How many tool handles from one board

[johknee]

A question for all; what board thickness would you look for when making handles? I think I read this sheoak board was about 35mm thick?

[IanW]

A question for all; what board thickness would you look for when making handles? I think I read this sheoak board was about 35mm thick?

Obviously, it depends on what sort of handles you want to make, Jk. Chisel & file handles for e.g., range in diameter from ~25-35mm. Twenty-five mm is on the small size, I use that on small files, for example, while 35mm is rather fat & too large for my hands, but there are lots who like that size. An "average" handle would be around 30mm on the wider sections. This is a selection of handles I made for Liogier rasps that cover that range:
File & rasp handles.jpg

Saw handles are generally 22mm thick or 7/8" in old money (+ or - a mm or so). A bit thinner is ok for backsaws, but you don't want the grip to get too thin or they aren't comfy to hold:
B_eye Maple.jpg

But even 16mm is useful for things like marking knives:
Marking knives.jpg

Which probably explains why I have several boxes of "shorts" of "nice" woods ranging from 10mm to 40mm thick.....

Cheers,

[Cklett]

A question for all; what board thickness would you look for when making handles? I think I read this sheoak board was about 35mm thick?

The board is actually ~28mm thick.
The handle for the flush cut saw however came from an extra piece of timber which Ian gave together with the board. Therefore I count that in as well. You can see it in my first post lying on top of the board.

I got two handles from that. One for the flush cut saw and a second one for a bow saw, which is still in construction.



I tried to get most of the piece as I could.


Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

[BobL]

I tried to get most of the piece as I could.

Your'e not trying hard enough until you spend >3 days bogging up cracks with epoxy

[IanW]

Your'e not trying hard enough until you spend >3 days bogging up cracks with epoxy

Nah, that sort of stuff goes for kindling, Bob!

[johknee]

Thank you IanW and Cklett. All of those handles are stunning!

[BobL]

Nah, that sort of stuff goes for kindling, Bob!

We have a fire place but last used it about 20 years ago as SWMBO is allergic to all things combustible.
We also had fire wood pile behind the shed with about 2 trailers worth of wood on it but the white ants slowly munched into it.
I got rid of it when we had a skip in for the bathroom reno in 2020.

I do have another firewood pile (wheelbarrow) and when it gets full I wheel it out to the van and push the barrow up a ramp into the back of the van and tie the barrow down with ratchet straps. Then I next time I go somewhere with the van I stop at my mates place a couple of blocks away and wheel the barrow around to his wood pile. He likes it.

[Cklett]

OK, this might be a bit of a stretch for this thread. At least the handle was made from the same piece of wood and at the same time as the handle for the flush cut saw.



However, like the board the other pieces were also given to me from IanW from his scrap pile as he said. So at least it came from the same source [emoji3]

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

[IanW]

Crikey! Actually, I didn't mean to give you those bits - can I have them back??

Just kidding, of course. You've done a great job on it. I hope you get as much use & pleasure out of your little saw as I get from mine. Hardly a day goes by that I don't use it for some little job or other. Sometimes I wish mine had a bit more depth between blade & beam, but I think that would make it less balanced & not so manouverable. I can usually get around it by making several cuts from other directions.

It's the same with my jewellers saws, I have 75mm & 125mm frames. I prefer to use the 75mm frame as much as possible because it is lighter & easier to saw with & only use the deeper saw when the 75mm can't reach far enough in. I should have invested in a "Knew Concept" when I started, but it's too late now, I'm not making any more planes (y'hear, Matt??).

P'raps, Ck, you should have titled this thread "How many interesting ways can you use a short length of cupped, waney firewood?"

Ian

[johknee]

On a lunchtime walk today, I stumbled across a fallen tree. The local council has cut some into manageable lengths. I didn't pick any up initially because I was unsure what it was. I've checked the local council tree map, and they say they are "Casuarina cunninghamiana - River She Oak". Would it be worthwhile grabbing these?

[Cklett]

On a lunchtime walk today, I stumbled across a fallen tree. The local council has cut some into manageable lengths. I didn't pick any up initially because I was unsure what it was. I've checked the local council tree map, and they say they are "Casuarina cunninghamiana - River She Oak". Would it be worthwhile grabbing these?

River Oak is very nice too. I made this chisel handle from it. The piece I had had same type of grain as the SheOak, but much lighter color and not so redish.



But I am sure IanW can say much more about it.

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

[johknee]

River Oak is very nice too. I made this chisel handle from it. The piece I had had same type of grain as the SheOak, but much lighter color and not so redish.



But I am sure IanW can say much more about it.

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

Wow, that looks nice too! I think I'll grab a couple of the logs before they put them through a chipper.

Thanks again.

[IanW]

JK, river oak, aka Allocasuarina cunninghamiana or hybrids thereof are certainly common urban trees. The handle Cklett showed is from an old tree that had "black-heart", a condition caused by a fungus. The core was almost jet black, like ebony, but unfortunately it cracked to splinters despite careful drying. I did manage to recover a few very small pieces, of the really black stuff, which was horrible to work with, it was hard as iron & ripped the edge off plane blades & HSS turning tools but polished up nicely. I got some larger pieces that were not as dark where the spalting wasn't so intense, leaving it a deep brown colour:

Ebonised River oak.jpg

The rest just had streaks of black or very dark brown through the more typical pale brown of A. cunninghamiana, like the chisel handle above.

If the tree in question is fairly small/young, you may find the heartwood is very pale, almost white. I love getting my hands on less mature stuff like that because it's a bit less dense than the mature wood, turns really well, & makes very strong chair legs & spindles. This one has a jacaranda seat & back rail (another commonly "found" wood round here), & the turned parts came from a small tree ~200mm diameter that was removed from a nature strip.

1 chair.jpg

If you want that wood, grab it quickly, not just to save it from the chipper, but because all of the casuarinas love to self-destruct if dried in the round, it can develop end splits in a day in warm weather. At the very least, split the billets you get in half & paint the ends, but better still split/saw it into the thicknesses & sizes you think will be most useful to you. At this time of year, drying will be very slow, which is just what you want, but make sure it is well-aired enough so you don't get any mould forming...

Cheers,
Ian

[johknee]

I grabbed a couple of pieces and turned a green, small diameter (~50mm) piece tonight at woodturning...

IMG_1431.jpg

The tree was brought down last night by strong wind and rain. There were larger, straighter pieces in the pile, but they were a two man lift, so I took what I could manage. Three pieces; one ~350mm diameter, another 200mm and the small piece in the photo. More rain forecast tomorrow, so perhaps i can sneak back there and grab some more before it's all gone!

[johknee]

If you want that wood, grab it quickly, not just to save it from the chipper, but because all of the casuarinas love to self-destruct if dried in the round, it can develop end splits in a day in warm weather. At the very least, split the billets you get in half & paint the ends, but better still split/saw it into the thicknesses & sizes you think will be most useful to you. At this time of year, drying will be very slow, which is just what you want, but make sure it is well-aired enough so you don't get any mould forming...

Cheers,
Ian

This was my next question. I normally store timber under the house, which is cool and dry-ish, but ventilation is a problem. I'm guessing the tin garden shed might not be appropriate either. See how I go.
Thank you, Ian!