We know that finding hafts is difficult and often requires making them yourself. The second hurdle is current new growth wood is very coarsely grained, even hickory and other hardwoods tend to break easily. Tennessee Buhurt is not going to say we have the ultimate answer and the haft you buy from us will never break. Physics and poor hit alignment make that an impossibility.
What we do know is our lamination technology will create a much longer life for your haft and we warranty our work. Please see our Warranty Page.
Our method
Back to the issue of coarse grains. Almost all wood used today is grown specifically for harvesting. Our wood industry has developed ways to get the wood to grow taller / thicker faster, but this means much looser grain structure. This looser grain structure means (especially) along the grain pattern, the wood is very weak. Historical wood was selectively harvested from old growth forests. This wood grew up to 5 times slower and had much tighter (stronger) grains. As you can imagine most of the haft breakages happen or at least initiate at a grain line (the weakest point).
Our method uses hardwood (mostly oak and hickory) cut into (+/-) 3/16 thick strips, using PVA glue to laminate it back into a much thicker haft. This process is a version of lamination. By utilizing this process, we all but eliminate the weakness of the grain pattern. No grains run continuously through the haft and the PVA glue is stronger (at least double) the strength of oak or hickory. Using clamps, we insure the glue bonds and cures for at least 24 hours.