best type of timber for making chisel handles

[Poppa Joe]

I prefer Hickory for all my chissels and gouges. Sometimes I will put a 3/4? copper pipe cap on the ends or glue a piece of leather on them for a soft tap.

[drichard]

I agree with the others-use a hardwood. Personal favorite would be hickory.

[chilesteve]

Yes, I would agree! Use a dense hardwood, which will prevent splitting if you strike the end with a mallet. I use White Ash for most of my handles and wood mallet heads. Up my way (southern Ontario) we have plenty of dead Ash trees available, which have succumbed to the Emerald Ash Borer and so will have plenty to work with for the next few years!

[photo wood]

I have four chisels which need new handles & I can't By replacements for them,
I am going to turn them Up But need advise on what is the best type of wood to use?

I find ash is probably the easiest of the hardwoods to work with,but it all depends on availability in your area.

[DaveC]

Well Ash came to mind first but hickory if you can get it or rose wood, red oak all are ok you may even get some off cut on e bay.

[BDooley]

I would agree that just about any hardwood would work fine. One tip I might add is when picking lumber for a chisel its important to get a nice straight grain for it to be running with the direction of the work. Good luck.

[thewoodworker01]

I would recommend using a good hardwood like maple or white oak. You want something that will hold up, I think both of these species would be able to do that. I would also recommend banding the ends as a previous commenter said.

Thanks, Christian.

[wizard69]

pfredX1,
Unless you live in Virginia or Missouri, take a look at dogwood. Dense, hard, and best of all, requires little or no finish. This type of wood is commonly used in making loom shuttles in textile industry.

I probably shouldn't ask but Why not Virginia or Missouri?

In any event I have to concur with hardwoods if you want to use wood. Around here Hickory, walnut and Cherry are readily available.

There is always the alternative of plastic. You could melt a bunch of bottle caps and force the goo into a mold. This would work for tanged chisels but I kinda doubt socketed chisels would hold a plastic handle. Plastic is probably a better choice for something that will be banged on heavily but likely is a poor choice for something where you want to work the wood with your hands. By the way you could turn the plastic handles after they set up.

[pfredX1]

I did not say what I am quoted as saying. In any event my favorite chisels have plastic handles. I like the Stanley 60 line.

[Toolmaker51]

Somewhere here in HMT.net a post recommended cherry; something about not being slippery to sweaty palms. And it sure turns nice. But, I helped a carver once long ago; he wanted Corian. They were socketed and ferruled.
So it all comes down to preference.

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