How to make new handle from scratch ?

P

preventec47

Joined
Nov 25, 2007
Messages
58
Assuming we have access to hickory or ash or other desirable tree species.... ( I personally have pecan trees which are
close cousin to hickory)
What do we look for ? Is it best to take branches of a slightly large size than the handle and whittle down
or is it better to saw the pieces out of the trunk or larger branches ? If we were to for instance saw a 4x4 section 36 inches long
between the center and bark of the tree trunk, I cannot remember which way the grain is supposed to run for the best strength.

If I am not mistaken ... ideally we would want to look at the handle end and see grain run from the front of the handle to
the back of the handle.... ie lined up with the direction of the axe head. Is that correct ?

For me the best tool for shaping I think would be a belt sander after lopping off as much as I could with a band-saw.

Anyone else have any special technques ? What about sawing thin pieces and laminating them together while maintaining
grain alignment with a strong epoxy glue. I've read that that greatly increases the strength of wood.
 
I go to my Local Exotic Wood supplier and purchase some 1 1/2" ash. Then i trace the pattern I came up with onto the board. I cut it to a rough shape with my jig saw and get the profile perfect with a rasp. I sand the very bottom of the handle with a belt sander to get a nice curve. I then begin to contour the handle with a spoke shave and a coarse rasp. I leave the part that fits into the eye of the head in a blocky shape so I can focus on that later. The overall shape and contours are up to you. Coke bottle shapes work great for hammers by the way ;) When shaping the eye, I stand the head up on the end grain where the wood will be and I trace the inside of the eye onto the wood carefully, using a pencil with thin lead. I make sure everything is centered and straight in the x and y axis and then use the spoke shave to take the to-be-eye down to the pencil line. I make that spot a bit smaller than the line and take the wood down bit by bit. I like to get it as far back as I can with the spoke shave and rasp. I then cut a ledge where I want to head sit and make sure it sits nice and tight there. once I have the head where I want it, I remove the ledge and blend the part that will fit in the eye with the rest of the handle. Before hanging the head, I sand it to 220 grit- a nice working finish- and make sure any burn marks from the belt sander are out (end grain on the butt end will burn easily). Once this is done, I seat that sucker on the handle HARD and pound a hard wood wedge and step wedge in with construction adhesive. Hasn't failed yet. I coat the haft in BLO but I'm sure there are other substances that work better-I just haven't experimented as much as I should :p

Dry wood is preferable and straight grain running from the front to the back is best. If you get it from the woods, i would dry it in case it warps, moves, shrinks, or checks after you hang it. Easier to just get some wood from a lumber store if you have one.

Here is what it will look like if you do it my way. i'm sure there are others :)

 
preventec47 said:
Assuming we have access to hickory or ash or other desirable tree species.... ( I personally have pecan trees which are
close cousin to hickory)
What do we look for ? Is it best to take branches of a slightly large size than the handle and whittle down
or is it better to saw the pieces out of the trunk or larger branches ? If we were to for instance saw a 4x4 section 36 inches long
between the center and bark of the tree trunk, I cannot remember which way the grain is supposed to run for the best strength.

If I am not mistaken ... ideally we would want to look at the handle end and see grain run from the front of the handle to
the back of the handle.... ie lined up with the direction of the axe head. Is that correct ?

For me the best tool for shaping I think would be a belt sander after lopping off as much as I could with a band-saw.

Anyone else have any special technques ? What about sawing thin pieces and laminating them together while maintaining
grain alignment with a strong epoxy glue. I've read that that greatly increases the strength of wood.
Click to expand...

I suspect that you are enthusiastically going forward with trying to re-invent the wheel in the naive belief that previous generations had no clue as what they were doing before Google was invented. Search feature on this forum will generate a pile of info, on all aspects of making/using/maintaining axes, that doesn't even invoke using power tools. Axes, as tools of employment, died out in the 50s as did the wholescale manufacturer of them by the 70s.
 
300six - there must have been something I said to offend you because I can definitely point to what you said that offends me.
I suspect you need to do a little google work in the area of "winning friends"
 
I made my first handle with an axe and knife from a small birch tree. It's not the prettiest but it works and now I know I can make something functional in the woods.
 
preventec47 said:
300six - there must have been something I said to offend you because I can definitely point to what you said that offends me.
I suspect you need to do a little google work in the area of "winning friends"
Click to expand...

This entire forum is devoted to aspects of what you ask. Rather than impulsively start a new thread merely devote some time to reading through the wealth of informative posts on those topics and then start asking specific questions. Welcome to the forum by the way; and yes I am becoming old and grumpy but don't let that bug you.

Making handles out of laminated hardwood strips would seem to make perfect sense in this era of diminishing wood quality but so far this method has not caught on. If WWII technology can produce ultra-rugged de Havilland Mosquito fighter-bombers made entirely of multi-lam hardwood then you'd have thought tool makers would have adopted those techniques but strangely enough they didn't.
 
There's still plenty of high quality second growth hickory available. No need for the expense of laminated woods.
 
Square_peg said:
There's still plenty of high quality second growth hickory available..
Click to expand...

Available ? What are the favorite sources ?



Assuming unlimited selection of technologies, it would seem that fiberglass and composites leap over the laminates
in terms of strength and durability. So the advantage of wood is aesthetics and no one gets all goo goo eyed over
laminated axe handles etc. I think that is why we dont see them. However for the DIY folks it could be a way
to create wood pieces sufficient in size when only small scraps are laying around. I have been amazed my whole life
that when wood pieces properly glued together are broken the break line is always someplace other than the glue line.
I am going to keep my eyes open for a good donor baseball bat and slice it perfectly down the middle
and then glue a 1x1.25" square hickory stick between them to be the wood blank for a new axe handle.

This is because I dont currently know of a supplier of proper sized hickory or ash wood blanks reasonably priced.
But I still might try pecan wood with my chainsaw. You know hickory nuts and pecan nuts ???
The trees are very very close cousins and I am assuming the pecan has most of the properties of the Hickory tree.
 
Just google "Lumber yard near -wherever you live-" or "Exotic lumber store near -Wherever you live-".We live in the 21st century. The guys at these stores, from my experiences, are very nice and would be willing to show you around and explain different properties different woods have.
Judging by the title, I'd assume you haven't made a handle from scratch before. therefore, I would advise you to stick to a tried and true method like the ones shown in various YouTube videos and the one I told you. As 300Six said, Don't try to re-invent the wheel-especially if you have never tried your hand at fabricating your own normal wheel. I hope that made sense.
 
I have a stack of Hickory staves, and more where they came from.. but, I've tossed the idea about of laminating a blank for an axe handle for quite some time now. Wonder how thick the laminations should be for optimum performance and flex? 1/16"? 1/8"? Or, does that matter? I know the more layers I use would increase stability, but would it hinder flexibility?
 
Devil's advocate and all, but huge belt sanders have been a factory staple for handle making for .... well, for a really long time. If you've got things like a band saw and belt sander, an axe handle is a really simple thing to make, generally speaking. Based on what little visual record there is of large belt sanders in handle making factories (that I have seen) it appears they sanded against the grain and the large belts were very flexible. House Handle still does it that way, and there are videos of a little shop in Canada on youtube where they are also still doing it that way. I guess my point is, most consumer belt sanders probably don't offer that kind of flexibility and in my case, the problem I have with them, is the contact wheel (when fixed obviously) isn't the right diameter for the swell. A person could use any number of tools but I end up just using half round rasps/files in that case. I still use the belt sander a lot.

Myself and some others theorize that handles made without giant belt sanders (or even with), either in smaller shops, or before belt sanders were used, OR for the marketing purposes of a "hand shaved handle", done possibly with large rasps, had flats applied the full length of the handle (ie octagon handles). Then those facets would be taken off until the result was a nice oval cross section.
 
Last edited:
quinton said:
I have a stack of Hickory staves, and more where they came from.. but, I've tossed the idea about of laminating a blank for an axe handle for quite some time now. Wonder how thick the laminations should be for optimum performance and flex? 1/16"? 1/8"? Or, does that matter? I know the more layers I use would increase stability, but would it hinder flexibility?
Click to expand...

The WWII era aircraft grade birch plywood I had a chance to gawk at 30 years ago was in around 6 ply just for 1/8 inch. I don't think the stuff ever was cheap nor readily available. Presumably for tool handles you'd want the grain all running parallel instead of alternating perpendicular between the layers.
 
My exposure to experimental airplane propeller carving has provided me with the opinion that there is no difference in
flexibility or stiffness of glued laminates and on propellers with hubs up to 4 inches thick never used laminates less than
a quarter inch thick and in many cases the laminates were up to half inch thick. What laminates do is provide uniformity
through out the material without there being a singular weak spot as after all, these kinds of structures are only
as weak as the weakest link. Many times in wood there can be some internal grain imperfections which cannot be
seen that will result in the beginning of a crack propagation. Lamination helps to eliminate this. For instance if
you took a two inch thickness board and sawed it into six quarter inch panels.... when you go to glue them up
you will swap the ends of every other panel and reverse the face direction as well as re ordering the lamination panels.
You might use a patter like this panel 1, 5, 3, 2, 4, 6 . You get the idea.
You can see how you would be distributing any focused strengths or weaknesses.

Be sure and use a glue that is stronger than the wood and definitely never never use moisture cured polyurethane like Gorrila glue
which in reality is foam glue.
 
preventec47 said:
My exposure to experimental airplane propeller carving has provided me with the opinion that there is no difference in flexibility or stiffness of glued laminates and on propellers . . .
Click to expand...

I also thought about propellers being laminated long grain to long grain when you brought it up in your original post. But wondered how flexible they are. I think it would be a neat experiment. Hope you try is and post results.

Also, this is way OT but you might enjoy this if you haven't seen it.


Bob
 
cityofthesouth said:
Myself and some others theorize that handles made without giant belt sanders (or even with), either in smaller shops, or before belt sanders were used, OR for the marketing purposes of a "hand shaved handle", done possibly with large rasps, had flats applied the full length of the handle (ie octagon handles). Then those facets would be taken off until the result was a nice oval cross section.
Click to expand...
That's the only way I have found to make a "perfect" oval haft by hand. Facets of an octagon are easy to see, and perfect by eye, even following curves. Trying to make a perfect oval shape by eye is not, especially when following curves.
 
300Six said:
The WWII era aircraft grade birch plywood I had a chance to gawk at 30 years ago was in around 6 ply just for 1/8 inch. I don't think the stuff ever was cheap nor readily available. Presumably for tool handles you'd want the grain all running parallel instead of alternating perpendicular between the layers.
Click to expand...

That plywood sounds like it's as much glue as wood..
 
preventec47 said:
My exposure to experimental airplane propeller carving has provided me with the opinion that there is no difference in
flexibility or stiffness of glued laminates and on propellers with hubs up to 4 inches thick never used laminates less than
a quarter inch thick and in many cases the laminates were up to half inch thick. What laminates do is provide uniformity
through out the material without there being a singular weak spot as after all, these kinds of structures are only
as weak as the weakest link. Many times in wood there can be some internal grain imperfections which cannot be
seen that will result in the beginning of a crack propagation. Lamination helps to eliminate this. For instance if
you took a two inch thickness board and sawed it into six quarter inch panels.... when you go to glue them up
you will swap the ends of every other panel and reverse the face direction as well as re ordering the lamination panels.
You might use a patter like this panel 1, 5, 3, 2, 4, 6 . You get the idea.
You can see how you would be distributing any focused strengths or weaknesses.

Be sure and use a glue that is stronger than the wood and definitely never never use moisture cured polyurethane like Gorrila glue
which in reality is foam glue.
Click to expand...
I understand glues pretty well. Gorilla Glue has a limited use as far as I'm concerned, mainly used as a gap filler by me.
 
preventec47 said:
So the advantage of wood is aesthetics and no one gets all goo goo eyed over
laminated axe handles etc.
Click to expand...

At least one person is making a good living selling laminated axe handles on that internet auction site.

This is because I dont currently know of a supplier of proper sized hickory or ash wood blanks reasonably priced.
But I still might try pecan wood with my chainsaw. You know hickory nuts and pecan nuts ???
The trees are very very close cousins and I am assuming the pecan has most of the properties of the Hickory tree.
Click to expand...

Pecan is a variety of hickory. Very similar properties as shagbark and pignut. Makes a perfectly good axe handle.

Tennessee Hickory Products sells hafts made of absolutely top quality second growth white hickory. The shape of their hafts isn't as good as House Handles stuff. TH stuff is too fat. But it's great for customizing. I prefer the TH stuff since I don't mind doing a little work to get the shape I want. And the wood itself is as fine as any there ever was - provided you select a piece with good grain orientation.
 
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