Tool handles and knives
- atelierlet
- 14 févr. 2024
- 8 min de lecture
The use of wood in the tool-making for handles remains crucial because it is considered as a consumable. Its durability over time must therefore be maximum so that the handle does not have to be changed every year.
Even if on our artisan scale, we would say that it is only a grain of sand in terms of consumption, I remain convinced that it is with small rivers that we make big rivers.
What wood can we use for tool handles?
The meaning of the tree ring
Wood that I commonly use
Harvesting wood in the forest (conscious pruning)
Providers
1.What wood can we use for tool handles?
Any wood can be used for handles, but there are indeed some myths about the best woods to use such as dogwood. I would rather say that the biotope where the tree grew is just as important as the selection of the species. Indeed, an ash tree which grew at an altitude of 1000m in a valley with little sunlight on limestone soil and with slow growth will probably be denser than the same tree which grew in a temperate climate with balanced exposure.
The tree ring defines the density of the wood according to its growth
Spring wood is, as its name suggests, the part of the annual growth ring that formed during the first part of the growing period. Thin-membrane tracheids in softwoods, and open tubular veins in hardwoods, make up most of the spring wood to facilitate rapid circulation of sap. Spring wood usually appears as a broad band of lighter wood within each annual growth ring. Summer wood is the part of the annual ring that develops in the second part of the growth ring. It produces cells with thicker membranes, forming denser and darker wood, less able to circulate sap, but useful for the tree's growth. Each period of annual growth of the tree corresponds to a distinct ring, thus revealing the age of the felled tree, as well as the type of climate in which it grew.
Hardwoods or softwoods can be used but everything will depend on drying. Softwood has a tendency to split more easily than hardwood, which can cause a certain fragility but above all ergonomics that are not very pleasant in the hand.
We can distinguish several uses of wood depending on the density.
In fact, we will prefer to use wood which has a certain flexibility for tools with long handles such as axes, hoes, hoes, etc. This flexibility will make the handle less brittle and will be more comfortable for the worker.
We can use denser wood for small manual tools such as pruning hooks, pruning knives, knives, etc.
Most of the woods we find in Europe have a density less than 1000kg/m3, which makes them woods which retain a certain elasticity and therefore shock absorption quality.
Exotic wood ax handles are absolutely not ergonomic for the user because the transfer of vibration will be felt more than on wood which absorbs shocks.
To conclude :
For long-handled tool handles, it is best to use ever-growing European hardwood handles.
We can use denser handles such as boxwood, exotic wood, deer antler, etc. for small tools and knives. The hardness of these woods will not alter the ergonomics and will be preferred due to their durability, because dense wood is more resistant to water penetration.
2.The meaning of the tree ring :
When making a handle, for certain tools it is important to select the direction of the grain of the wood if you want to have resistance over time and thus avoid fiber breaks and those on handles that measure more than 50cm.
In the photo opposite, we can clearly see the fiber of the wood which is in the parallel direction of the force whereas it should be in the perpendicular direction.
Most manufacturers of industrial tools do not pay attention to this type of detail, which is not the case in artisanal toolmaking. We can thus double the lifespan of a handle.
The selection of trays from our suppliers is very important to avoid having too many vertical tree rings.
On a tray, we have several different orientations but we must not forget that depending on the wood, the part of sapwood is often less resistant or slightly porous, we will take care to check the density before use. Of course, we avoid 'use the heart (in black) of the log which systematically splits.
Vertical ring: Small handle of tools such as pruning hook, billhook, plane, small hammer, wood chisels.....
Horizontal ring: Long handle such as squaring axes, hoe, pickaxe, broadfork, hoe.....
Cross ring: The cross ring offers a compromise for almost all tools
3.Wood that I commonly use :
Robinia or false acacia :
For tools such as : Hoe, shovel, plane, wood chisels, hoe, broadfork.
This wood is often called "acacia" because of its thorns and its leaves with an odd number of leaflets (leaflet = each of the small leaves which form a compound leaf). Acacia is a family that brings together more than 1,500 tree species, the majority of which are found in Australia.
The locust tree concentrates silica from the soil from its roots because it needs it for its structure. This is why it is less fond of limestone soils which are often poor in silica.
Depending on the nature of the soil, it will therefore be more or less easy to work because the silica sharpens the tools or clogs the abrasives, however, it will have a class 4 rank, which means that it can be in permanent contact with fresh water, because it is rot-proof.
Due to its characteristic yellow color, it makes an attractive timber very often used for exterior parquet floors for its resistance to humidity and fungus.
Ash :
For tools such as: Hoe, shovel, wood chisels, plane, hoe, grelinette, axe, doloire, mace, hammers, billhook, pruning hook...
It is one of the most commonly used woods on tool handles.
It's my favorite wood!
It grows in almost any type of soil (acidic, neutral or basic).
It works well with a cutting tool or an abrasive, it is a fast-growing hardwood tree and it is very complicated to deforest because once cut it leaves multiple shoots from its trunk. Which makes it a rustic wood that adapts very well to mid-mountains or the plains. Plus morels love it!...
In mountainous regions, summer rings make the wood a little denser and reveal certain darker rings resembling patterns like olive wood. In our mountains, we call it olive ash, although it is aesthetically pretty and usable for knife handles, pruning knives and other small hand tools, it is not at all suitable for striking tools such as hammers, felling axes, doloires... because it is too hard.
The ash handles which withstand the most shocks are the woods which have grown the fastest with coarse rings, but this remains to the detriment of the lifespan of the handle.
Chestnut :
For tools such as: Hoe, shovel, wood chisels, plane, hoe, grelinette, axe, doloire, mace, hammers, billhook, pruning hook...
The chestnut tree has the same characteristics as the ash tree although it does not grow in the same biotope.
It likes acidic soils and that is why we can find it near coniferous trees such as spruce or fir but it is not very adapted to limestone soil, which is why we do not will not find it much in southern soils.
The famous tailor Bernard Solon (in Orléans) harvested chestnut shoots in the right season, under the right moon, to make his garden tool handles.
It is in class 4 like black locust which makes it rot-proof but it has the advantage/disadvantage of being rich in tannin, which makes it a durable wood but just like oak it blackens on contact with water and can get your hands dirty when it has not been dried. Tannins have the advantage of preserving the wood longer over time, I take the example of field fence posts: Cut into 4, if they were cut at the right season/moon, some can last almost 100 years outdoors.
It is used much less than its two predecessors because it does not grow everywhere.
Boxwood :
For tools such as: pruning hook, knife handle, etc.
Here is my 2nd favorite wood.
Invaded by the boxwood moth in Ardèche and Drôme, it suffered several major attacks causing its partial disappearance.
It is a wood that has a high density and cannot be used for everything. It should be avoided on striking tools such as hammers, sledgehammers, axes, etc. Its hardness causes the vibration to travel up the arm. We prefer to use it for the handles of knives, pruning knives, planes, etc.
It is hard to work with a cutting tool but works very well with an abrasive.
However, its drying remains very complicated because the sections of wood are rarely very large and can split easily during drying. The ancients said that the best drying time for boxwood was 5 years in a river bed. I tried this technique in the old place where I lived and where there was a river but unfortunately I lost all my stock of boxwood put in the river during a flood one spring!..
4. Harvesting wood in the forest :
For knife or pruning hook handles (boxwood, oak, laburnum, fruit trees, etc.), when out walking on weekends, I always have a moisture meter and a mini pruning saw with me. In order not to deforest, I do not cut green wood. I do what we call conscious pruning: that is, I look at how trees are made. I check if they have diseases or branches that suck a lot of energy from them, with my humidity meter, I check if the sap is circulating in them and I prune while respecting the tree or I collect stumps dead.
Of course, this limits me a lot in the choice of wood and therefore in my species, it takes me a lot of time and above all a lot of attention. The forest being a haven of peace for me, I consider collecting wood more like a meditation!
Once back at the workshop, I cut the wood into coarse squares and wait for it to split. Then I cut it into ready-to-use blanks and if I'm lucky, when I come back the next day, these final blanks will not have split!! (sometimes I'm less lucky!..)
I can therefore use approximately 70% of the wood I collect, the rest being very often split.
I give the small pieces that can be reused to jewelers and the rest goes down the chimney.
Even if I have a lot of loss, I want to do this because every time I look inside a piece of wood that I have brought back, I always have this feeling of discovering a treasure, and being able to add value to it. on a knife is all the more rewarding.
Then I wait for the residual moisture in the wood to escape before using it.
Depending on the ambient humidity, I expect my wood to be between 10% and 12%.
This is the work on a kitchen knife with a boxwood and ebonized oak fork.
Stabilized wood :
The stabilization of wood is mainly used in cutlery.
Indeed, given that we use fairly thin thicknesses for folding knives (5mm wood dimension) depending on the orientation of the wood fiber, they tend to curl (bend) when they are in contact with wood. 'humidity.
For stabilization, the wood is placed in a pressurized oven immersed in cactus juice. The pressure forces the juice into the wood fiber in order to expel the air, giving it a slight additional density.
The juice can have natural pigments to color the wood as on the knives opposite.
5. Providers :
We work with a burgundy handle wholesaler on standard handles such as:
Grelinettes, hoe, hoe, stamp handle...
All the species they use come from France and the wood is 75% PEFC certified.
Handle of small garden tools
We have made a handle model that we send to copy for our small tools such as:
Transplanter, weeding gouge, 3-tooth claw...
The team is extremely friendly!
-Stabilized wood :
