopping with his new device. Had I known he would upload it to YouTube I would have removed my coat which was binding my swing.
 
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