A while back I bought a box of hammer heads. I made a few handles out if some white oak scrap at work. The pieces were too thin and I selected grain and laminated the handle out of 2 pieces. O know this isn't a great idea but it's wat I had and I wanted handle makin practice. Today I brought home several pieces of hickory about 17" long and anywhere from 5" to 8" across. The tree's been down for a couple months. I'm curious how to make these?  Shpuld I just make one handle out of each piece and center the heart wood? How long should they dry before I start cutting in to shape. I have a draw knife and table saw and any other wood working tools except a wood lathe.

Woodworking is not exactly my area of expertise Hillbilly, but I would let the wood season, you don't want it splitting after shaping and fitting.

Split it over size, seal the ends, stack so even airflow (but not enough space to bend), season.

Typically you want to split the pith off and use it for firewood.  You use the quarters (or sixths, eighths... depending on the log size and needed dimensions) for your handle stock.   Personally I let the stock season as it will but make handles whenever I want and just dry them in the microwave.  I do most shaping before drying and the final fitting after drying.  I prefer to work the wood green if possible... it's so MUCH easier that way!  

Look look up Brent Bailey's  video on handle making.  He also has some other really good videos.

Generally the heart wood is not ideal for handles.  My grandfather preferred wood  that was outside the heart wood. He cut down medium to small hickories in striped off the bark and split in quarters at convenient lengths,  I remember the sticks of various lengths drying in the rafters of the tool shed.  Some partially shaped and some just long splits. Mississippi and Tennessee.

Thanks for the info guys. I have seen Brents video on makin handles. I just wanted to know how to go from bark on log to rough shape. I think I'll split/quarter and let dry.what can I paint on the ends to stop checking? I can get more but this was already cut and in the way. I

I think latex house paint is what I've seen used.

Anything that slows moisture transfer. Speed is the enemy of proper seasoning; you want the entire billet to lose moisture at roughly the same rate. You can use latex house paint, dip the ends in melted wax, whatever seals off the pores.

Think of the wood as a bundle of rubber tubes, each of which is slightly expanded with the water inside. If the end grain isn't sealed, the ends lose their moisture faster and shrink faster than the middle; this can lead to cracking, both internal and external. If you seal the ends, the moisture works its way out through the sides of the billet, which takes longer, but dramatically reduces the risk of checking/cracking.

Cutting the wood to rough dimension is a good idea, as thicker pieces generally develop more internal tension as they dry. Hickory is also a LOT easier to work while still green, so you'll be saving yourself a lot of aggravation down the road.

I would also suggest that this is a good exuse to make a froe if one notices most tool handles fail where the grain exits the hande at a point other than the ends. Now in shaping this is unavoidible, but if the fibers run askin across the bilit, which all to often happens in sawn lumber you are likly to break the handle at that point. 

Of further interest for those of you buying "hickory" from a hardwood supplyer, unless specified as "shaggy bark hickory" it is more often as not pecan. Ash is of corse ash. 

I would also suggest that this is a good exuse to make a froe if one notices most tool handles fail where the grain exits the hande at a point other than the ends. Now in shaping this is unavoidible, but if the fibers run askin across the bilit, which all to often happens in sawn lumber you are likly to break the handle at that point. 

Yeah, but the froe needs a handle, but you need the froe to make a handle for the froe that doesn't have a handle so you should make a froe to make the handle for the froe so you can make the handle for the froe....

The chiken or the egg....

thats what the broken shovel handle was saved for! Just remember to make a replacement befor you break the froe/shovel handle!

tree branch; of course the local trees are all pecan....thousands of acres of them...

Lol, spoken like a former Okie!

You use PECAN? That's just nuts!

That was too good a strait line to let lay, I had to shell one out. I've be quiet if I had something related to fill my pie hole.

Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty, if you didn't crack us up, we would send you to the woodshed, but you staved that one off.