Wonderful Rippled Ash Hammer Handles.

A few years ago I bought half a log of lovely rippled ash, how I wish I'd bought the other half. I've made a couple of pieces of furniture but it's not easy to use wood that's this figured with some subtlety. It's unusual to   find ash rippled all the way to the heart.

The lines look like band saw marks but this is fresh from the planer.

Here are the two boards, 2" thick and enough for well over 100 hammer handles.

After a trip to my good turner friend Jim, here are some of the handles unfinished.

These are the handles after a few coats of lacquer rubbed out to a nice sheen. The colour changes from pure white to the dark olive of the heartwood, my favourite.

The handles are matched up to their heads ready for wedging with contrasting bog oak. They are then pinned  with 3/16" brass rod to make sure they stay put.