New hammer handle material?

[Nick alvorez]

So  we all swing a hammer,  and im sure we all have tried many different types of wood to make a handle.  I was clearing brush in my back yard last year and if over grown with mountain lorrel bushes.  generally they dont get to big but they are tough.  very springy and dence.  As i was cutting some down i came across a really big one.  the main stalk was 6 inches wide.  as i was cutting it down i had a thought if i could find a straight peice ill let it dry and test a handle.   its very hard to find one big enough and straight,  they dont like to grow straight,  but i managed to get a 20 inch section that was straight enought.

So a year has past and it was nice n dry to start cutting into a hammer blank.   the ends didnt crack bad at all almost no cracking what so ever.  it came as a suprise that it was extremely light as well.  not much lighter than hickory, but still lighter.   I was starting to get a little concerned that it would break on the first swing,  iwasnt putting it on a light hammer either,  a 4lb brazel style rounding hammer.

it has been almost 2 months and its still going strong. i guess i could have made this a bit shorter and my spelling is terrible but i figured maybe someone else can give this a shot.  i dont like buying handle i prefer to make em but hickory is scarce were i live, like there everyware but ive only managed to find 3 near my house and boy walking a half mile thru the woods carrying hickory is not fun.  great workout tho.

[ThomasPowers]

One trick to find local wood suitable for handles is to find out what the local indigenous peoples used to make bows.  Also in Europe where hickory trees don't exist they used to use a lot of fruit woods.  For instance: Crab Apple is very springy and was used for threshing tools.

[Frosty]

I just did a quick search and a LITTLE reading. Sounds like mountain laurel would be pretty easy to grow and cultivate. Grows a lot faster than hickory too. Transplant some seedlings where you can cultivate them to your liking. Prune all but a nice vertical stem / baby trunk, maybe use supports to keep it reasonably straight for a few feet. A little water, maybe some compost and careful pruning isn't magic or hard to do.  

Orrr, if it likes to send up several shoots select a couple few straightest ones and grow a hammer handle shrub. 

Maybe 15 years ago Deb and I bought a couple Canadian Cherries, the ones with leaves that turn red after they bloom. She wanted a shrub I wanted a tree. Hers is about waste high shrub, mine is about 15' tall tree. Deb doesn't like pruning so her's isn't as lush as it should be but it still has 3 main stalks. I pruned all but the one nicest one from mine and diligently prune suckers. If Canadian Cherry  made good hammer handles I'd have probably 30-40 worth, synthesizing photons right now. (sappy I know)

 Frosty The Lucky.