Type of wood for axe handle

[cbrdave]

I have an axe, good size hand axe but hate the plastic/resin handle, I'd like to make my own handle but not sure what wood to use, have t got loads of money to throw at it but would still like to do a nice job, also what to finish it with regarding oils or sealants and such, prefer the natural look so nothing too dark and nothing to affect the gripping while in use,

Thanks for any help and advice

 

[Stew]

Ash is a good choice if you have chance to source some home grown and felled wood. Hopefully the price is right that way too.

 

[cbrdave]

Thanks Stew, will pop to local woods and see what's laying around, I know a local woods that are being part felled so will ask the guys working there.

 

[Harvestman]

Thanks Stew, will pop to local woods and see what's laying around, I know a local woods that are being part felled so will ask the guys working there.

You will need seasoned wood, or it will shrink and/or split. Ash isn't expensive though. Try a timber supplier or wood merchant who provides wood for craftsmen like woodturners. You can also pick up handles for axes in hardware stores without splashing loads of cash. Hickory is the other good axe-handle wood, but ash is the traditional UK wood.

 

[Albus Culter]

As said. Hickory is the preferred. But Ash is the UK traditional and makes a great handle and is a light colour. But yeh, you need well seasoned and dried.
Boiled linseed for the finish. Wipe on and wipe off well. Let dry. Repeat often.

 

[cbrdave]

Thanks harvestman and albus, I've seen the handles available but would like to carve my own, will check my local timber supplier, he has a lot of timber for turners and carvers, I'm sure I have some linseed oil somewhere,
Thanks again for help and advice.

 

[Robson Valley]

Ash and hickory are both good in part because of the ring-porous wood anatomy.
Cut with the proper orientation, the mechanical/elastic properties allow these woods to perform like compound leaf springs.

Go to the hardware store. Inspect the orientation of the growth ring pattern (end grain) in a bunch of handles.
Source your wood and shape with that pattern in mind.

 

[bobnewboy]

Ash and hickory are both good in part because of the ring-porous wood anatomy.
Cut with the proper orientation, the mechanical/elastic properties allow these woods to perform like compound leaf springs.

Cool! So I can handle/rehandle an axe with laburnum too - also ring porous? All three of these woods make good bows.....

 

[Harvestman]

Cool! So I can handle/rehandle an axe with laburnum too - also ring porous? All three of these woods make good bows.....

You could. You can use any wood really, but some are better than others (less prone to breaking, or springy enough to reduce shock to the hands). Ash and particularly hickory are regarded as best. I have an axe handled in apple root. It is fine, but I don't do anything heavy duty with it.

 

[cbrdave]

Thanks Robson, will get to suppliers at weekend and find something to use and spend the bank holiday making a handle.

 

[Robson Valley]

You could try Laburnum but now you get into the details of wood cell fiber length and the measure of overlap (a bit like knitting your fingers between eachother.)
While the gross, ring-porous anatomy may "look" right, short fiber length will make the wood brittle (aka "brash") and bent, it tends to shatter abruptly.
Ash and Hickory are woods of choice, probably with good reason.

 

[petrochemicals]

Ash is a great wood, so if Rowan is an ash species, ie the mountain ash, is its wood ok?

 

[Robson Valley]

No. Ash is Fraxinus sp. Mountain Ash aka Rowan is Sorbus sp. which has weakly diffuse porous wood. To the Australians, Mountain Ash is a gigantic Eucalyptus regnans.

 

[petrochemicals]

No. Ash is Fraxinus sp. Mountain Ash aka Rowan is Sorbus sp. which has weakly diffuse porous wood. To the Australians, Mountain Ash is a gigantic Eucalyptus regnans.

Ahh thanks for that. You saying about the eucalyptus (gum tree) can't help but think the wood from the rubber tree would be a good choice!

 

[spader]

Unfortunately we do not have any ash trees in the garden. All we have are, Birch, Apple(young), Blackthorn and Holly Trees.
My Xmas tree handled axe is still going strong

 

[mrcharly]

Birch could work.

 

[spader]

Birch could work.

I thought Birch was also soft wood. No?

 

[tombear]

If you can get some green ash it's worth splitting it down as soon as the first cracks show and laying it down for use in a few years time. You still need to make the bits over large to allow for shrinkage but deliberately split wood will split considerably less than say whole limbs or branches. If you are splitting it into let's call them cake slices remove the core if there's going to be enough wood for the handle , I've found doing this reduces the number of pieces wasted by cracks extending from the middle out.

OK not a vast amount of use to you wanting to do it now but I wish I'd stocked up when I could have. I recently acquired a small amount of ash from some blokes clearing a brown field site in Manchester so in a few years ill have a decent supply of blanks for the middle sons throwing axe and things like hammers and the smaller sort of axe.

ATB

Tom

 

[British Red]

I wish the same Tom, I cut up a load of very large ash trees for firewood. It had to be gone fast. If ash dieback hits me, I'll save what We have left.

 

[mrcharly]

I thought Birch was also soft wood. No?

Seasoned birch is quite hard. It is a 'hardwood' in the sense that it is a deciduous tree rather than an evergreen.