Best wood for chisel handles? Glue 2 blanks OK?

[Jerry Olexa]

Ready to do a batch of 20 socket chisels and make new handles..I know this has been discussed before but what is your preferred wood for making the handles,,I've seen everything reco'd from ash, walnut, rosewood etc to elm...What are your preferred choices?

Also, if thicker stock not available is it good/bad idea to glue together 2 pieces to reach the desired 6/4" thickness prior to turning?

Thanks in advance

[James Tibbetts]

Hard maple, beech

[John C Cox]

I am not sure it matters that much.

I think for me - the biggest thing is matching up the intended use with the material.. I would hate to chip up a rosewood handle hammering away on it... And if you are going to do a lot of chopping work where you are holding the blade between your fingers - a lighter handle helps the balance and control..

I have rosewood, maple, ash, box, beech, oak, bubinga, tintul, and miscellaneous Chinese wood handles... I can't say that the use has been hindered by the wood..

For heavy work where I am pushing a chisel - I like an unfinished wood that's not super polished - maybe only 150 to 220 grit.. That way it doesn't slide around in a sweaty hand and give me blisters. For that - oak, ash, box, beech, maple.. Though they get looking kinda grungy after a while. But... I like grungy looking chisels better than I like blisters.

But if I need to pick up a paring chisel for one quick lick to clean up a fit - that polished rosewood sure looks sharp and it feels smooth in my hand...

[Bill White]

Jerry,
I was able to get some dogwood that I used for a froe maul and some chisel handles. May not be readily available to you, but the wood is REALLY tough. Best part is that it turns well, and can be wax finished.
Bill

[Jim Koepke]

If you are going to be hitting the chisels with a mallet, two pieces glued together might not be a good idea.

For mallet work you may want something strong like hickory, ash or maple.

My chisels have been fitted with all kinds of woods. Nicer looking woods for chisels that will not feel the blow of a mallet. Stronger wood for those that will be mallet driven.

One group of my chisels has a different color of wood for each size.

Another group has all the handles made from hickory.

jtk

[Mike Henderson]

I've used all kinds of wood for chisel handles. Softer wood, like mahogany, is not as good as any harder wood. No problem glueing two pieces together except for looks. Try to match the two pieces as well as you can. Glued handles hold up fine.

Mike

[Morey St. Denis]

Largely agree with the aforementioned. Prominently absent from your initial short list of handle and tool body favorites was Beech, hard Maple, Hickory, White Oak or Live Oak, and figured exotic Bubinga. To that I would also add domestic Black Locust in case you might have ready access to any of that locally. Early East coast cabinet makers and pre-railroad wheelwright's planes and molding shaper utilitarian tool bodies were mostly always made of Beech. To a woodworker of Germanic ancestry, Buchenwald was just a mature Beech forest from which to source sturdy hardwood... Surely with such an extensive list of suitable and readily available domestic hardwoods you can't have such difficulty in sourcing some of these fine choices in 5/4" or 6/4" thickness that you'd need to resort to gluing dimensional 3/4" together... Allowing for your considerable investment of labor and effort involved to make a whole big batch of reconditioned chisel handles, in the long run you'll be much happier with a superior choice of raw material to pour your exertion into.

[John C Cox]

I saw dogwood mentioned. It's quite hard and quite pretty. Almost impossible to find lumber...

Hornbeam is a traditional chisel handle material that grows all over the USA... Hard to find lumber, though.

Persimmon is another. It's in the Ebony family and was the choice for golf club heads in the wood club head days.. You can beat on that stuff like you would not believe..

All three of these were used in weavers shuttles which got beat back and forth all day long...

[Jerry Olexa]

Wow...good info and reco's....Still absorbing....No clear trend...Most of have your own favorites but Thank you...I'll continue to read this thread...Time for a trip to the hardwood supplier.

[Brian Holcombe]

Jerry, whichever you chose make certain to use either riven stock or straighten the grain on both faces of a rift billet before working into a handle shape.

[Joe Tilson]

I used dogwood on my last handles. They are very nice tight grain and hard handles. Light weight as well.
Used teak oil for a finish.

[Bruce Haugen]

I've used live oak with very good success. It's pretty interlocked, makes splitting hard. Ironwood is darn near impossible to split, too.

[John Vernier]

It seems like hickory was the favorite among American factory production chisels in the late 19th & early 20th centuries. They also used apple, especially for "fancier" patterns like patternmakers' chisels. Apple seems to have been a favorite wood for higher grade American tool manufacturers, where the English would use boxwood. I've made handles and a mallet from apple, and I find it pretty tough. I've also used beech and a lot of ash for chisel handles, and I can't really fault either.

[Rob Luter]

Black locust (Ironwood) works well for all things that need to take a beating.

[Phil Mueller]

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.