Best wood for chisel handles? Glue 2 blanks OK?

[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

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[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.

[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.