Alternative wood for plane totes / saw handles

[jcassidy]

Hi all
What more-or-less common woods would be suitable for plane and saw handles?

I recently binned my stash of beechwood and it's hard to find more right now. I have roughsawn oak, and odd ends of mahogany and teak to hand, as well as more CLS than you can shake a stick at.

Would I be wasting my time making totes out of oak, for example?
Thanks
John

 

[raffo]

Hi all
What more-or-less common woods would be suitable for plane and saw handles?

I recently binned my stash of beechwood and it's hard to find more right now. I have roughsawn oak, and odd ends of mahogany and teak to hand, as well as more CLS than you can shake a stick at.

Mahogany would work and look better if you go to the trouble of making new handles.

 

[D_W]

If you have mahogany of good density, it would work well. it's stable and very workable as far as shaping goes, and can be found in older infills (which generally aren't filled with wood that's unstable for obvious reasons - how beech has fared in them vs. rosewood is a good illustration of this (far older infills with dalbergia nigra generally have a better fit at present than those made much later with beech.).

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Can't see much wrong with using hard or soft maple from North America, or European sycamore if you want a pale diffuse porous wood. American black cherry is another diffuse porous timber you could use. They're all pretty common and easy to find. I've replaced the odd broken plane handle or knob with either one of the maples or sycamore, although I can't now recall which. I no longer have the tools in question because I passed them on (sold, I think) to someone else that wanted them. Slainte.

 

[jcassidy]

Thanks for the suggestions. .. not oak then! I'll give the mahogany a go, as I have some to hand.

 

[kinverkid]

If you have an interesting piece of wood that is either too thin or you think may not be able to stand up to the pressure exerted on the handle then you might want to consider laminating it. Gluing two or more pieces together will disrupt the grain and along with the strength of the glue will make the handle that much more resistant to splitting/breaking. It can also make for an interesting patterned handle.

Gary

 

[thetyreman]

I used sapele and it was a good choice, I think american cherry is a bit nicer personally, fruit woods are the best woods for handles imo

 

[Inspector]

I would use oak if it was close grained and I also wouldn't hesitate to use the teak you have either. Just about any close grained strong hardwood will work. So no Willow or Poplar. If whatever you use cracks make another from something else. Walnut hasn't been mentioned but it looks good and is strong. Anything you would be happy sitting on in a chair is going to be fine for a hand plane.

Pete

 

[D_W]

I used sapele and it was a good choice, I think american cherry is a bit nicer personally, fruit woods are the best woods for handles imo

Cherry is a bit soft, but fine if it's constrained by a retaining screw like a stanley handle.

Not sure I'd want to use it on a wooden plane, though, especially not one with an open handle (not downing cherry - 90% of everything I've ever made that isn't tools is made out of cherry as it's the reasonably priced option here for someone working entirely by hand).

For the original question, if possible, quartered will give the least seasonal change in handle height, but mahogany (especially if already old and dry) doesn't move much tangentially - less than many woods move radially.

(sapele is a nice choice)

 

[thetyreman]

Teak is extremely stable so it would be a very good choice and it has self lubricating properties like rosewood, is this for a metal handplane or wooden one?

 

[richarnold]

I use English walnut for my totes. I get it from MAC timbers

 

[jcassidy]

Thanks for an the answers, I have an assortment of Bailey-type planes needing new handles and a handful of tenon and dovetail saws. I've built up a bit of a collection cos I try to work in batches.

I think my oak is quarter sawn, I'll have to dig it out.

 

[Craig22]

I use English walnut for my totes. I get it from MAC timbers

That is a good shout. Although MAC seems a long way from Oxfordshire, our son lives in Peterborough. Next time we're over visiting, we're definitely going to visit them!

Love the planes by the way - stunning bit of work.

 

[bourbon]

I've got to ask, Why did you bin your stash of beech????

 

[jcassidy]

I've got to ask, Why did you bin your stash of beech????

Woodworm! I treated the wood when I got it, hoping to get something useful, but nada, completely riddled. Serves me right for buying at auction sight unseen, but all the yards were closed down at the time.

It burned really nice in my stove.

I will laminate some odd ends of teak and mahogany, see how that goes. Need to get a big vernlacular dresser that I'm restoring out of the way first.

 

[bourbon]

You are forgiven then, Woodworm is something you don't need

 

[heimlaga]

I have made saw handles from birch. One cannot make such delicate lam's tongues as with appewood and other valuable hardwoods but birch is perfectly adequate if it is reasonably slow grown.
Rowan should also be suitable. It is harder than birch.

 

[JobandKnock]

I thought I'd mention that some saw makers, including Disston, used fruitwood for saw handles. To my mind that probably means apple, but pear was certainly favoured by soem German tool makers for uses such as awl handles, etc. Lie-Nielsen used to use cherry for their handles (don't know if that's still the case, but my one and only L-N is now over 20 yerars old and it's not broken yet)

 

[thetyreman]

I thought I'd mention that some saw makers, including Disston, used fruitwood for saw handles. To my mind that probably means apple, but pear was certainly favoured by soem German tool makers for uses such as awl handles, etc. Lie-Nielsen used to use cherry for their handles (don't know if that's still the case, but my one and only L-N is now over 20 yerars old and it's not broken yet)

I like pear wood a lot, it's my favourite wood for handles, just feels luxurious in your hands, also very stable too.

 

[Ttrees]

Pick the timber with the tightest pores you have.
That could be some sapele or the Teak (not sure I've ever handled the stuff)
The open grain of the oak would get dirty if you weren't planning on pore filling it,
and depending on finish react with any metal on your hands.