chisel handle material ?

[Marty Weatherup]

I have a fair number of socket chisel I have collected . My dad sends them to me frequently from his auction finds. Most do not have handles. I have been unable to find hickory up here in anything thicker than 3/4 inch. I have lots of Alaskan birch sawed in various thicknesses and wondered how you thought birch would hold up as a chisel handle. I intend to use copper rings or leather washers on the chisels that will be used with a mallet. Also, how would birch do as a mallet? Thanks.

Marty Weatherup

[Jim Koepke]

For my chisel handles, one of the main considerations is how the wood feels in the hand.

Not being familiar with birch, my first question would be is birch smooth or is it rough and splintery?

How is it structurally? Does it deform into failure or does it all of a sudden give way?

My way of approaching this question would be to make a mallet of birch. Next some compression stress testing on other pieces of birch would be tried. During the testing, wearing gloves would be a good idea. Make a piece about the size of a handle and hold it to an anvil or block of wood and beat on one end.

No mater what others say, a little material testing can go a long way to help determine if the wood is suitable for your needs.

I have loads of alder around here. It is mostly good for warming the house. I do have some mallets made of it, but they are kind of soft.

jim

[Casey Gooding]

Just about any hardwood will work, depending on how you are using them. Birch is certainly worth a try. It's pretty hard and should hold up well. I'm not sure how it will react to being pounded. If you are only going to use a wooden mallet (which I strongly suggest) you could forgo the washers. I used Osage Orange on my old Stanley 750's. Looks great, feels great and is very strong.

[Frank Drew]

Marty,

I think birch would work fine for chisel handles, especially with the reinforcing you're planning, and probably fine for the mallet, too. Birch is hard but not splintery, in my experience.

One of the prime mallet woods in America used to be dogwood, but in Virginia it's a protected tree (in addition to our state tree) and in any case large sizes are hard to come by.

Mallets are easy to make so if one fails, make another. Same with chisel handles.

[Mike Henderson]

I've made chisel handles out of all kinds of wood. I go out of my way looking for new and unusual wood to make chisel handles out of. Some wood works better than others, but as Frank said, making handles is pretty easy. Experiment with what you have available.

I don't like the hoops on the top of the handle because it makes the handle uncomfortable when pushing it by hand. And you'd really have to beat on a chisel to mushroom the top.

Added comment: for socket chisels, some wood (like cocobolo) is oily and doesn't stay in the socket well.

Mike

[Jake Helmboldt]

Marty,

I think birch would work fine for chisel handles, especially with the reinforcing you're planning, and probably fine for the mallet, too. Birch is hard but not splintery, in my experience.

One of the prime mallet woods in America used to be dogwood, but in Virginia it's a protected tree (in addition to our state tree) and in any case large sizes are hard to come by.

Mallets are easy to make so if one fails, make another. Same with chisel handles.

The protected status of dogwood is cited frequently, but in fact it is a myth. That said, I don't imagine it is available in Alaska. Dodwoods grow large enough to make mallets and chisel handles so if you can find a supply it is a good option. I'll be making some chisel handles out of it as I have a number of dogwoods on my property, some of which are in poor shape and need to be taken down.

[Gary Herrmann]

I'd think birch would do just fine. Aren't it's physical properties - specific gravity, janka etc pretty similar to maple? I think anything you have a lot of is a good candidate. Well, maybe not balsa or basswood...

I've mostly made mine out of dogwood and maple because that's what I've harvested.

[Casey Gooding]

Oh, Dogwood would be perfect. If you can find it in an appropriate size.
Frank, sounds like you need to come a little further south. They grow like weeds down here.

[Marty Weatherup]

Thanks guys for all the replies. I guess I will try a few with birch and a few with other hardwoods. I have been offered some pecan shorts so will turn a few of those into handles. Should be fun.

Marty

[James Ogle]

Pecan will make handles similar to hickory. In fact pecan lumber is often times sold as hickory. They are the same genus but different species. The lumber is similar. So in fact you do you have some hickory available. ;)

[James Carmichael]

Birch should work fine, as should just about any hardwood with a specific gravity much over .50.

You can always glue up 2 pieces of 3/4 hickory for a 1 1/2 " blank, which should be about right for a chisel handle.

Replacement tool handles for shovels, axes, etc, are usually hickory or ash. A pick-axe or maul handle should be big enough in diameter to turn some chisel handles from. I dunno how popular baseball is in Alaska, but old wooden bats could be a source for straight-grained ash.

[Marty Weatherup]

The handle is a good idea, except I have never been motivated enough to use a maul or pick axe hard enough to break one. I can't say as I ever seen many wooden baseball bats here. Just my wife and I so we are not around ball playing kids anymore. I do have a heavy shovel handle my buddy dropped off. He wants a fish whacker made from it but there might be enough left over for a handle or two. I do have some 3/4" scraps of hickory from a vanity build a couple years back I could laminate. Looks like I have more options than I thought for.

Marty

[Bob Smalser]

Wasilla, Alaska

Take your axe on your next walk along a creek bottom.

Diamond Willow.
Sitka Spruce root wood.
Cascara. (wear gloves)
Pacific Dogwood.
Red Osier Dogwood.
Pacific Crabapple.

[Marty Weatherup]

Bob,

I know spruce and diamond willow. I didn't know we had dogwood and crabapple in our area. I will have to keep an eye out for it. I am not familiar with cascara. Is it indigenous to south central Alaska?

Marty

[Bob Smalser]

Bob,

I know spruce and diamond willow. I didn't know we had dogwood and crabapple in our area. I will have to keep an eye out for it. I am not familiar with cascara. Is it indigenous to south central Alaska?

Marty

I've seen Cascara (Chittum wood) and Pac Dogwood along coastal BC up to the Juneau area, but on closer review Mantanuska may be a bit north for it.

But you have 6 species of willow and lots of Pacific Crab along your local watercourses. Wiki has foliage and bark photos....Pac Crab looks like an scraggly alder but has harder, denser wood for your purposes.

In fact, your short growing seasons make all the native woods denser and harder than they are further south.

[Adam Cherubini]

I have been unable to find hickory up here in anything thicker than 3/4 inch.

Hickory is really not a great material for a chisel handle. There are different kinds of strength. Hickory has good tension strength, but tension isn't the typical failure mode for chisel handles. Chisel handles split across the grain. Birch is better. Last I looked, Beech was slightly better than oak or hickory. Maple is also a good choice, but it's not as shock resistant as beech.



I intend to use copper rings or leather washers on the chisels that will be used with a mallet.
Marty Weatherup

The rings at the end of a chisel handle are there to resist splitting exactly as I have described above. The problem with these rings is that the wood shrinks, the rings get loose, and they cease to perform their function. (that doesn't mean the handle instantly self destructs, however). There are ways to make these work. You can taper the handle. This works better when the ring is tapered. I've seen old rings like this.

My advice is to make the top of the handle slightly rounded. I also think its a smart idea to make the butt end fairly large. I think the chisel handles in the Seaton chest are the best I've even seen or used.

I wouldn't turn my nose up at a nicely shaped polystyrene handle. You could turn a block of this on a wood lathe. Might be worth your effort. My chief objection to plastic chisel handles is that they are often poorly shaped (tho Marples aren't bad) and permanently attached to the chisel.

Adam

[Richard Niemiec]

I've always used maple, just because its tight grained, hard, and most importantly its in the scrap pile and available, and never had an issue with the handles failing. Now, that being said, I've only made them for bench chisels and sash mortise chisels, which don't get beat on like a big honking mortise chisel, where it might have some issues.

[Marty Weatherup]

[QUOTE=Adam I also think its a smart idea to make the butt end fairly large. [/QUOTE]

After all the holiday sweets my crew brought in this last week my butt end is large enough, thank you very much.:D

Marty

[George Neill]

My advice is to make the top of the handle slightly rounded. I also think its a smart idea to make the butt end fairly large.

I wholly agree. Rounding the handle disperses the energy from a mallet into the handle without fear of mushrooming it.

Having large hands, I've always made replacement handles for my chisels in various timbers with broad, rounded ends and haven't experienced any degrade in their shape.

This is a brief description of how I make my replacement handles (http://pegsandtails.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/refurbishing-an-old-stanley-socket-chisel/).