Wood for Saw Handles

[Ed Looney]

I am getting ready to make some saw handles and wanted to use a light colored wood for my cross cut saws and a dark tone handle on the rip saws. I have chosen flame maple for the light tone and have purchased the wood. I am having some difficulty choosing a dark toned wood for the other handles because I am unsure of the durability of the darker toned woods.
I am wondering if anyone has experience making saw handles out of Black Walnut, Black Mesquite, or Cocobolo?
Any recommendations would be appreciated. Pictures would be a huge plus too.

Thanks

Ed

[David Weaver]

If it's not walnut, make sure it's quartersawn or close to it.

I tried making one out of macassar ebony before I switched to apple. I screwed it up and went to apple only because I wanted something less splintery and a little nicer for the carving tools.

Cocobolo makes nice saw handles, but it can be hard to find in quartersawn big enough and dry. Macassar ebony if you can find it thick enough (that I've gotten) is oriented close to QS to get the benefit of the color variation.

[Jonathan McCullough]

The walnut I've used is kind of splitty and would make very delicate horns. I've used Ipe, which is tough as nails but the handle came out all right. Cocobolo seems to be popular for tool handles, totes, and knobs but I haven't used it. Apple is hard to find but it's really nice for saw handles--durable but easy to work by hand. Mahogany is also very durable, has nice grain, and is easier to find in a size that's suitable for saw handles. Beech saw handles are traditional, but are usually light in color. I think it would probably dye well, but it's not common where I get wood.

[Andrew Gibson]

I made my handles out of hard maple. If I did it again I would look harder and find some figured walnut... only because that is what I origionsally wanted.

I have turned some stuff out of cocobolo. It is hard but is beautiful. If you are looking for a good source for it shoot me a PM, there is a guy down here that imports it and is very knowledgable. he would most likely be happy to help get you the right pieces for the project.

[Klaus Kretschmar]

All fruit woods work very well for saw handles. If you want a darker handle with nice figure, try Plum. It's as easy to work with as all fruit woods are and easy to finish. The only concern is that it's hardly to find in QS quality since the log diameters are small. I've made about 40 handles out of Plum and had no problems with flat sawn boards. If you intend to make a closed handle there is no need to look for QS wood.

Walnut works very well, too. Easy to work with and to finish. Walnut I wouldn't use flat sawn. QS quality is to my eyes a must on this timber at least for an open handle.

There are many exotics that work fine as well. But they do like to make surprises while working the first time with them. Wenge gives very dark, nearly black handles after the finishing. But it splinters like the heck. I don't use it for closed handles any longer because the carving of the lambs tongue is a challenge with mixed results. For open handles it works but the open grain has to be closed nicely.

Ebony is expensive and not that easy to work with. It likes to crack.

Cocobolo gives very nice and stable handles. All dusty work steps should be done with breath protection since the wood causes heavy allergic reactions while working with it. After it's finished the problems are gone. Right now it seems that I've to stop with working Cocobolo. While making the last handle recently, I had heavy allergic reactions despite of breath protection.

Bubinga is a good choice, too. Very stable and easy to work with. One has to take care while shaping it because it likes to get dark end grain when it will be filed or sanded.

Mahogany works pretty good, too. It' open grained so there are some steps more to do to close the grain (like Wenge).

Makore and Sapele I can't use any longer because of the allergic reactions I have.

All in all I find the native fruit woods to be very suitable. They are my favourites. Beech, QS Walnut and Maple are good choices, too.

Klaus