[TheForge] Re: bamboo redux

[Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer]

I once talked to St Francis about this.
He said that that rascal Beau Hickory had seen a handle that 
Francis had made that had been over-sawn and cracked some 
distance down the handle neck from the cut. Francis said it was a 
mistake but Beau thought it was deliberate and later preached it 
as "the right way". Beau elaborated the method to include a small 
cross drill to stop the crack and a 1/4" hole in the butt filled 
with linseed oil and plugged.
The method does work to some degree but makes for a weaker handle..
We have no native wood i've found that is equal to the job...PF

Mike Spencer wrote:
> pf> I've been thinking about hammer handles made in a manner similar
> pf> to the way bamboo fly rods are laminated...though presumably not
> pf> hollow.  Been fooling with whippy hickory handles with
> pf> skinny,shaved down necks.  They break sometimes but they are way
> pf> less tiring to use.
> 
> At the suggestion of guys whose names I've forgotten, I've
> experimented with sawing into the end of the handle from the head end,
> such that the handle is split two ways for 2 to 4 inches.  This made a
> really nice, whippy feel.  But we don't have hickory.  Our local
> handle wood is ash and ash treated that way breaks too easily.  I
> could buy hickory handles at the hardware store but they're kinda
> clunky and I'd have to reshape the whole thing anyhow so I don't.  I
> have a collection of old handles and some bolts of decade-old, clear
> ash and use that.
> 
> I do shave my handles down to a rather thin neck to get a similar
> feel on my three or four regular forging hammers.  For hammers used
> less often or for light dinking I just shape the grip and don't
> bother with the neck.  For rarely used clubbitzers, any old thing
> will do.
> 
> - Mike
> 
> --
> Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
>                                                            /V\ 
> mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
> http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^
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