Pickaxe the tool. A pickaxe handle (sometimes called a "pickhandle" or "pick helve") without the head is sometimes used, often unofficially, as a baton: for example it is officially sometimes used as a baton in the British Army. In "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck, pick handles featured prominently as a weapon used against the migrant farmers. A normal pickaxe handle is made of ash or hickory wood and is about three feet long and weighs about 2.5 pounds. British Army pickaxe handles must, by regulation, be exactly three feet long, for use in measuring in the field. New variant
Handles (novel) the 1976 Medal for her debut novel "Thunder and Lightnings". Also set in the Norfolk countryside, it features two boys who love aeroplanes. Atheneum Books published the first U.S. edition in 1985, retaining the Parkins illustrations. "Handles" in this book are names with a special significance, a symbol of self-discovery or growing into oneself. The title also plays on the "handles" by which a motorcycle is steered, a symbol of control. Erica Timperley, a city girl who loves motorcycles, is bored with her holiday in Norfolk where her Uncle and Aunt grow acres of vegetables. Then she sees a cat