I cut down some white oak and hickory that were trying to fall on my driveway. Now it is drying to become tool handles! I’ve made a few tool handles from the oak before, anyone else have any experience with it?

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[Mike in TNParticipant October 26, 2015 at 10:38 am Post count: 254]

#2027623

Hey Jared,

I have used white oak for handles that are relatively short, used where there isn’t a lot of torsion or bending stress or could be used for thicker handles just because it so prone to splitting along the grain.. The extreme for me would be for froe handles that I would keep a little thick. Chisel handles are OK if you don’t use a mallet very often. Avoid using wood  at the ends of the billets since they tend to develop hard to detect splits. Hickory has always been valued for tool handles because of the springy toughness. Just remember to split and shave them to avoid grain run out.

Have fun.

[Author]

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