On Mar 28, 11:36 am, THumphr wrote:
I've only been turning a couple of weeks, but I've already decided
that longer handles on my tools are a must!
My question is if I go out and harvest some of my timber for handles
which is better Osage Orange or White Oak. And how dry should it be
before I make/use it for handles?

-Terry

To respond directly to the question of what wood to use, I would
personally use the oak. I have found the green Osage orange to be
very, very unstable, and then when dried an ugly color of pee. I have
had too many OO pieces self destruct while drying.

Let the oak dry as much as you can, but if you turn a pretty uniform
handle it should dry out pretty straigtht even if it is a little
green. I wouldn't turn it off the tree, but if it was a little green
you should be fine.

I had read somewhere that the old smithys used to use green oak wood
for tool handles because they could force the tool into the handle and
let the shrinkage of the wood help hold the tool in place. I tried it
on a small hollowing tool, forcing the tool into a piece of some kind
of finely grained green oak. (found wood)

It worked great.

Robert