treesner Posted December 22, 2017 Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 Was wondering if you thought Baltic birch would make for a good or bad axe/hoe/shovel handle? Here in California it’s a bit of a challenge to find hickory and was just wondering if the lamination of plywood would make the handle stronger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wood Basher Posted December 22, 2017 Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 I have never seen hickory here either but I have seen axe handles made from birch. Not plywood though, solid timber. I have no idea whether ply would be better or worse than solid timber, but as a species birch seems to be OK for this type of application. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Posted December 22, 2017 Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 I don't think the plywood laminations would help. In this case the forces are primarily axial and bending and you want grain running the length. You might try hard maple. People also use ash, or even cherry. Ideally you want straight grain that runs the entire handle length. An additional concern with plywood is delamination, as axes are often used in wet conditions. If you do go for plywood, I would make sure more of the plys run the length of the handle than not. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted December 22, 2017 Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 Use ash. It should be readily available in CA as there are lots of factories making guitar bodies in CA (think Fender and Taylor). I echo others that using plywood is not a good idea otherwise axe manufacturers will have been using plywood for years. Were baseball bats made from ash onetime too? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted December 22, 2017 Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 You can probably find one on ebay with free shipping. I even bought a new broad axe handle there that was correctly made with the offset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post wdwerker Posted December 22, 2017 Popular Post Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 Due to your lack of suitable stock to make it from on top of the effort to shape a one off handle why not buy a handle at the hardware store? Even when I had a nice thick straight piece of ash the time to shape and fit the eye of an axe handle is considerable. The curved section of a shovel handle is a pain to fit even when you use a store bought handle . Fiberglass handles are another consideration. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post wtnhighlander Posted December 22, 2017 Popular Post Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 And then there is this. 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post wdwerker Posted December 22, 2017 Popular Post Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 That is an entertainingly ridiculous project. For some reason I thought the results would either look better or actually work at some level . Seems like a lot of time and $$$ spent on materials for something I would be ashamed to even put on display or admit to the world that I had any part of. Maybe it's a millennial thing ? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat60 Posted December 22, 2017 Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 I cant believe I watched the hole dam thing... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BonPacific Posted December 22, 2017 Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 49 minutes ago, wdwerker said: Seems like a lot of time and $$$ spent on materials for something I would be ashamed to even put on display or admit to the world that I had any part of. Maybe it's a millennial thing ? Its a YouTube thing. I don't see anybody making one of these and not filming it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted December 22, 2017 Report Share Posted December 22, 2017 "Mr. Madison Brown , what you’ve just said done is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response video were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul. " 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marmotjr Posted December 23, 2017 Report Share Posted December 23, 2017 I love that guy's channel. He does a lot of stuff just for the sake of doing it. And if the YT ad revenue he gets a cut of pays for his time and materials, then all the better for him. I have a decent list of projects ideas spurred by some of his videos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phinds Posted December 23, 2017 Report Share Posted December 23, 2017 15 hours ago, TerryMcK said: Use ash. It should be readily available in CA as there are lots of factories making guitar bodies in CA (think Fender and Taylor). I echo others that using plywood is not a good idea otherwise axe manufacturers will have been using plywood for years. Were baseball bats made from ash onetime too? Yeah. What he said. Baseball bats are STILL made from ash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted December 23, 2017 Report Share Posted December 23, 2017 Pro bats are made from ash. Lots of school leagues play with aluminum bats I belive. I've seen the "How it's Made " on both but I find baseball boring beyond belief so I gladly have no knowledge of the usage of wooden bats in college play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krtwood Posted December 23, 2017 Report Share Posted December 23, 2017 MLB bats are made from ash and maple. Barry Bonds used maple bats during his steroid-fueled 73 home run season and that resulted in many players switching to maple. The maple bats however break a lot more than the ash bats. College bats are carbon-fiber. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesner Posted December 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2017 I think if I made one out of plywood I’d finish it with a coat of epoxy resin to avoid delamination but it’s siunding like the flipped grain orientation would be against the axe strength. Is it common to do laminations of different woods for handles when using different woods to add some strength to the more brittle woods? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesner Posted December 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2017 I have some left over European beech from my bench build. Thinking maybe that would be stringy enough to be safe for a handle? I think beech, ash, hard maple all don’t have the springy flexibility factor that hickory has though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted December 23, 2017 Report Share Posted December 23, 2017 Almost any straight-grained hardwood could be used for an axe handle. Hickory is most often used here in the US because its properties are better for this application than most other NA hardwoods, and it is readily available. I bet other parts of the world use whichever local, cheap hardwood works best for them. I would not be surprised to find tools in Indonesia with rubberwood handles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted December 23, 2017 Report Share Posted December 23, 2017 I’d go for OSL or LVL before ply, just because of the orientation of strands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted December 23, 2017 Report Share Posted December 23, 2017 Use OSL and shape it with a CNC , then vacuum saturate it in epoxy. Clean that up and wrap it in carbon fiber. Voila high tech and almost bulletproof axe handle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted December 23, 2017 Report Share Posted December 23, 2017 I have a carbon handle Fiskars. I love it as an ax, but it gets negative reviews because the head cannot be removed without destroying the handle. Steve’s idea seems to address that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.