High-Performance Ax Handles

[Stormcrow]

Hello, guys. I'm looking for something to make high-perfomance ax handles out of, both for personal use and for some tactical tomahawks that I would like to build. I've broken too many hickory hanldles over the years to trust putting a wooden handle on a tactical tomahawk.

I have not messed with any synthetics for handles before. I have a piece of canvas Micarta big enough to make two ax handles out of, but have never worked with the stuff. In y'all's opinion, is canvas Micarta strong and tough enough to handle hard use as an ax and tomahawk (non-throwing) handle?

And if so, can it be worked with a router? I don't own a bandsaw and am a broke college kid, but it seems to me like a router would be the easiest means of making a handle with an oval cross-section.

Also, what would y'all think of acetyl plastic for the same purpose?

Thanks, guys.

[Don Halter]

Fiberglass and epoxy/polyester resin composites can be tough. You'll find lots of hammers made from these. You could look for solid pultruded fiberglass rods and sand them down. In fact, I have about 100-200' of 1.75" solid rod laying around here if you want some. It was some sort of drill/pump shafting and is in 16' sections.

Plastics....plastics can be UV degraded and temp sensitive pending what they're made from. I know nothing about acetyl plastic.

I always liked straight grained maple for throwing axe handles. It'll still break if you land it butt end first too many times, but it's fairly shock sensitive and looks nice.

[Stormcrow]

Thanks, Don. I've heard that even more breathing protection is needed with fiberglass than Micarta, so I've kind of decided I don't want to mess with it, especially given the amount of stock reduction I'll need to do to build handles (i.e. lots of dust). I appreciate the offer, though.

Like I said, just never have worked with synthetics before and I have a chunk of Micarta big enough to do the job. I'm just not sure how to work it or if it will be strong enough to do what I want it to when I'm done. A router seems like the best way of rounding it, but I don't know if it would work to cut into the phenolic.

Thanks.