You might try introducing either inserts or collars of a shock-absorbant material that is also able to maintain the friction to hold the axe head in place on the handle. I am a naive commenter, with no relevant experience or training. Just thinking out loud. The leverage against the wood at the base of the axe head seems like a force multiplier – anything to reduce or mitigate (such as by absorption) the amplified force at that location should help. What about adding a 1″ collar (say maybe 3/16″ thick, inset in a recessed turning band in the wood) of some kind of very dense rubber or polymer around the 1/2″ just inside and the 1/2″ just below the axe head?

Teak

Can we get ironboarks added to the database – I can’t find them besides in this article. Thanks! Awesome resource for a guy with lots of OZ wood in US.

Thank you, the breaks always happen right at the base of the axe head, which is I guess where all the impact stress happens during the throw.

Assuming you did a solid job gluing up all the laminations, I’d bet that it would be stronger than a solid piece. Also, I’m not sure how or where the breaks are occurring, but laminations would also redistribute and mostly eliminate local “weak spots” along the grain line where the pores form in rows.

They’re linear. I describe the process of determining the scale above under the heading “So, let’s find the world’s strongest wood.”

It’s only meant to help compare one wood with another, more or less on a linear scale from 0 to 100, with the “100” based on the highest value (among all species) in that particular category.

I don’t have enough data available to include it on this list. But practically, it is probably very similar to Prosopis juliflora, listed above with a Strength Index of 45.6.
https://www.wood-database.com/honey-mesquite/

Sorry, I’ve never been able to find data on MDF Janka.

Because the bow score is a ratio of the MOR to MOE, not a measure of absolute strength.

I know I’ve beaten this to death. I was just trying to figure out exactly when the figures in the database can be used in the real world. I’m just going to assume that the figures can be used for any wood harvested from a naturally grown tree of sufficient age. Obviously you already stated the source of your technical data. It’s up to the reader to take into account the year the data was collected and from what range of samples it could have come. Wood already has a very wide range of values from tree to tree within its own species. Its impossible to pin the data to anything absolute. As you state in your section on MOR, the data is more useful when used in comparison with other species.

And, waddywood is missing from the list of woods.