"Purple Heart" pipe tomahawk

[Daniel W 82]

I recently put up a small post about a failed hewing axe that I wasn't very proud of.  Today, I'm putting up a little post of an axe I'm a little more proud of.  I took a tomahawk making class at Touchstone Center for Crafts - this was actually the second time I took this course being it was just so fun the last time.  I walked out with 4 axes and this one is the best of the bunch. 

I no longer see myself as a beginning blade smith, I'm pushing myself more into the small/large decorative stuff.  Although a blade does give you a chance for experimentation that sometimes you can't find in the small decorative stuff. 

 

 

As this course is taught, there is no hardened bit in the pipe hawk, there's other chances in the week for that.  As this work is, the axe head is mild steel which I browned using berchwood casey's plum brown solution, which true to its name, its a little more purple/chocolate brown in color. The haft is speckled sugar maple which I pre-split to get the smoke tub straight, then glued back together.  Then finished with a mix of tung oil, and a drop of red mahogany stain which pulls a little purple hue into the finish.  The mouth piece is actually the tip of a white tale deer shedding.  The tacks, are furniture tacks, I don't think anyone would be that picky if they didn't look 100% historical.  There is also a very slight bit of plunge engraving on the molding and chevron.

She's just waiting to be seasoned with a little pipe tobacco, which I'm handing off to a friend to do.

 

[C Craft 177]

 I like it!!!

[Alan Longmire 2,717]

Lookin' good! 

[Daniel W 82]

Thanks guys, I put a good bit of effort into making this one as decent as possible. It's not 100% what I planed it to be, but I'm calling this one a decent.  I'm still working up to make one of this that is flawless.  I'm hoping to make more in the future depending on if I can get rid of this one.