Chisel Handle Material?

Hey all,

I know this has been asked before many times, but I have a more specific question regarding the use of exotic wood used for chisel handles, mortise chisels included. I'll plan to use a gentle mallet, such as the Wood is Good Urethane mallet. I've been wondering if Fiddleback Sapele (Janka 1500) would be durable enough as I have heard it's supposedly brittle, or if I would be better off using a stronger wood, like Figured Bubinga (Janka ~2400), Cupuray (Janka ~3600), or some other durable variety. I want these to last a long, long time, but also look great. Thanks!

I favor curly maple or sapele for about anything wood.

My Ashley Iles chisels have bubinga handles. Don’t know if the others would work well or not, but I have no complaints about the bubinga.

Howdy Bryan and a belated welcome to the Creek.

For paring chisels just about any wood will do. For a mortise chisel something to stand up to mallet blows is needed. Having a wood handle splinter whilst chopping a mortise could be most uncomfortable.

For long handle life, choose a "durable variety."

jtk

I've used all kinds of wood for chisel handles. Any hard wood works fine. I've used ebony, cocobolo, rosewood, maple, pecan, and several other woods (I'd have to go look at my chisels:)) The only woods that don't hold up well are the softer woods, such as mahogany.

I hit mine with a wooden carver's mallet. Don't stress over how long the handle will last. If it looks good, go for it. If it doesn't stand up forever, make a new handle. You're a woodworker. That's what we do.

Mike

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Originally Posted by Bryan Wallin

Hey all,

I know this has been asked before many times, but I have a more specific question regarding the use of exotic wood used for chisel handles, mortise chisels included. I'll plan to use a gentle mallet, such as the Wood is Good Urethane mallet. I've been wondering if Fiddleback Sapele (Janka 1500) would be durable enough as I have heard it's supposedly brittle, or if I would be better off using a stronger wood, like Figured Bubinga (Janka ~2400), Cupuray (Janka ~3600), or some other durable variety. I want these to last a long, long time, but also look great. Thanks!

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Sapele would be a definite no except for a paring chisel handle that doesn't get struck. *** EDIT*** Even for paring handles it tends to split quite unexpectedly. You might not want to consider it.*** For the rest of my comment, assume the same- that I am referring to handles to be struck. Sapele and mahoganies are VERY prone to splitting and chipping. It wouldn't last long- longer with a urethane mallet, but still I wouldn't be comfortable with it. Janka hardness is one thing, but there is also tendency to split.

Bubinga would be excellent. That stuff is so dense it's almost like some sort of polymer rather than wood. The end grain is very tight. It would be excellent for chisel handles. I have seen some Bubinga that wasn't as hard as what I am used to, and always it seemed the stuff that wasn't as hard also didn't have as dark of a color- it was more pink than red. One could assume that it came from the outer part of the tree, but I have even seen whole boards like this, and the lighter the color, the less hard it was. Good bubinga, however, is awesome for chisel handles. With the new CITES restrictions on Bubinga, it's going to be harder to find and more expensive to purchase.

I am not familiar with Cupuray.

If your pockets are deep, African Blackwood makes great chisel handles, and it looks amazing. Rosewood as well. I bought some goncalo alves a while back and it was very dense and looked to me like it would make great chisel handles.

Thanks for the feedback everyone, much appreciated! I was afraid of the Sapele splitting, so thanks for confirming my suspicion! I'm leaning towards African Blackwood or Rosewood because I love the dark, rich look, but it is definitely spendy. I also plan to make some plane totes to match the chisels at some point (for my OCD :)), which might be hard to source lumber for in those varieties. Bubinga is much more widely available, but I'm not a huge fan of the deep-red tint. It's growing on me, but I'm still not sure about it. I'm also considering Hickory and a few others (Afrormosia, Tamboti, and Boxwood) at this point.

If you have a good boxwood supplier, please let me know!

It should be ideal for a chisel handle that is hit.

A trick if you want something beautiful and black - but doesn't cost $100+/bdft...

Use a wood that's light colored, tough, and less expensive... Hickory, ash, hornbeam, dogwood, elm, etc... And then char the wood lightly with a torch... It's a beautiful and traditional wood "finish" that is massively rot and bug resistant... Lightly charred - it won't leave black muck all over your hands...

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Originally Posted by Matt Lau

If you have a good boxwood supplier, please let me know!

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Funny you should ask, I actually received an email today about Castelo Boxwood from http://www.rarewoodsusa.com/. I don't know if they carry a lot of it, but they had a certain-sized piece that was 10/4 stock, 63" x 7.25", 7.93 board feet at $25 a board foot. Let me know if you want more info and I can PM you!

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Originally Posted by John C Cox

A trick if you want something beautiful and black - but doesn't cost $100+/bdft...

Use a wood that's light colored, tough, and less expensive... Hickory, ash, hornbeam, dogwood, elm, etc... And then char the wood lightly with a torch... It's a beautiful and traditional wood "finish" that is massively rot and bug resistant... Lightly charred - it won't leave black muck all over your hands...

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John, that's a really great tip! I hadn't thought about that before. The more I look around, I think I like the idea of Hickory because it's cheap, but very durable and looks nice. On that note... does anyone know where I could source quartersawn Hickory? This might be a question better suited for another sub-forum, but I'll try here anyways.

If you are looking for wood to make a chisel handle then quarter sawn makes no sense. You could make it 3/4 sawnAttachment 379712 if what you want is a handle showing no flat grain, but it's strictly for visual effect and has little consequence for the mechanics in this instance.

There was once a Swedish chisel and on the higher costing version they stuck a masur birch handle. Very beautiful but my sense is it detracts from the function of an otherwise outstanding tool. The grain, I always feel should be straight, and pristine if maybe boring in order to transfer the blows of the hammer directly to the bit and the cutting action most efficient.

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Originally Posted by ernest dubois

If you are looking for wood to make a chisel handle then quarter sawn makes no sense. You could make it 3/4 sawnAttachment 379712 if what you want is a handle showing no flat grain, but it's strictly for visual effect and has little consequence for the mechanics in this instance.

There was once a Swedish chisel and on the higher costing version they stuck a masur birch handle. Very beautiful but my sense is it detracts from the function of an otherwise outstanding tool. The grain, I always feel should be straight, and pristine if maybe boring in order to transfer the blows of the hammer directly to the bit and the cutting action most efficient.

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I think they used masur birch because of the interlocking grain, which would not split as easily when struck.

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Originally Posted by Lasse Hilbrandt

I think they used masur birch because of the interlocking grain, which would not split as easily when struck.

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It could be so Lasse, and it's a valid rationale but still I think the interlocking grain would also have the effect of absorbing some force and redirecting it away from the chisel's action.

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Originally Posted by Malcolm Schweizer

Sapele would be a definite no except for a paring chisel handle that doesn't get struck. *** EDIT*** Even for paring handles it tends to split quite unexpectedly. You might not want to consider it.*** For the rest of my comment, assume the same- that I am referring to handles to be struck. Sapele and mahoganies are VERY prone to splitting and chipping. It wouldn't last long- longer with a urethane mallet, but still I wouldn't be comfortable with it. Janka hardness is one thing, but there is also tendency to split.

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While I would normally agree, I made a square small Joinery Mallet in 2005 or 2006 out of Sapele, and it still has a place in the shop. It hasn't split, and has help up much better than I expected. Granted, I do only hit with the end grain faces, and I oil it once a month or so. . .

Sapele is not one of my favorite woods, as it is prone to tearout and splitting, but in this instance it worked out well. I don't baby my mallets either. . .I go through 4-5 round mallets every year, normally made from hard maple, Ash or hickory. I'm about to make another batch of mallets this week in fact, as I only have the Sapele mallet, one round 20ish oz maple mallet that is on its last legs, and one Hedge Apple monster mallet that is just about destroyed.

If you hooped a Sapele chisel handle, I would imagine it would hold up very well, as long as care was taken in selecting the wood.

That said, if you get a nice and dark, dense piece of walnut, that does seem to hold up very well. I have two chisel handles I made out of a denser than normal piece of walnut several years ago for my install tool box, and they have done very well, even with getting hit with metal hammers on jobsites on occasion.