Straight vs Curved Axe Handles: Which is Best?
Curved axe handles improve ergonomics and balance for chopping, bucking, and felling. While straight axe handles are stronger and rotate less for splitting, striking wedges, and carpenter’s axes. They are also evenly balanced for double-sided axes. However, it’s also a matter of preference.
The straight vs curved axe handle debate is easy to find online – but it’s mostly overblown. Nothing is more important than the axe user’s preference, and both can be found fairly easily from decent handle makers.
However, to me it’s pretty clear that each type of handle is better suited for different tasks. And there are reasons the curved handle became so dominant.
Why Most Axe Handles are Curved
There can be two different curves in an axe handle, each with a distinct purpose. They can be used together or separately on an otherwise straight handle.
Most axe handles have a curve in the grip to account for the natural angle of the user’s wrist and to allow a greater range of motion when chopping or bucking. An axe may also have a forward curve higher on the handle to help balance a blade-heavy axe during horizontal swings.
The curved grip of an axe is typically angled about 10°, which compensates for the natural angle of a person’s wrist. This makes it easier and more comfortable to align the axe with your forearm during a swing.
This more natural wrist position puts less strain on your wrist and forearm for extended work and reduces the chance of injury from overextension.
This grip also allows the user to choose to extend further to make broader swings and use that additional 10° rotation for chopping on the far side. This is especially useful for bucking logs.
A Curved Handle Can Balance a Heavy Axe Head
A forward curve in the top half of an axe handle moves the user’s top hand forward under the blade and closer to the axe’s balance point during a horizontal swing. This makes it easier to keep the axe level and accurate when felling, especially with a heavier axe head.
Most “standard axe handles only have a slight curve higher up, and many are nearly straight. They can sometimes look more curved than they are because the backside has to flare out to account for the length of the eye.
But the handle can have an exaggerated forward curve, which can help balance heads with large bits (like the Connecticut pattern) while swinging.
Large axe heads are often heavier on the blade side. The pole (back of the axe) acts as a counterweight, but it’s often not enough to fully balance the axe, so the blade will naturally want to drop down when being swung horizontally.
Some historical patterns of axe handles only have an upper curve. This moves the head back a little bit from an otherwise straight handle. Giving some extra horizontal balance for those who like straight handles. These aren’t common anymore, but you can still find some makers that offer them for restorations (check out Whiskey River’s NEC handle).
When a Straight Axe Handle is Better
Straight handles are better for splitting and striking tools because the wood is uninterrupted, making it stronger, and they rotate less, landing flatter on logs. Straight handles are also better for double-sided heads, where the axe or tool can be used in either direction.
While you can absolutely put a straight handle on a felling axe (and historically many people preferred it), there are some other uses where straight handles are clearly the better choice.
Splitting Axes Have Straight Handles
When splitting wood, you want less rotation in your axe so it doesn’t swing back towards your feet if it passes through the log. A straight handle makes it easier to consistently land the blade squarely on the log. Making it more efficient and safe.
An axe with a curved handle can safely split wood just fine; you just need to be a little more aware of your form and bring the axe down onto the wood, not in an arch (a common mistake).
Splitting can also be a tough job for an axe handle; it often needs to be used as a lever to pry sideways and help pop stubborn wood apart – this is where a straight handle is strongest compared to a curved one.
Splitting handles also suffer from “overstrikes” – where the handle hits the wood you are splitting (try and avoid this, but it happens).
Straight Handles for Double-Sided Axes
When working with two-sided tools like a double-bit axe, a pulaski, or a maul, a straight handle lets you quickly flip back and forth and use both sides equally. Since these heads are also more equally weighted, a straight handle will balance them better as well.
Balance is the key benefit of a straight handle for double-bit axes, where you are chopping with both sides.
But, tools like the pulaski, mauls, and faller’s axes also need strength and less swing rotation for digging the earth or hammering wedges (splitting or felling).
Curved Handles on Double-bit Axes
There are double-bit axe handles that are curved, known as Adirondack handles. If each blade has a different edge profile, these handles allow the user to know which side is which without looking – and give preference to the primary edge.
They were used in logging in the Adirondack region in the early 1900s (hence the name) and have become quite popular for restorations.
Hatchets & Carpentry Tools
A flat landing is also important for carpenter’s tools, where the work is close up and when fine detailing is important. The straight handle makes flat, straight, and square shaping easier to achieve. And it especially helps if the back side of the hatchet is to be used as a hammer, you need flat, consistent swings.
Many modern standard hatchets have a curve in the grip but are actually still straight(ish) the rest of the way – which can be a very versatile combination.
The Curved Handle Debate – Why Dudley Cook was Wrong
Some people online point to the famous “The Ax Book” by Dudley Cook as proof that the straight axe handle is superior for all tasks. He describes the curved handle as a marketing gimmick that makes an axe less accurate, and something axe users must overcome.
And while Cook was clearly a better and more experienced axeman than me – he’s wrong.
Is a Curved Axe Handle Less Accurate?
A curved axe handle is no less accurate – it’s just different than a straight handle.
Cook argues that the curved grip of an axe changes the pivot point and results in a greater deviation between swings, making a curved axe handle less accurate, and he uses math in his book to “prove” this.
But the pivot point isn’t on the axe at all. The user’s wrist and arm pivot, not the axe. And as written earlier, the curve aligns the axe with the arm by compensating for the natural angle of the wrist.
Cook only looked at the axe itself and failed to account for the form and function of the human body, which is a pretty important piece of how an axe works.
Curved Handles Were More Than Just Marketing
The other big issue I have with “The Ax Book”, is the premise that the curved handle was nothing more than a marketing gimmick that stuck.
The idea that the entire axe industry focused on an inferior handle, that was harder to make, for over 100 YEARS, including the peak of axe use and production (with tens of millions made per year), because of a single gimmick, is (respectfully) insane.
Cook mentions that many lumbermen preferred the straight handle, and for some, that was true. There were regions where straighter handles remained popular. But, giant swaths of North America to the east were logged with single-bit axes; Michigans, Kentuckys, and Daytons all typically on curved handles.
Plus, let’s not forget the Adirondacks.
The Introduction of the Curved Axe Handle
Early axes (including early American axes) had straight handles. However, curved handles are far from a modern invention.
Curved handles started to be used in the early 1800s (around 1840) as the lumber industry evolved to tackle the large trees and forests of North America. Heavier axes and heavier work changed the nature of what was needed from an axe.
The booming lumber industry and expanding population were always moving into areas with untouched forests, requiring millions of axes a year.
It’s still unclear exactly when or where the curved handle was developed, but the fact that curved axe handles were accurately depicted in art from the mid-1800s (as above) suggests they had likely been around for some time.
An early advert from 1864 is the first known example (at least to me) to show a modern curved handle. The fact that there is no mention of the handle also suggests they were not a new development or worth noting.
Straight handles have always been offered as well, but have always been secondary to the curved handle in any trade magazine or catalog.
Please comment below if I missed something or if you have any questions. I do my best to respond to everyone.
About the author:
About the author:
Jim Bell | Site Creator
I’m just a guy who likes axes. I got tired of only finding crap websites, so I set out to build a better one myself.
I’m also on Instagram: @axeandtool
Sources
- US Forest Service
- Turner Day Catalog 1926
- The Axe Book – Dudley Cook
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
Hi Jim, I’ve come across a few early curved handle references that might be of interest and I think the comments on this article is as good a place as any to leave them for future reference.
1) An 1837 sketch by Anne Langton of her and husband John Langton’s house in Lakefield Ontario shows a curved handled axe hanging on the wall.
Reference Code: F 1077-8-1-4-20 Archives of Ontario, I0008043 https://api.flickr.com/photos/archivesofontario/15032003082/
2) The British Emigrant’s Advocate by Thomas Duncomb published in 1937 discusses Canadian settlers’ use of axes in some detail “The axes which they use are certainly well adapted for the purpose, having a fine wedge shape, and nearly all steel of the finest quality; having the keenest imaginable edge and a hickory handle so appropriately curved as to give the greatest possible weight to the stroke.” (pg 174) https://digitalarchiveontario.ca/objects/344499/the-british-emigrants-advocate-being-a-manual-for-the-use#
3) A cartoon by John Henry Walker dated 1849 shows a curved axe handle https://collections.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/objects/22589/m-punch-devenu-bucheron-et-plantant-sa-hache-a-la-racine-d This is in the online collection of the McCord Stewart Museum in Montreal and is an illustration from Punch in Canada, Vol. 1, No. 1, January 1st, 1849, p. 5
4) The Maple-Leaf or Canadian Annual: A literary souvenir for 1849 by Henry Rowsell Around page 79 in the PDF copy I looked at, is the following description of a curve-handled axe:
“Your genuine axeman is not a little jealous of his reputation as “ a clean cutter ”—his axe is always bright as burnished silver, guiltless of rust or flaw, and fitted with handle which, with its graceful curve and slender proportions, is a tolerable approach to Hogarth’s “line of beauty ;” he would as soon think of deserting his beloved bush ” and settling in a town as trust his keen weapon in the hands of inexperience or even mediocrity. With him every blow tells—he never leaves the slightest chip in the “ cut, nor makes a false stroke, so that in passing your hand over the surface thus left, you are almost unable to detect roughness or inequality.”
5) Two illustrations in Catherine Parr Traill’s The Female Immigrants Guide published in 1854 show curved handles. This was republished in 1855 as “The Canadian Settlers Guide” right after and there are many versions published online. Like the Langtons, CPT was in Lakefield in the 1830s (she moved to Bellville later). The clearest example in the book is an axe in the foreground in an illustration of sugaring on page 140 of the version I looked at. CBC has a good version of the illustration The other image shows chopping but it’s not as obvious what the shape of the handle is. CPT was an early botanist and published a number of books and guides and Trent University’s Catharine Parr Traill College is named after her. She was a good illustrator but the illustrations in The Settler’s Guide are signed W. Eyre.
5) The March 1865 issue of The Canada Farmer has an in depth article on axemanship (The Art of Chopping) including instructions for making a very curvy axe handle. https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_04206_28/3
6) The August 1891 issue of The Canada Lumberman (vol 12, no. 8) has an article by James F. Hobart about lumbering in Florida and makes the remark that “It is seldom that a crooked axe helve is seen here, and the crooked Canadian axe handle is unknown. It is a singular fact that the latitude in which an axe belongs can be almost invariably determined by the amount of curvature in the handle or helve.”
Anyway, hope these references are of some interest.
Thanks so much Matt, these are great reference pieces, and an interesting range. I’m going to dive into these for sure.
I’m also glad to see the Mccord Museum archive is back online, it was down for like a year. They also have a few old axe labels and letterheads from the late 1800s as well.
Great post. I like to carve handles and for inspiration I was looking up some old photos of chopping axes from heyday of logging in the Ottawa Valley. Every single one has a long, thin, curved handle. Recently got an eyerolling lecture from a credulous Dudley Cooke apostle so I’ve been freshly annoyed at that and this was good antidote.
Ha, thanks so much for the comment. You can probably tell, but that topic always annoyed me too. Cooke’s arguments make sense at first glance, and I bought it initially too. But the more experience I got, the less it made sense. It took me a while to figure out and articulate why. So I’m really glad it made sense to you, lol.
Although, I don’t think we will be able to convince everyone (and in the end it doesn’t really matter).
Really great, informative article that’s got me interested in digging deeper into the history. Many thanks! 🙏
Appreciate it!
I like the curved handle hatchet because, as you point out, the handle end can be grabbed like a handshake and keep the forearm aligned.
The problem with curved handle axes, however, is the top hand never aligns properly resulting in a massive loss of power.
“like a handshake” is a great way put it.
However, as for a loss of power – that is just an internet myth in my experience. Your wrists aren’t where the power comes from. In fact because of the limited rotation of your bottom wrist, a straight handled swing would technically be shorter and potentially less powerful. The curve lets your top hand travel further comfortably. So it’s more about how you align your body with the target.
Thats also why competitive racing axes come with curved handles. That’s a sport where power is critical.
But at the end of the day, unless you are in a competition you shouldn’t be max-strength swinging anyway. So it really doesn’t matter beyond personal preference. Thanks for the comment.