"graceful " Hammers I Made

I actually saw this post somewhere else a year or so ago, and made a very similar handle for a 2-3oz ball peen hammer head I got with a bunch of tooling. The handle was made from maple and looks nearly identical to yours. (The bulb Chasing hammer style, pic is not shown here though)

Best hammer handle I've ever made, still use that hammer every day. I finished it with several coats of Tru-Oil. Thanks for sharing!
 
Andre: hammer handles commercially made are usually all hickory or ash. I have made them both ways. I have seen more handles made of hickory than any other wood. That includes axe and hatchet and shovel handles too.

One English maker of exceedingly fine car models mentioned that he made his chasing hammer handle from lance wood. As near as I can tell,that is a type of Swedish(?) pine. But,I don't really think that is the correct answer. I need someone in England,who is VERY familiar with English wood lingo to tell me what lance wood really is.

There was a great TV show,made in England,called "The World's Worst Jobs".which dealt with historic jobs,many in the middle ages or later. He had "Lance maker" as one of those bad jobs.(I don't know why,some jobs were MUCH worse!) However,he did not elaborate on what lance wood really is.
 
Maybe this is what he meant, George. Word origin c. 1690-1700

lancewood:

noun
1.
the tough, elastic wood of any of various trees, especially Oxandra lanceolata, of tropical America, used for carriage shafts, cabinetwork, etc.
2.
a tree that yields this wood.
 
Is there any other common name for this wood,Tony(other than lance wood?) This must not have been the wood that was used for Medieval lances,then.

Of course,lances were used in the British army right up to WWI anyway. The lancers in the old movie about the Bengal lancers were using bamboo for their lances. Can't think of the name of the movie right now,though I have watched it a few times. Cary Grant and a young Joan Fontaine were in it. I'll Google it.
 
Probably have to beg a specialty importer to get some, unless you just happened to run across some that someone thought was boxwood or something.
 
George, interestingly, in New Zealand it's called horoeka and there is some in Australia as well. You've got my curiosity going. Seems that it would serve well as a lance.
 
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