Axe handles -- wood or fibreglass?

Looking through my collection of axes, it seems that I have a lot more fibreglass handles than I did five years ago.

Fibreglass handles seem to be just about indestructible, and nearly impervious to weather and abuse by overstrike. The axes I use and abuse all the time (pulaski, splitting maul, 2.5lb car axe w/24" handle) all have fibreglass handles.

Weight-wise, wood wins every time. For the self-propelled traveller, that matters a lot. And it seems that for a true cutting axe, the "swing" is better and more effective with a wooden handle (highly subjective). High-end axes (no root choppin' with these) all seem to come with wooden handles.

In preparing for an unknown situation, is the extra durability of fibreglass worth it? (I think it is, since axes get used as hammers too. YMMV.) I wonder what firefighters use these days; that's a good indicator for hard use.

So: which do you prefer, for what tasks, and why?

American hickory wood seems to be declining like so much of the natural world :O(
Aside from simple aesthetics and wieght,I prefer wood.
My Estwing geologist pick with one piece head and handle was durable and horribly uncomfortable. I've never warmed to fiberglass, but in a serious situation I wouldn't complain to loudly if one was handed to me.

If you want good, honest advice, just look at what the pros are using.

Logging is pretty big where I live. Whenever I look around, all I see are traditional axes with wooden handles. Good ash or hickory. The axes don't get used as much anymore because most of the heavy work is done with chain saws. But the folks working in the logging industry still need an axe now and then and they sure know how to keep it sharp and properly helved. I suppose there must be a good reason they don't use fiberglass.

Anyway, I think the average outdoor enthusiast really shouldn't dwell too long on the whole issue. Unless you do HEAVY chopping on a daily basis the extra durability of fiberglass just doesn't matter. A wooden handle on the other hand is easier to replace when necessary.

If your skills are so bad you keep smashing your axe handle into wood then you need to practice some more. If you can't hit what you're aiming at your axe becomes a liability and it's just a matter of time before you injure yourself.

So far I've only had to replace the handle on my axe once in well over 20 years. Dad and I have used that axe a fair bit, I dare say a good deal more than the average outdoor freak. The handle was damaged somewhat but I'm sure it could still go for a few years. Eventually I decided to replace the handle just to be on the safe side. Goes to show even plain old wood is totally up to the task.

I certainly agree that for pure cutting, a high quality axe head on a tight-grained wooden handle is a joy to use. No doubt about it. (BTW, thanks for reminding me of the word "helved.")

But in everyday life, at least for me, axes frequently do a lot more than cut wood. Demolition, pounding posts, chopping roots, levering, tamping clay and loosening rust-welded parts.

And I think that sort of abuse would be realistic in a lot of SHTF scenarios. You use the tools you have at hand. And an axe is the original multitool, filling a lot of roles. With a fibreglass handle it is nigh unbreakable; but wooden handles don't care for that sort of work. At least that's been my experience.

(This is of course horror and heresy to people with fine axes such as Gränsfors. I wouldn't dream of heaping disrespect on such a fine tool. Sorry if I made you cringe. :-)

Yes Doug, for that kind of work an overbuilt axe with a fiberglass handle might be a better option. When it comes to demolition, I'd rather have a Pulaski, maybe a big crowbar and/or a heavy maul.

BTW, another very important factor to consider as far as axes go - ergonomy. One of the reasons I truly love my Gransfors Bruks small forest axe is that aside from an excellent head, the handle is absolutely perfectly shaped. Wherever and however you grip it, it allows full control whether you do heavy chopping or finer work like carving. Most other axes on the market, either wood or fiberglass handle, fall way short in that department.

A quality axe truly is a joy to handle. People tend to forget there is a lot more to a good axe than just decent steel and hickory. Everything has to be tuned just right - balance, handle length and shape. You really have to try a high end axe like Gransfors to appreciate the difference.

The best handles? I've worn out so many wood handled axes, mauls and hatchets that I consider wood something cheap and easy to replace, but not as reliable as fiberglass. However, the best handles I've ever used were the steel pipes grandpa welded onto his axeheads, and loaded with a powder that absolutely deadened the handle and made it such a pleasure to swing I prefered it anytime we were at his house splitting old growth fir and hemlock, which anyone with any woodsplitting experience will tell you is atrocious wood to split by hand. I dunno what the powder was he put in the pipe, but he worked as a machinist at the Bremerton shipyards since WWII, and he had tons of stuff in his myriad sheds that he played with like that. We never had a head come off, nor a pipe bend, chip, splinter, or crack, in twenty years of heavy chopping. My brother and I used to swing a pair of 8 lb mauls into the big rounds, and occasionally we'd embed one and use the back of the other to sledge our way through a particularly nasty piece (sometimes adding up to three wedges along with). I'd hold the embedded maul handle while my brother would pound blows on the back of it with his, and my hands never got jarred near as bad as when we tried that with wooden handles. We had a number of double bit heads with pipe handles, and the extra weight sure made quick work of limbing on felled logs. Of course, we never tried chopping through logs with an axe, that was what the saws were for.

As a firefighter with a rural mid-west fire district, I see more fiberglass handles in the fire service. My best guess is that it is a maintenance issue. Fire axes get a lot of abuse. They get used to chop things that would normaly make people cringe, like door hinges to name one. The handles get hit a lot, because when you're tired your aim gets off. Yes it is dangerous to work tired, but you have to accomplish the mission. They are laid in who knows what in fire debris. Fiberglass does not absorb the water and other junk like wood. They are exposed to all types of weather on the outside of apparatus. Wood used in fire axes doesn't seem to stand up to exposure as well. I have seen dry rotted handles on fire apparatus. Not a good thing I know, but it is reality. Maintenance is not always the priority it should be. They get used to pry things a lot of times because you don't have a prying tool, wood breakes easier when prying from the side. I'm not sure what the large career departments use but small rural seems to head towards fiberglass from my observations. All this is very different from the use I was taught in Scouting. Hope this helps. I will defer to others with more knowledge as far as ax use for its intended purpose.

I prefer a wooden handled axe or maul for my own use but we use fiberglass handled axes with our youth group as they are much tougher.

I have wrapped the area behind the head of a maul with wire before to prevent it from damage when splitting blocks of hardwood.

At work I keep a steel shafted/rubber handled Estwing axe on my snowmobile because it is used for a specific task. I often use it to test the thickness of lake/river ice and it is very easy to break a wooden handle doing this. You need to chop the ice in a trough shape to keep the handle from hitting the ice surface. I also spray paint the entire axe black to blend-in with the colour of the snowmobile, people notice it less and therefore I think there is less chance of it being ripped-off.

Mike

I have a full set of Fiskars axes and I prefer them for weigh (they do weigh less than wood) and for durability.

For practicality, industrictability and just all round effectivness I would suges the Fiskars axe collection. I have the splitting axe, chopping axe and two hatchet style axes. Never have failed me and my very first axe from Fiskars was the camping axe by Gerber (they just put there name on a Fiskars axe) and the sucker would swing like a 5 pound sledge but only weighed in at 2 pounds. The weighting and the balance gave you more force than you would think posable. During my service witht he Maine Conservation Socity the hand axe did everything from felling 8 inch treas, to limbing, to pounding in 3 inch stakes into the ground to make x-country skiing trails.

I've never used the Fiskars axes. I guess I always choke at the price when I see them in the stores.

I'm not sure I'd trust those hollow handles for $***-and-abuse work. Solid fibreglass seems best for that.

But maybe I should get one for pure cutting duties. (Yes, I 'need' more axes.) Are they worth the money?

Doug:

I honestly feel that they are definatly worth the money.. I can tell you that I have beat the snot out of several and they never flinched..

Also in the unlikly event you ever do manage to mangle it,, Fiskars has a great customer support. I know becouse I called and said I lost my sheath for it and asked how much to replace. They just sent me a new sheath no cost.

Every fire truck I ever rode on carried fiberglass handled axes.
I own both, I prefer Fiberglass GREATLY to wood.

In my fire training, they refer to axes as "precision, high force striking tools" and that's exactly why we used them with fiberglass handles. I never had a sharp fire ax - they were all ground to an edge similar to the diameter of a pencil lead.

IME Fiskars is just fine as far as cheap axes go but that's about it. You could do a lot worse and the price is fairly competitive but there is really no comparison at all to a quality traditional axe. (And no, it doesn't have to be a Gransfors Bruks - not that long ago, there were many, many quality brands out there though sadly most of them have been put out of business by the cheap mass-produced crap.)

My experience with Fiskars is mostly limited to the 14" hatchet but since all their axes are basically identical in design, I suspect it applies to more or less the entire line. First off, the geometry is weird. The head is simply a thick steel wedge. The edge is obtuse, much too thick for efficient cutting but still not quite thick enough to excel at splitting. The design is clearly a compromise - an attempt to make an axe that would work both for cutting and splitting wood but it isn't much good at either. Once you sharpen the edge you'll constantly need to reprofile the entire head as well or the edge will get even more obtuse over time.

Second, the edge is a bit on the soft side. Edge rolling is a problem if you happen to hit a knot. Gets worse cutting pretty much any kind of hardwood. It is possible to restore the edge fairly quickly but I don't like having to sharpen my axe that often.

Third, the handle is hollow and wrapped (molded) around the head. It looks and feels more secure than it is. The handle can still crack or get loose. It happened to a friend of mine and he didn't even do much heavy chopping. Once the handle is loose it's impossible fix it. You can't replace it with a wooden handle either because there's no way to fit it. So once you damage the handle you might as well ditch the axe because you sure won't be able to repair it in the field.

You could improve an off-the-shelf Fiskars axe a bit by regrinding the whole profile but it's tedious work and I'm not sure it's worth the trouble. For a "beater" axe intended for rough work it might be acceptable. But for any kind of serious chopping/woodworking you'd better look elsewhere.

I recently purchased one of each of the following:

Japanese Hatchet

Bamboo Knife


I have not had the chance to try out either one yet, but based upon my experience with other Japanese tools,I think both will be winners.


Pete

Sure fibreglass handles are tough, but they'll never look as nice as this:


Plus, you can shape -within limits- a wood handle to suit your hands, this is a great deal harder with fibreglass.

I switched to man made materials for both my rifle stocks and my axe handles. I like the old fashion look and feel of wood to be honest, and nothing looks sharper than a rifle with a nice polished hardwood stock but...

I learned the hard way that in harsh outdoor conditions wood can and will warp. You can prevent it to some degree by constantly wiping off moisture and applying oil to the wood but when you go from rain to snow to sun and then back to rain all in the same day(typical Eastern Canadian weather) then it becomes a big pain in the @#$.

A new wooden axe handle will hold up for a while under adverse conditions but eventually it will warp or crack or come loose. Yes you can replace the wooden handle under field conditions, but it won't be nearly as confortable or safe.

Fibreglass on the other hand, does not warp, or twist under even the most hash enviromental conditions and you would have to go out of your way to abuse it to the point of breaking it during the normal use of what an axe is intended. In a long term survival situation you will die of old age before a fibreglass or composite handle wears out.

I don't know what the loggers use out here to be honest, but I am sure wood has advantages over fibreglass depending on who you ask. I am only speaking for myself. I take care of my gear but I also put it through hell constantly. I think a wood handle is fine for short camping trips and the like but if you want years of worry free rugged use then fiberglass is they way to go.