- Joined
- Sep 3, 2014
- Messages
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This post is intended to be a full review of my particular experience with ordering from House Handle. Hopefully there is info here that other people can
use to their benefit and to base purchasing decisions on. This post is not intended to be a bash or rant. It is a simple recounting, good and bad, of my
particular experience. There were things that I was not happy with, and there were things that I liked very much. Your mileage may vary.
I needed a couple of handles, as the local stores pretty much carry full sized axe and maul handles with the occasional boy's axe or hatchet thrown in.
Specialty handles like house axe or straight axe handles are non existent. I have read many other reviews of House Handle, and based on those I learned
that you should both order AA handles and pay for hand picking to get really good stuff, and also order more than one or two to make shipping cost
effective. Armed with this info, I assembled my cart and placed my order. I ordered 4 handles, all the AA option. A regular boy's axe handle ($7.65), a
28" straight handle for a full sized head ($7.70), a house axe handle ($5.50) and a hammer handle for a 2.5lb Stanley sledge/machinist head that I had
cleaned up a while ago ($2.85). The total for the 4 handles was $23.70, a very fair price.
Once I had that together, I placed the order. There was nothing that indicated shipping cost at any point during the order, other than a note that simply
said that the best way would be used. I had to take that on faith and hoped for the best. There was a comment area where I posted this, verbatim: "Hello,
I am hoping for premium handles for a 4 handle order, but am particularly interested in the two 28 inch handles being of really good quality. Please
leave the varnish off of the two longer ones as well. I'm restoring and selling vintage heads, if this works out I will be ordering many more over time.
Thanks again!" I was aware that there may be a small charge added for ensuring that I got good ones.
After that, nothing. Just thanks for your order. A few days later I received an e-mail telling me that my card had been charged for a total of $48.33.
What? Even with the expected up-charge for some select handle picking, and shipping, this was unexpectedly high.
Here is the breakdown: $23.70 for the handles, $2 each for hand picking, $0.50 each for leaving the varnish off )although I only asked for this on two of the four, and it is counter-intuitive to pay for them NOT to do something), and $15 for shipping. This averages $12.08/handle which doesn't sound SO bad until you realize that 2 of the 4 handles totaled $8.35 and the 4 totaled $23.70. Keep in mind that these were already handles that I paid the higher AA price to get better quality. It isn't high enough to feel ripped off. The price is OK, it's just no deal either. My gripe here isn't so much with the over all cost (but I'm not thrilled either), but more with the lack of info, the lack of any way to see what you are really going to pay. You should know before clicking the purchase button what you are going to be charged. Any modern website does this.
So, I give a B- for pricing and a D for the ordering process. Mostly I'm unhappy about the mystery and lack of info before supplying my credit card. I know that I asked for some extras and that there would be a shipping charge, but it's easy to not know where you are if there isn't an itemized list prior to ordering. There should be a running total to avoid this.
OK, on to the product received. Here is where things are mostly (but not all) good. All 4 handles arrived loose in one box with no additional wrapping to protect them from eat other.
While none were perfect, nothing is. If looking for flaws, you will always find them.
With this fairly in mind, I will fairly review what I was sent.
The boy's axe- The handle was straight, of very nice quality wood, almost all white, symmetrical, perfect grain alignment. A large swell, but overall a suitably thin handle. The wedge is good, but the metal wedge is way too big in my opinion. Even at 45 degrees it would still touch the head. However, overall I'm very happy with it. It is a very good handle.
The 28" straight full sized handle- This shares may of the qualities of the boy's axe handle. It has some heartwood which is not technically IDEAL, but I'm perfectly happy with it. My only comment would be that this one is pretty thick. It could be thinned down quite a bit if desired, some may consider this very thick. In terms of wood quality, surface finish, straightness, grain alignment etc, it is an excellent handle. Metal wedge is too big IMO.
The hammer handle- Superb quality. Everything about it is fantastic, no complaint to be found. All white wood, very straight, grain alignment better than 45 degrees, symmetrical, appropriately sized wedge. As good as you could ask.
The house handle, unfortunately, is a total disaster especially when you consider that this is a premium priced AA handle to begin with that extra was paid to have hand picked. No excuse here. First, it is super thick, but that is an aesthetic choice. The real problem is that there is no alignment here. If you look straight down the handle both the area that fits into the eye and the part that you hold in your hand twist in opposite directions. If you hold the handle comfortably in your hand, the axe head would be offset to the side. This is unusable. On top of that, the top of the handle where you would seat the head is totally unsymmetrical. The swell is a mangled unsymmetrical mess. This handle would be a good first attempt at carving for someone just getting into the hobby. For a AA hand picked handle from a professional handle company, it is an embarrassment. I have not yet decided if I should reshape it on my own into something usable, or see what House Handle would like to do with it. Under no circumstances am I willing to pay any shipping to get this back to them. We will see.
So, as you can see, there were many things that could be improved here, most notably communication or info regarding total order cost prior to order. Also, if requested and aid for, House Handle can deliver a very nice high quality handle. Depending on what you need and how many, ordering may be a good decision. If you need one handle cheap, I think that looking elsewhere and hand picking at Home Depot may be my recommendation.This was a long post but aimed at providing valuable info to others. Your experiences may be different from mine.
Comments and conversation are welcome.
use to their benefit and to base purchasing decisions on. This post is not intended to be a bash or rant. It is a simple recounting, good and bad, of my
particular experience. There were things that I was not happy with, and there were things that I liked very much. Your mileage may vary.
I needed a couple of handles, as the local stores pretty much carry full sized axe and maul handles with the occasional boy's axe or hatchet thrown in.
Specialty handles like house axe or straight axe handles are non existent. I have read many other reviews of House Handle, and based on those I learned
that you should both order AA handles and pay for hand picking to get really good stuff, and also order more than one or two to make shipping cost
effective. Armed with this info, I assembled my cart and placed my order. I ordered 4 handles, all the AA option. A regular boy's axe handle ($7.65), a
28" straight handle for a full sized head ($7.70), a house axe handle ($5.50) and a hammer handle for a 2.5lb Stanley sledge/machinist head that I had
cleaned up a while ago ($2.85). The total for the 4 handles was $23.70, a very fair price.
Once I had that together, I placed the order. There was nothing that indicated shipping cost at any point during the order, other than a note that simply
said that the best way would be used. I had to take that on faith and hoped for the best. There was a comment area where I posted this, verbatim: "Hello,
I am hoping for premium handles for a 4 handle order, but am particularly interested in the two 28 inch handles being of really good quality. Please
leave the varnish off of the two longer ones as well. I'm restoring and selling vintage heads, if this works out I will be ordering many more over time.
Thanks again!" I was aware that there may be a small charge added for ensuring that I got good ones.
After that, nothing. Just thanks for your order. A few days later I received an e-mail telling me that my card had been charged for a total of $48.33.
What? Even with the expected up-charge for some select handle picking, and shipping, this was unexpectedly high.
Here is the breakdown: $23.70 for the handles, $2 each for hand picking, $0.50 each for leaving the varnish off )although I only asked for this on two of the four, and it is counter-intuitive to pay for them NOT to do something), and $15 for shipping. This averages $12.08/handle which doesn't sound SO bad until you realize that 2 of the 4 handles totaled $8.35 and the 4 totaled $23.70. Keep in mind that these were already handles that I paid the higher AA price to get better quality. It isn't high enough to feel ripped off. The price is OK, it's just no deal either. My gripe here isn't so much with the over all cost (but I'm not thrilled either), but more with the lack of info, the lack of any way to see what you are really going to pay. You should know before clicking the purchase button what you are going to be charged. Any modern website does this.
So, I give a B- for pricing and a D for the ordering process. Mostly I'm unhappy about the mystery and lack of info before supplying my credit card. I know that I asked for some extras and that there would be a shipping charge, but it's easy to not know where you are if there isn't an itemized list prior to ordering. There should be a running total to avoid this.
OK, on to the product received. Here is where things are mostly (but not all) good. All 4 handles arrived loose in one box with no additional wrapping to protect them from eat other.
While none were perfect, nothing is. If looking for flaws, you will always find them. With this fairly in mind, I will fairly review what I was sent.
The boy's axe- The handle was straight, of very nice quality wood, almost all white, symmetrical, perfect grain alignment. A large swell, but overall a suitably thin handle. The wedge is good, but the metal wedge is way too big in my opinion. Even at 45 degrees it would still touch the head. However, overall I'm very happy with it. It is a very good handle.
The 28" straight full sized handle- This shares may of the qualities of the boy's axe handle. It has some heartwood which is not technically IDEAL, but I'm perfectly happy with it. My only comment would be that this one is pretty thick. It could be thinned down quite a bit if desired, some may consider this very thick. In terms of wood quality, surface finish, straightness, grain alignment etc, it is an excellent handle. Metal wedge is too big IMO.
The hammer handle- Superb quality. Everything about it is fantastic, no complaint to be found. All white wood, very straight, grain alignment better than 45 degrees, symmetrical, appropriately sized wedge. As good as you could ask.
The house handle, unfortunately, is a total disaster especially when you consider that this is a premium priced AA handle to begin with that extra was paid to have hand picked. No excuse here. First, it is super thick, but that is an aesthetic choice. The real problem is that there is no alignment here. If you look straight down the handle both the area that fits into the eye and the part that you hold in your hand twist in opposite directions. If you hold the handle comfortably in your hand, the axe head would be offset to the side. This is unusable. On top of that, the top of the handle where you would seat the head is totally unsymmetrical. The swell is a mangled unsymmetrical mess. This handle would be a good first attempt at carving for someone just getting into the hobby. For a AA hand picked handle from a professional handle company, it is an embarrassment. I have not yet decided if I should reshape it on my own into something usable, or see what House Handle would like to do with it. Under no circumstances am I willing to pay any shipping to get this back to them. We will see.
So, as you can see, there were many things that could be improved here, most notably communication or info regarding total order cost prior to order. Also, if requested and aid for, House Handle can deliver a very nice high quality handle. Depending on what you need and how many, ordering may be a good decision. If you need one handle cheap, I think that looking elsewhere and hand picking at Home Depot may be my recommendation.This was a long post but aimed at providing valuable info to others. Your experiences may be different from mine.
Comments and conversation are welcome.
