"Weak" handles

Much of the handle-related discussions (at least in the forums I have read) concern grain alignment. Yes, that is a pertinent strength-related issue, and I certainly agree that the closer a handle maker can come to the vertically positioned and continuous grain, the better.

However, I want to present an additional question – one already partially addressed in my views pertaining to handle dimensions. To frame this question within the context of a discussion about axes, it may go something like this:

How weak can an ax handle be (and still prove itself useful)?

Here is another true story:

The exact year when I made the handle in the photos (above and below) has now faded from my memory, but it was sometime soon after we obtained Keeping Warm with an Ax (by D. Cook) which puts it about 15 years ago.

Note that the handle is relatively straight near the bottom end (already Dudley Cook’s influence?), yet I also wanted to retain that “head slightly back of the line of grip” feature which many old axmen incorporated into their single bit handle design. The easiest way to accomplish this, and still end up with a through-running grain (which most single bit handles do not have nowadays) is to find a naturally grown piece of wood in already that shape.

Without exception, every instructional source on ax handle making I’ve come across suggests that you begin by selecting a piece of straight grained tree trunk, 8 inches (20cm) diameter or larger, split out the billets, season them, etc.

Well, mindful that (sometimes) “rules are made for fools”, I stuck as much as possible to the continuous grain concept -- but in every other aspect broke the rules. That handle is made out of a non-seasoned branch less than 3 inches diameter from a white birch tree which I had just cut for firewood. It had exactly the curve I was looking for, so I shaped it still green, fit that 1¾ lb (800g) Sandvik head to it, gave it a coat of boiled linseed oil (cut with a little turpentine) and began to use it – carefully at first. I liked that handle instantly. At its slimmest section it is 18mm thick, by the way.

About two years later, during winter, I lost that ax in the woods. There it laid for a season and a half, in snow, wet leaves and snow again. When I found it the following spring, some fungus was beginning to make a Slow Food meal of it. (Note the surface wood deterioration below the head on the side which had been touching the Earth.)

As some of you may know, white birch (Betula alba) is not a particularly weather resistant wood; in fact, some would say it is absolutely “no good” in that respect. Having once been oiled, and already seasoned before being lost did help its survival – but some damage was there to stay.

Nevertheless, we’ve used that little ax rather extensively ever since. Occasionally, it has (again forgotten) spent an additional night under the stars...

The chief point of this story: A functional ax handle does not always need to be made of what is considered first class wood. The handle being discussed here has 3 major knots (seen from both sides) and 2 minor knots – a flaw that every handle-making how-to source would consider a serious no-no. In addition, white birch is considerably weaker than ash or sugar maple, never mind hickory.

Admittedly, a 1¾ lb head on a 24” handle (which probably started as 25”) is not a serious tree-chopping or firewood splitting ax – and thus does not need to be excessively strong. However, we do not baby our axes (as might some weekend campers with their $100 hatchets) – and this little “orphan” has done its full share of what I’d expect of that size of an ax.

To be continued...