When choppers worked in the winter woods from sunup to sunset, they appreciated quality handles. They were made in many styles, lengths and grades. By the mid 1930’s, 90 plants in 19 states were producing handles. As axes and crosscut saws were replaced by chainsaws and the demand for handles dwindled, many regional handle styles became unavailable.

The idea for the T. D. Handle Company was hatched in 2018. Since then, we have been working on perfecting equipment, tooling, process, and patterns. Guided by a passion to make outstanding handles, we considered the recurrent complaints that frustrate buyers and addressed them one by one.

We sell handles with minimal runout and excellent grain orientation. A very tedious sawing process makes this possible. Given proper grain orientation and minimal grain runout, in our experience, few handles fail from other than abuse. Traditionally, axe handles were made with the most suitable species of the regionally available choices. In different areas of Europe, ash, beech, oak, birch and hornbeam best filled that box. In Australia, spotted gum, in Canada, ash, and in different parts of the US, hickory, ash, white oak, maple, yellow birch, elm, hornbeam, osage orange and surely many others were used. With the development of the rail system and reliable interstate commerce hickory quickly became king. Our principal handle woods are hickory and white ash. We offer a few patterns in yellow birch and white oak. For a deeper dive into wood properties check out Mechanical Properties of Wood. The most significant property for handles is the impact bending listed on page 4, described on page 3.