95 



The manufacture of fork and garden tool handles is another distinct class 

 of this industry. What hickory is for the axe, pick, and sledge, white ash 

 is to this class, namely, the pitch-fork and hay-fork, the long handle and D- 

 shovel, and the hoe, rake, etc. Stiffness, toughness, and strength without 

 excessive weight are the properties which commend ash for this use. It is 

 surprising that the handle manufacturers demanding this wood procure only 

 58 per cent, of their requirements from State-grown woods. This condition 

 offers another opportunity to timber owners to encourage the growing of ash 

 for handle stock, to meet the demand of the increasing home market. In 

 forest management ash is an important tree. It is a fairly rapid grower 

 and is not particular as to situation, as are many other trees. 



Other woods serve with ash for meeting the demand for this class of handles, 

 but they are used in considerably smaller quantities. In the order of their 

 importance, they are sugar maple, beech, birch, and cherry. In other states 

 elm, sycamore, and soft maple are included. 



More wood in Pennsylvania is required for broom and mop handles than 

 for any other class, and like hickory handles, the manufacturer makes no 

 other kinds. The maples, chiefly sugar maple, the birches and beech be- 

 cause they turn well and wear smooth in use, and to a less extent, bass- 

 wood, red gum, ash, and sycamore, are the broom and mop handle woods; 

 and all of them are reported being used in Pennsylvania. Sugar maple is 

 preferred and only a few years ago was most used. Its demand for other uses 

 at higher prices is probably the chief cause for bringing birch into first place. 

 High grade material is required for broom handles and squares are usually 

 cut direct from the log, the less desirable being put into mop handles. Mop 

 handle squares were found being bolted in Pennsylvania from slabs and 

 edgings of sawmills cutting beech, birch, and maple. 



For handles where weight is not an objection and strength is the foremost 

 consideration, hornbeam or ironwood has been found very satisfactory. Cant 

 hook and peavey handles, stomper and rammer handles are examples. 



Applewood is very well adapted for handsaw handles, being hard, suf- 

 ficiently strong, of uniform texture, and susceptible of high polish. The 

 attractive uniform color has caused it to become the principal wood for bet- 

 ter grades of handles. Red gum, cherry, and sweet birch have proved satis- 

 factory for saw handles, but more because they can be finished to resemble 

 applewood closely than because of any other special quality which they pos- 

 sess. Beech furnishes the material for cheaper grades. Its color is against 

 it and also the fact that it is not capable of high polish, but its toughness 

 and greater strength and ability to wear smooth probably make it nearly equal 

 to applewood. Other woods used for saw handles but not reported in Penn- 

 sylvania are mahogany and black walnut. Saw frames for buck saws are of 

 red oak, birch, and maple and handles of crosscut saws are of sugar maple, 

 hickory, and beech. 



The bricklayers' trowels have handles of dogwood and persimmon.. These 

 woods are dense in structure and among the hardest domestic woods and 

 therefore best stand the wear for use as a hammer for imbedding the brick 

 into mortar after placing it. The plaster trowels are made of basswood. Be- 

 ing porous this wood absorbs the moisture from the wet hand of the mechanic 

 and it is claimed does not slime. In the New England states popple or aspen 

 is used for the same reason. 



