Handle making

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• Market issues: Tool handles have not been made by hand in any volume since the 1920s/1930s – firstly due to mechanisation, then to the introduction of plastic handles, and then the remaining hand turned wooden handles were affected by foreign competition.
• Foreign competition: Competition from cheap foreign imports
• Training issues/recruitment issues: Lack of woodworking, metalworking and exposure to craft skills in schools

• British Wood Turners Association

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• Richard Carter Ltd, Huddersfield, Yorkshire. Also manufacture spades and shovels, and edge and other tools. Twenty people working in the factory.
• Woodware Repetitions Ltd, Sheffield, Yorkshire. Tim Hinchliffe has recently purchased the business from Colin Barnsley.
• Bulldog Tools, Wigan. While the tool heads are forged in India, the tool handles are made in the UK.

The British Wood Turners Association maintains a list of members, which outlines what area of wood turning each craftsperson/company specialises in.

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