Andre: The handles on the 2 hammers shown were made of hickory. But,the set of 4 new handles were of ash,because that is what I had on hand. And it is beautifully close grained,too. I scrounged some ash left overs from the museum's Millwork Shop(behind the scenes) scraps left over from making new parts for a carriage. They made the whole burgundy colored carriage that is still rolling around the Historic Area back in the 40's or 50's. I made the ball bearing holding tubes inside the wheel hubs,and the brass hub bands many years ago, when they did upgrades. The ball bearings cannot be seen,and they make it possible to operate the carriage all the time without daily greasing of the axles. I usually don't keep hickory or ash on hand as I mostly am interested in making guitars.(Although the Telecaster I'm building has an ash body as is traditional. Old Mr. Fender must have gotten a deal on a bunch of ash planks. It has never been a wood you ever see on guitars. As a youngster,I knew it was ash,but could not figure out WHY. You can get away with a lot of stuff on a solid body. And now,players seem to ascribe some of the Fender tonality to the "swamp ash" bodies. They also used alder,which is a very cheap and softish wood,on their less expensive models,or painted ones. Players are a superstitious bunch,really,when they know little about the construction of their instruments. Gibson Les Pauls,on the other hand,are made of the more traditional maple,or mahogany. Great sustain is also ascribed to them. I say it is just how THICK the solid wood is!! Well,hard helps.
I doubt that either hickory or ash handles have much effect on hammers this small anyway. Pecan is a good wood,very like hickory,if you can find it. They used it in North Carolina furniture factories,and I got a big bunch from one to make all of our work benches from when I was teaching shop,and had to start from SCRATCH!! Those kids did not drill holes or abuse their benches after they made them!! It was a good lesson in pride of accomplishment!! GIVE them factory made benches to work on,and no telling what they will do to them.