Axe handle wood. What is best?

[Den]

I see most people, and manufacturers, use hickory or elm for axe handle's. For example, Helko and other popular axe maker's do.
I have hickory on my double-bit axe, sledge, and hatchet.

I'm wondering what's wrong with using various type's of oak, cherry, walnut, maple, birch, or even osage orange? They are all type's of hardwoods and tight grained... especially osage. That stuff is like steel.

Are there acid's in these type's I mentioned, that cause rust on the axe head?

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[REJ2]

Hickory and Ash have the proven track record, I’m sure the others have all been tried. Strength, grain, vibration, all play a part.

 

[Clyde85]

Oak and others are to hard and will be more apt to shatter then flex. That is why they don't use oak for a sickle mower pitman.

 

[Bango Skank]

I’d love to hear how Osage Orange turns out. Sounds fine, but I’m no expert.

 

[Den]

I’d love to hear how Osage Orange turns out. Sounds fine, but I’m no expert.

Decade's ago, my Dad, brother, and I, used to cut at this one farm that had huge amounts of osage orange (hedgeapple, thornapple). I've never seen so many sparks flying in my life, when cutting that stuff. Man that osage was hard as Kelsey's noggin as they say. Burned forever, and man was it hot... like blue flames.
I think REj2 had a good point when he mentioned vibration. Some wood might just transmit the entire shock to your hand.
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[Piotr Pakula]

Acacia & Corylus

 

[buzz sawyer]

I’d love to hear how Osage Orange turns out. Sounds fine, but I’m no expert.

I made a replacement handle for a small felling ax with Osage Orange. It has worked very well. I also turned a couple carving mallets from it, also holding up well but only used on wooden handle gouges.

 

[pioneerguy600]

It depends greatly on the intended use of the axe in question. For felling axes in this province were fitted with ash handles, ash wood is a bit flexible and does not transmit shock vibrations from the head up to the users hands as badly as more solid woods do.Yellow birch made a good handle for a splitting axe but the wood polishes up so much the hndle becomes slippery, not something good for a fellers axe. My father made handles from ash for every axe no matter its use and the handles lasted many years of heavy use, he would wind stainless wire on the handle from the head up toward the top for about 4 - 5 inches to protect the wood from getting damaged. After 50 years I still have all of them here with me.

 

[Woodchuckels]

Have made numerous handles out of hedge. Hard to find any wood tuffer in the US. Have also used it for knife scales. Some of the most beautiful wood you can find and is very stable.

 

[Huntaholic]

Hickory is about all you can find commercially produced around here since Ames and Union went out of business. I always liked ash the best. Ive sold literally TONS of ash to the handle mills before they closed up shop.

 

[buzz sawyer]

Some years ago they began to use Sugar Maple for baseball bats. Has anyone tried it for ax handles?

 

[H-Ranch]

There was thread about this a few years ago and I thought the 1935 USDA test was interesting (results shown in this post):

https://www.arboristsite.com/threads/axe-restoration-thread.311261/post-6920645
The test was a measure of how many inches a 50 lb. hammer would have to drop to break a specimen of wood. It's not every criteria you might want to measure handles by (slippery feel, weather resistance, shock transmission, etc.), but it sure seems to show the "toughness" of various wood as applied to splitting tools.

 

[Huntaholic]

I cant believe dogwood was so far down on that list! Have you ever tried to split a section of dogwood??????

 

[SweetMK]

I think a BIG factor in determining COMMERCIAL handles is availability of the wood,, and how easily it is worked.
I have yet to see my first ever 30" locust tree,, they never get that big, around here.
Maybe a 20",, but, there are not many handles in that log,,,
If you can not properly sand a piece of wood, no one will buy it,, if it is too hard to turn, you will loose $,$$$ making them.
Those two things probably trump toughness, longevity,, etc,,,

 

[Huntaholic]

I think a BIG factor in determining COMMERCIAL handles is availability of the wood,, and how easily it is worked.
I have yet to see my first ever 30" locust tree,, they never get that big, around here.
Maybe a 20",, but, there are not many handles in that log,,,
If you can not properly sand a piece of wood, no one will buy it,, if it is too hard to turn, you will loose $,$$$ making them.
Those two things probably trump toughness, longevity,, etc,,,

That explains dogwood for sure. Where did persimmon rank on that scale? I know way back before my time persimmon was a very high dollar wood, thanks to it being used in expensive golf clubs, then it got replaced by titanium and other metals and now its to the point I never even cut a persimmon, instead I take extra precautions to protect them because wildlife loves the fruit.

 

[H-Ranch]

a BIG factor in determining COMMERCIAL handles

For sure it has to be commercially available. It also has to be worth a darn when it's done. That's what makes hickory such a good choice - it has both. Some other wood that is commonly available may be worth more as other products. And some wood that is easy to process makes a lousy (weak) handle. Like most products it's all a compromise.

If I was making my own to use I would be looking for Osage Orange. If I wanted an interesting wall hanger I might be getting Black Walnut or something similar.

 

[camel2019]

Ash is best in my opinion there used to be old wood barrels full of axe and sludge handles at the mom and pop hardware store in town. they ran out sometime after the old man died and got some horrible grained hickory in.

 

[buzz sawyer]

I cant believe dogwood was so far down on that list! Have you ever tried to split a section of dogwood??????

I agree. They used to use it for gluts - for splitting wood - white oak for roofing materials. Maybe too brittle lengthwise?

 

[Charlie Coyote]

I see most people, and manufacturers, use hickory or elm for axe handle's. For example, Helko and other popular axe maker's do.
I have hickory on my double-bit axe, sledge, and hatchet.

I'm wondering what's wrong with using various type's of oak, cherry, walnut, maple, birch, or even osage orange? They are all type's of hardwoods and tight grained... especially osage. That stuff is like steel.

Are there acid's in these type's I mentioned, that cause rust on the axe head?

.

Search Janka hardness scale of wood. Hickory is plentiful and preferred for American axe eye size. In Europe Ash is plentiful and common, so because Ash is weaker their hafts are like clubs. A hickory haft can be considerably thinner and narrower to flex and be resistant. Have fun carving that haft is what it's all about.