New hickory handle I made (shhhh, on my lathe). Grain is 90° off optimum, but grain is straight with runout only because of contours. Head of this hammer looked worse than the other pictured one before belt sander work. Turning oval pieces is a nice diversion once in a while, but not enough to make me glad to need a handle...
Jimhickory hammer handle vert.JPGhickory hammer handle.JPG
Interesting posts.
George: I got my Osage Orange off ebay.
Jim: thanks for the ideas!
On my end, ironically I have plenty of African blackwood, some brazilian rosewood (for guitar bridges), flamed maple and fine old pearwood.
I can't get Hickory for the life of me! Ash, I can get.