The (supposedly) unbreakable handle is a positive selling point for synthetic handles and such… but the negatives never get mentioned.
Simple physics… in order to apply equal force to the object being struck, steel and synthetic handles require you to grip tighter and swing harder than a hickory handle. Steel and synthetic handles absorb more recoil causing the tool head to “bounce-back” more… and that bounce-back equals a reduction of striking force.
Try this simple test…
Take three 16 oz hammers, one with a steel handle, one with a synthetic handle, one with a hickory handle and strike an anvil with them. Try to keep grip tension and swinging force as close to the same as possible for all three, and see which bounces higher off the anvil. The hammer with the hickory handle will bounce dramatically less. The more bounce, the more energy transferred into recoil and handle vibration… the more energy transferred into recoil and vibration, the less energy applied to the object being struck. To overcome this disadvantage with steel and synthetic you must grip tighter and swing harder. Steel and synthetics “absorb” more recoil (in a way, they “flex” more… sort of) which allows the tool head to get moving in the direction of recoil; hickory “dampens” recoil and vibration… makes the tool act more like a dead-blow. Using a hickory handle, if all else remains equal, you will expend less energy to accomplish the same amount of work.
I don't think so man......you get a lot right, but not in this case as per your physics...observation correct, the conclusion isn't, it's backwards..you'll see it....
Same amount of energy if the weight is the same and the swing is the same, we'll start with that.. The slop, the wasted energy, is going into your hands/wrists/arms with the wooden handle and somewhat into a flex and compression of the wood, rather than a more pronounced bounce. The energy is neither created nor destroyed, just transferred *differently* One is not any more powerful than the other, just the energy is moved in a differing fashion.. And because in your example, when the steel is never going to be broken or split, no matter which handle is being used, it sort of doesn't translate to a discussion of an edged striking tool. The two that are bouncing in your example are actually working better, that's what the bounce is proving. It's going into the head and reflecting, not travelling into the handle as bad. Let's get back to edges and splitting in a bit...
The steel and synthetic will bounce, yes, but *you* are absorbing the slopped impact with the wooden handle,along with the wood compressing a little and bending a little, and breaking a little with every swing... which to me is a negative.
I want as much of the energy transferred as possible to the wood being split. Without having any wasted energy going into my hands, or having the handle take it and suffering catastrophic damage. I'm not getting any work out of the wooden handle it is a parasitic factor to the real world job at hand.
Here is a very close example, closer than your example I believe, and is researchable to prove this (continued)
Ever notice they don't allow metallic (or synthetic I guess) bats in pro baseball? They do this both from a nostaligia point of view, because of old records (they want to compare apples to apples as much as possible) and just..wooden bats,traditional, but *also*, from real world testing and analysis, because when a ball is struck with a metallic bat the return travel o the ball is much faster and harder than with a wooden bat. So muEch so it is instantly noticeable and at those pro levels, downright dangerous. There's MORE kinetic energy transferred to the ball and less "wasted" energy. It is SO much faster they consider it to be hazardous to the players.
Even with pro level player quality reflexes, the pitcher and infielders could be hit and suffer injury. Even at the top levels they quite literally could be faced with not being able to either catch or just dodge the ball. It happened a lot, they noticed this. It is allowed at lesser levels merely because neither the pitchers are as fast throwing, nor are the batters fast or hard enough swingers to have this dramatic result. It's there, but the results are still inside "normal human" reflex capability to deal with it. Go to pro level..different story...banned.
Same as in most other sports, either for competition or just for fun, where the *option* of having and using a synthetic handle is allowed or offered...the synthetics pretty much dominate based on real world "productivity gains".
example..how many world class pro tennis players use wooden racquets any more? Same deal, wooden handled tool in the hands striking something...they are alowed synthetics, they could use wood if they wanted to, some company could make one sell it for thousands a copy if it produced...uhh..doesn't happen. Real world engineering/physics and productivity gains. Lighter/faster/stronger, kinetic energy transferred to target better. Can use longer with less fatigue. And so on. Guys want to win the millions, that means the better tool handle. Wood ain't it.
Wood absorbs the shockwaves pretty well (when it doesn't break...), but it doesn't hit harder in other words, it transers less and wastes more of the energy, either the steel(or aluminum) or synthetic will get the job done better as regards splitting wood, transferring the energy from striking head to block to be split, given the factors of weight and speed of swing, etc being equal. Steel transfers any wasted energy shock bad, hence the addition of rubber or leather coverings, but the synthetics are both easier on the hands and also just work better in getting the work done, the energy gets transferred better. The wood is a scosh "softer" but, you have to swing aster and harder to get the same results, so that cancels that little advantage. The synthetics are the top choice out of the three options for the handles for both maintaining control and not suffering repetetive stress type injuries, and also for just getting it done. For repair or replace, well, yes, you can make your own handles, but why do that when you don't have to? Grins? it's not an advantage this side of societal collapse or living in the wilderness, due to "supply issues". Anything besides that, it's a negative. Nostalgia is cool, I respect that, but it isn't something that can be measured, it has no basis with productivity, so you can't call nostalgia as "better" once you get into the engineering basis.
So I will disagree with you on this point 100%. It may and does "feel" better to a lot of guys to have the wooden handles, this is because of the "anti vibration" effect they perceive (to a degree, some other factors but that is mostly it, along with just the "traditional' aspect) but they simply cannot perform the same as a more modern engineered metal or, the much better choice, the composite handle, which has less shock than the wood because of better energy transerrence to the target.. You get the best of both worlds with the composite, more transferred energy to the target, less shock waves into your hands/wrists/arms. Wood gives an appearance of less shock, but not really, it is more placebo nostalgia than not, and it suffers damage more readily.
Nor are the wooden handles as durable for the most part, again easily proven with the warranties and with all of us here in real world heavy (not casual/occassional) use. Wooden handles just break a lot more often, and that's just it..it's just reality, I've broken a lot before. I would be HARD pressed to break a fiskars handle. And fiskars is certainly aware of the "wood" option, they would use it if it was better/performed better/cheaper. They do not. They aren't amatuers. they are totally comfortable from a real world bean counter perspective to offer lifetime full replacement warrenty. Because their stuff works so much better, that's why, they simply know they aren't going to be getting back near as many with their design as if they used a wooden handled whatever.
If wooden handles would last, or perform as well or better, they all would be warrantied for life, ususally..nope, you just have to go buy a replacement handle from company x.yz even these high priced examples talked about around here. (some exceptions, but for the most part..handles are sold as-is, take yer chances and they are expected to break and need replacing a lot if used heavily)
Although having the ability to relatively easily make your own handles is spiffy cool neato with wood. I have both, wood is now tier two based on a lot of use. It is emergency backup.
I have much less "beef" with my body because of my size and stature compared to most guys to use and therefore less overall grunt than a lot of guys, that's just reality and I have learned to deal with it over the years doing similar outdoor and blue collar employment type physical tasks. I've had to learn to the do the same dang job as guys twice my weight like forever. Thereore, I have always had to learn better technique and proper tool use over just grunting harder, PLUS, be on the ball and be paying attention to the market and grab a better tool when it showed up. It REALLY shows up for me how much better an advanced design and sythentic axe like a fiskars is compared to a random similar sized and weight chunk of steel on a wooden stick is, especially at their price point. Extensive experience with both. Simply no comparison in real world use, hmm..keeping it closer on topic around here, like comparing a stock some size clogged up homerenters saw with a same displacement and close enough similar weight modded and opened up pro saw. It's silly to even debate it. Both will cut wood, sure, one is just hands down much faster with less operator fatigue, etc. Same as in hand splitting.
