Best wood for chisel handles? Glue 2 blanks OK?

[Jerry Olexa]

Ready to do a batch of 20 socket chisels and make new handles..I know this has been discussed before but what is your preferred wood for making the handles,,I've seen everything reco'd from ash, walnut, rosewood etc to elm...What are your preferred choices?

Also, if thicker stock not available is it good/bad idea to glue together 2 pieces to reach the desired 6/4" thickness prior to turning?

Thanks in advance

[James Tibbetts]

Hard maple, beech

[John C Cox]

I am not sure it matters that much.

I think for me - the biggest thing is matching up the intended use with the material.. I would hate to chip up a rosewood handle hammering away on it... And if you are going to do a lot of chopping work where you are holding the blade between your fingers - a lighter handle helps the balance and control..

I have rosewood, maple, ash, box, beech, oak, bubinga, tintul, and miscellaneous Chinese wood handles... I can't say that the use has been hindered by the wood..

For heavy work where I am pushing a chisel - I like an unfinished wood that's not super polished - maybe only 150 to 220 grit.. That way it doesn't slide around in a sweaty hand and give me blisters. For that - oak, ash, box, beech, maple.. Though they get looking kinda grungy after a while. But... I like grungy looking chisels better than I like blisters.

But if I need to pick up a paring chisel for one quick lick to clean up a fit - that polished rosewood sure looks sharp and it feels smooth in my hand...

[Bill White]

Jerry,
I was able to get some dogwood that I used for a froe maul and some chisel handles. May not be readily available to you, but the wood is REALLY tough. Best part is that it turns well, and can be wax finished.
Bill

[Jim Koepke]

If you are going to be hitting the chisels with a mallet, two pieces glued together might not be a good idea.

For mallet work you may want something strong like hickory, ash or maple.

My chisels have been fitted with all kinds of woods. Nicer looking woods for chisels that will not feel the blow of a mallet. Stronger wood for those that will be mallet driven.

One group of my chisels has a different color of wood for each size.

Another group has all the handles made from hickory.

jtk

[Mike Henderson]

I've used all kinds of wood for chisel handles. Softer wood, like mahogany, is not as good as any harder wood. No problem glueing two pieces together except for looks. Try to match the two pieces as well as you can. Glued handles hold up fine.

Mike

[Morey St. Denis]

Largely agree with the aforementioned. Prominently absent from your initial short list of handle and tool body favorites was Beech, hard Maple, Hickory, White Oak or Live Oak, and figured exotic Bubinga. To that I would also add domestic Black Locust in case you might have ready access to any of that locally. Early East coast cabinet makers and pre-railroad wheelwright's planes and molding shaper utilitarian tool bodies were mostly always made of Beech. To a woodworker of Germanic ancestry, Buchenwald was just a mature Beech forest from which to source sturdy hardwood... Surely with such an extensive list of suitable and readily available domestic hardwoods you can't have such difficulty in sourcing some of these fine choices in 5/4" or 6/4" thickness that you'd need to resort to gluing dimensional 3/4" together... Allowing for your considerable investment of labor and effort involved to make a whole big batch of reconditioned chisel handles, in the long run you'll be much happier with a superior choice of raw material to pour your exertion into.

[John C Cox]

I saw dogwood mentioned. It's quite hard and quite pretty. Almost impossible to find lumber...

Hornbeam is a traditional chisel handle material that grows all over the USA... Hard to find lumber, though.

Persimmon is another. It's in the Ebony family and was the choice for golf club heads in the wood club head days.. You can beat on that stuff like you would not believe..

All three of these were used in weavers shuttles which got beat back and forth all day long...

[Jerry Olexa]

Wow...good info and reco's....Still absorbing....No clear trend...Most of have your own favorites but Thank you...I'll continue to read this thread...Time for a trip to the hardwood supplier.

[Brian Holcombe]

Jerry, whichever you chose make certain to use either riven stock or straighten the grain on both faces of a rift billet before working into a handle shape.

[Joe Tilson]

I used dogwood on my last handles. They are very nice tight grain and hard handles. Light weight as well.
Used teak oil for a finish.

[Bruce Haugen]

I've used live oak with very good success. It's pretty interlocked, makes splitting hard. Ironwood is darn near impossible to split, too.

[John Vernier]

It seems like hickory was the favorite among American factory production chisels in the late 19th & early 20th centuries. They also used apple, especially for "fancier" patterns like patternmakers' chisels. Apple seems to have been a favorite wood for higher grade American tool manufacturers, where the English would use boxwood. I've made handles and a mallet from apple, and I find it pretty tough. I've also used beech and a lot of ash for chisel handles, and I can't really fault either.

[Rob Luter]

Black locust (Ironwood) works well for all things that need to take a beating.

[Phil Mueller]

Jerry, not sure if there is one near you, but both Rockler and Woodcraft have a "off cut bin" that typically have a few 6/4 and even 8/4 hardwood pieces.

[Steve Schoene]

+1 for hickory. Where to find it? It's available anywhere that replacement handles for garden tools such as hoes and the like. No need to glue up.

[Jerry Olexa]

Jerry, not sure if there is one near you, but both Rockler and Woodcraft have a "off cut bin" that typically have a few 6/4 and even 8/4 hardwood pieces.

Good tip, Phil....Thanks

[Jerry Olexa]

Have a couple old wooden jointer planes that I may saw up into blanks...Good/bad idea?

[Brian Holcombe]

That will work, the grain will be nice and straight and the material (beech likely) would work fine for handles.

Are the planes beyond restoration? Its a bit of a shame to waste good beech (assuming) jointers on turning them into chisel handles unless they're far gone.

[Jeff Heath]

I would add that if you were nearby, I'd give you some offcuts of appropriate 6/4 stock rather than see you waste your time with gluing up blanks. Why go through all the trouble of turning nice handles if you're going to use glue ups. Maybe it's just me, but I spend 70-80 hours a week in my shop, and I'll be danged if I am not gonna make the effort to make shop accessories, tool handles, wall cabinets, etc....as nice as I can, if only for the aesthetically pleasing and soothing nature created by it all.

Maybe I'm a little nuts, but that's just how I feel. If you're anywhere near Northern Illinois, PM me, swing on by, and you have some 6/4 stock.

I use anything beautiful for tool handles that don't see a mallet. For paring chisels, I've made handles from crotch cherry, walnut, curly maple, curly flame birch, bubinga, rosewood, cocobolo, and scraps and cuttoffs of everything I've ever built.

For chisels that are going to get "whacked" and whacked hard, I have used locust, osage orange, and some reddish yellowish stuff off my property from a tree that was planted long ago that way too close to the house. The raccoons were using it as the highway to my roof. Don't know what species it is, but it's hard as granite.

I also have a bunch of persimmon for plane boxing, but I haven't made a chisel handle from it yet. That stuff is as hard as it gets in North America.

[Jerry Olexa]

That will work, the grain will be nice and straight and the material (beech likely) would work fine for handles.

Are the planes beyond restoration? Its a bit of a shame to waste good beech (assuming) jointers on turning them into chisel handles unless they're far gone.

Brian, thanks..Here are the wood planes I'm considering....
The 3 pics show the one with no iron or handle, offcenter handle mount...The other pic of two planes with blades and one with a handle...those 2 possibly better shape to restore...Your thoughts? Thank you

356159356158356156356155

[Jeff Heath]

Not Brian, but both of those plane bodies are excellent candidates for repurposing. Neither represents a future good plane with all those holes and checks.

Beech is an excellent quality chisel handle. I just purchased, after a wait of 8 months for them to arrive from back order, two Ray Isles pig sticker mortising chisels. As heavy duty as it gets, and handles in beech. They really take a whacking.

[Brian Holcombe]

That last one is a bit rough, can't say those planes are going to yield much and 1-2BF of material is going to cover most of it, so about $20 of material ~

[Jerry Olexa]

I would add that if you were nearby, I'd give you some offcuts of appropriate 6/4 stock rather than see you waste your time with gluing up blanks. Why go through all the trouble of turning nice handles if you're going to use glue ups. Maybe it's just me, but I spend 70-80 hours a week in my shop, and I'll be danged if I am not gonna make the effort to make shop accessories, tool handles, wall cabinets, etc....as nice as I can, if only for the aesthetically pleasing and soothing nature created by it all.

Maybe I'm a little nuts, but that's just how I feel. If you're anywhere near Northern Illinois, PM me, swing on by, and you have some 6/4 stock.

I use anything beautiful for tool handles that don't see a mallet. For paring chisels, I've made handles from crotch cherry, walnut, curly maple, curly flame birch, bubinga, rosewood, cocobolo, and scraps and cuttoffs of everything I've ever built.

For chisels that are going to get "whacked" and whacked hard, I have used locust, osage orange, and some reddish yellowish stuff off my property from a tree that was planted long ago that way too close to the house. The raccoons were using it as the highway to my roof. Don't know what species it is, but it's hard as granite.

I also have a bunch of persimmon for plane boxing, but I haven't made a chisel handle from it yet. That stuff is as hard as it gets in North America.



Jeff, thank you for the info and suggestions...Sent you a PM...I am nearby. Thanks

[Jerry Olexa]

Thanks Brian.....Agree.

[John C Cox]

Why not just sacrifice a shovel or broom handle or go over to your local BORG or craft home store and purchase some straight grained hardwood dowels? A 1 1/4" dowel will give you plenty of room...

That would get you going and let you jigger around with your designs while you are finding pretty wood.... They are easy enough to replace when the time comes.

Here's a pic of a chisel handle I turned from an oak dowel... It looks kinda large but fits my hand very well. And it takes pounding just fine.
https://s28.postimg.org/dwjurrhyl/image.jpg

[bridger berdel]

I have a set of "fancy" chisels that I purchased for pennies in basket case condition. many hours of rehabbing later they are favorite users. they are branded Bluegrass and I'm pretty certain that they are Whitherby made. anyhow, the factory handles were padauk, with leather washers. padauk is not a good handle wood for chisels that will be driven with a mallet. I had to make several replacements, which I did as accurately as I could. I don't hit them though.

[Anthony Albano]

I have boxwood ; send a PM if still interested

[Tony Zaffuto]

Jerry, not sure if there is one near you, but both Rockler and Woodcraft have a "off cut bin" that typically have a few 6/4 and even 8/4 hardwood pieces.

Rockler is a great source for those small pieces needed to complete projects. Generally at the rear of the stores, random varieties, as well as widths, lengths and thicknesses. You'll find what you need and typically dirt cheap.

[Jerry Olexa]

Due to the generosity of Jeff Heath, I now have an ample supply of hardwood cuttoffs/blanks ready for turning..Picked up this morning at Jeff's magnificent workshop. Looking forward to this,,Thank you, Jeff. The new adventure begins.

[Jim Koepke]

Due to the generosity of Jeff Heath, I now have an ample supply of hardwood cuttoffs/blanks ready for turning..Picked up this morning at Jeff's magnificent workshop. Looking forward to this,,Thank you, Jeff. The new adventure begins.

As always, remember to take some pictures of your newly handled chisels.

jtk

[Alfred Kraemer]

The source of the wood for my chisel handles have been:
1. a hickory cane that had been cut too short to be useful as a cane. Beautiful grain. It was a cane that was made from a 1 1/2 diameter branch.
2. some broken ash and hickory tool handles. Split to size to get best grain direction.
3. some more uncommon woods, Persimmon - from an Etsy store selling duck call blanks,
goncalo alves from a wood store bargain bin, and black locust and elm from my backyard.
Black Locust is hard but didn't last long as it tends to split.
All the hickory handles are still in good shape. Of course, for a chisel that is not to be used with a hammer or mallet, many types of wood should be fine.

Alfred

[Morey St. Denis]

Alfred,

Could we pursue a bit further the nature of that splitting failure attributed to Black Locust in use as a tool handle?.. Was your piece all solid heartwood of a greenish brown color? Was it harvested from a well developed mature tree during the dormant months? How did the failure occur? If it sounds as if I am somewhat incredulous, it's because I have attempted to split a good deal of Locust for use as firewood (believe it's rated as the highest in heat value of any readily available N. American hardwood). Black Locust is considerably harder to split than Oak, Ash, Elm & Maple due to the heavily twined interlocking grain structure. If you've ever tried to split any by hand with edge & wedge, except for crotch wood, it just doesn't get more difficult to split than air dried Black Locust.

Morey

[Jeff Heath]

Jerry, you are most welcome, and it was a pleasure meeting you, and having a shop visitor. I hope you'll post pictures of your new handles once completed. Let me know if you run short and need some more.

As it regards to Black Locust, I can only say that stuff I've been around was more difficult to split than granite boulders. I suppose every tree is different. The one's I have come across have laughed at my axe, and I'm no small fella, at 6'2 275 lbs.. I still chop 3 to 4 cords per year by axe, as I heat my shop with a wood stove. I haven't succumbed to the will and call of a 10 hp logsplitter, although I'm sure the day will come.

[bridger berdel]

I think if I were intending to glue up stock for a chisel handle I'd make it in 3 pieces with the center being a thin slip of contrasting wood. Make it a feature rather than a workaround for not having thick enough stock.

[Alfred Kraemer]

Morey,

I'm pretty sure what I have is black locust. I split the blank for the 'failed' chisel handle and a hammer handle - see attached pic from the board in the same picture. I split a section of the board again - with a hatchet as a wedge and a maul to drive the hatchet into the end grain. The board is very dry - I have had it for at least 5 years. It is very heavy, and when tapped, has a solid 'ring' to it. I have heard that black locust is sometimes used for xylophones. Splitting wasn't too difficult, maybe because the board has somewhat straighter grain. I have seen much wilder grain in black locust board. When making the handle for the little hammer in the picture, I recalled having to switch direction of cut with the spokeshave because I was running under and long, narrow splits were coming off the wood.
I did a quick search on black locust and splitting which yielded some interesting information: black locust splits were/are used for fencing, Abraham Lincoln is said to have split a lot of black locust.

356472

[Morey St. Denis]

In case you do not recall witnessing that tree from your backyard under leaf and are only "pretty sure" that it may have been Locust, you might consider deploying the "secret weapon" that can help with differentiating between certain similar appearing hardwoods such as Mulberry, Elm & Osage Orange. If you have brief access to a blacklight or UV emitter, Black Locust (green or fully dry) will be readily observed to fluoresce a bright uniform green color when exposed to UV sources in the range under 390nm; Mulberry, Elm, Osage & most others do not. Russian Olive is also reported to fluoresce medium green, but not as brilliantly.

[Alfred Kraemer]

Morey,

I don't have access to either one of those, but if you do, I'd send you a chunk. No cost to you.
I could send you a chunk big enough for a couple of handles or similar - make it worth your while. My handsaw is newly sharpened, and I have used it recently on Osage - which is similarly hard. Something that fits into a small USPS flat rate box.
Let me know if you would like me to send a sample. I'd pay the postage and would not expect the sample to be returned to me.

Alfred

[Andrew Pitonyak]

+1 for hickory. Where to find it? It's available anywhere that replacement handles for garden tools such as hoes and the like. No need to glue up.

I have some rakes purchased from Ace Hardware and Home Depot, The handles are some light soft wood and they rotted through / broke in a year (yes, they were often left outside). I cut down some small maple trees and made a replacement handle.

If I had gone to some place like tractor supply, might I have found a better quality replacement handle?

I think that the one that I made is easier to use than the original ( I chose one with a very slight curve near the base).

[Jerry Olexa]

Actually turned and finished 3 chisel socket handles today...My first!! Pics attached...Process became easier each time..The fitting of the socket portion is the critical part I learned....
This turning can be fun..I esp enjoyed using the skew tool for fine adjustments...Well, only 18 or so to go..It was fun and I'm learning as I go..Thanks

356676356675356674356673

[Jerry Olexa]

As always, remember to take some pictures of your newly handled chisels.

jtk

Jim posted pics of the first 3 completed....Not perfect.

[Jim Koepke]

Jim posted pics of the first 3 completed....Not perfect.

Just saw them, they look good and more consistent than my early (and continued) attempts.

jtk

[Jeff Heath]

Looking good, Jerry. You're on your way. If I recall correctly, I remember throwing my first attempt or two in the firepit, so you're doing very well.

Looks like the ash is working out well. If you need some more, let me know. I just set some aside.....just in case.:)

[Jerry Olexa]

Thanks Jeff and Jim...it's been a fun adventure...couldn't have happened without the 6/4" stock from Jeff...long drive to the hardwood supplier...thanks again
.