handle maker interview: goose

Goose is one of those legends in the sport. Throwing out of the Range in Southern Alberta, Goose has been at it since 2018 and, in that time, 81 Axes become one of the most recognizable handle makers in the western hemisphere (maybe the world?). I’ve admired his work for a very long time, but I never chatted with him about how he got started, and what makes his axe handles so damn good. That all changed this past March: here’s my handle maker interview with the man himself:

What do you think keeps you in the sport?

The people. The love, the vibe, the energy. And that’s what keeps me going. No doubt.

How long have you been making axe handles for axe throwing?

Honestly, almost as long as I’ve been throwing. I started making axe handles after I got tired of my stock handle, which was about halfway through my second ever season. Yeah. Yeah. I got tired of the stock shit and I was like, “I’m a carpenter. I can figure this shit out. I can do something better.” And I just did it.

And I mean, you’ve been throwing long enough that … Is it safe to say you’re one of the first recognized, well-known handle makers in kind of the sport of ax throwing, at least for IATF?

If I could say this without any ego attached to it, I think I was the original true custom handlemaker in the biz.

Well, and what’s interesting, so a lot of makers have a style, right? And they get kind of locked into that style. And either you like it or you don’t like it. It’s hard for me, and I’m saying this truthfully, I have yet to meet somebody who doesn’t like the way your axe handles feel when they throw them and just in general.

Yeah.

Why do you think that is?

I mean, this is, again, I guess is maybe left field: I’ve very much made myself a student of all of it, watching so many different people throw all calibers of throwers and everything like that, and just paying attention to it. And then just also just trusting my own feel. If it doesn’t feel right in my own hand, it’s not likely to feel right in somebody else’s hand.

I just rely on trusting that. At the end of the day, just getting [those axe handles] out there and letting people feel it. The more that I do quality products, it just, honestly, it speaks for itself.

I notice your axe handles in particular have a certain feel to them. And I don’t think it’s this at all, but it’s almost as if they have something on them that makes them feel extra soft in the hand, like a little bit pliable almost.

Yeah. And that’s fair. I don’t use coating ever. If someone wants a coating, sure, but I just use a boiled linseed oil.

I sand, depending on the wood and the design I’m doing, I do sand them to different grits. Some people just want them, they go to the finest grip possible and I actually don’t do that. It’s rare that I will sand beyond a 150 unless it’s resin and then it’s maybe a 320. And then if I do some of the clear ones that I do, then I go up to like the 1200 and the really fine ones. But yeah, other than that, it’s just, yeah, I time my soaks with each axe and I just stick to my formula and it works.

Where do you get the idea for your designs?

Everywhere.

Everywhere. Like you’re wearing a shirt and I see a geometric design or something like that. Boom. Inspiration. I obviously on Instagram, I follow a lot of woodworking bullshit. Or I look up and see something, somewhere, anywhere! Even architecture.

I draw, I got a new design I’m trying that’s coming from a guy, an account on Instagram that does like paint markers. He draws with paint markers and that’s a new design. I haven’t put it out there yet. It’s going to be pretty cool, I think.

What would you tell your just starting out self. What is something you’d want to tell that guy?

Fuck. Good question.

What would I tell OG Goose Handlemaker? Honestly, I think I did okay. I think I would have started … So when I first started making handles, I started just doing maple and things like that. I think I would have just told myself, “Go to Hickory first.”

And then just keep doing the same thing, to be honest. I love and I dislike that the market is a little saturated right now, but the more saturated the market is, and that there’s just so many quality makers now that they keep me from being complacent in my crafts.

I use that as fuel. It’s like, holy shit, this guy did this. And I’ll never use CNC. I’ll never use laser because that’s just who I am.

But the more that people do, it forces me and pushes me to do either the same without a laser or just simply do better.