Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1897-11-11
AXE HANDLES.
They Are Largely Produced in Ken.
lucky and Tennessee.

Many manufacturing establish
ments producing articles of wood are,
for greater economy of production. To-
Gated within easy reach of the forests
from which they draw their material.
and often when the natural supplies
nave been exhausted the factories are
moved into proximity with fresh for
ests, This has been the case for in
stance, with the factories producing
axe, adze, pick, sledge. Ratchet and
hammer handles. There are such fac
tories In other parts of the country.
but the four or five largest are now
all located in Kentucky and Tennes-
see. One OF these was originally in
Connecticut 1t moved thence to
Maryland and thence to Kentucky
where it now is.
For the handles Of such implements
as shovels, rakes, and forks, ash Will
do, but for tools like axes and ham
mers, with which blows are struck
the handles must be of wood that Ia
tough and elastic The best woods for
these uses are hickory and oak. A
very great majority OF the handles
used In these tools are hickory. North
America Is the only subdivision of the
earth in which hickory is found.
There is good hickory in Canada, but
they do not make there all tho
handles they use. They import many
from the United States.
4.
There are Maine lumbermen who
prefer an oak axe handle. Some OF
the axe handles used in Maine are
Whitfield out by hand Oak takes IN
less moisture than hickory. and is not
so cold to touch in winter. A good
OAK handle is something certainly
worth having
stout as hickory IL, II handles made
I IL are stored away and kent too
long they are liable to be attacked nv
worm that makes powder holes in
the wood part of the wood that
the worms do not attack is the heat.
but this is the part least desirable in
handle. The injury thus done could
be covered by painting the handles
Formerly the hickory trees used in
making these handles were cbopped
down; now they are sawed down. 80
MS not to waste any of the wood in
chips. The tree is then cut into
lengths and properly seasoned. The
logs are then split into the pieces from
which the handles are to be made.
THESE pieces are called bolts. The
bolts are sawed approximately to the
shape OF the handle to be finally made.
ana in this shape they are handle
blocks. The handle block Is turned To
the shape OF the handle In an irreyu-
lar lathe, and 1t IS then finished and
polished
1t might be supposed that an axe
hahcle was just an axe handle: but
besides the familiar axe 80 commonly
used there are various other kinds.
Ice axes. for example, AID Ice axes
themselves are further divided into
various styles. There are various
Kinds of hatchets; fathers hatchets.
hunters hatchets, and so on. or
hatchet handles alone there are nanv
sizes and styles. For these various
TOOLS, axe, adze, pick, sledge, harhet
ana hammer there are made. taking
them altogether handles in hundreds
OF different sizes and styles to suit not
ohly diherent tools but different mar
kets. The catalogue OF one big con-
Germ engaged exclusively In the MAN.
ufacture Of such handles, and OF hIck-
DRY only is a book of several hundred
pages, with hundreds Of Illustrations
ana printed In English, German and
Spanish
A great many American handles OF
u Is KIND are exported, and they 20
pretty much everywhere all over the
world