This almost killed me

[Joshua States 766]

This is actually the second attempt. The first one, also tried today, failed at the fold over stage. I was basically trying Gerald Boggs's Technique from his Wood Axe tutorial. Starting materials: 2" by 3/8" by 8" flat mild steel bar and a chunk of leaf spring. Here is the ugly little bugger after forging.

Thankfully, I have a belt grinder and some ceramic belts...….

 

 

[Troels Saabye 22]

Not bad, not bad at all

[Daniel W 35]

Looks much better than my second one, or third, or forth. 

I do like the profile of it.

[Alan Longmire 1,457]

And now you see why there's a pinned post about axes and mild-to-mild forge welding!    Also why I always make the edge steel have as sharp a rear edge as possible.  Unless you use wrought iron for the body you'll never get that pinhole behind the edge steel to close up.

Great job for your second one, though!

[jake pogrebinsky 56]

NOWHERE near as ugly as i still come up with on occasion,i'm tawdally with Alan-great job for your second attempt.

On all else he says as well,that pesky pin-hole is a design flaw,and with given interrelationship of parts cannot be eradicated(till it's too late and it's all oxidised in there,but even then and even as a cold-shut;it's present in some historic examples).

And mild to mild is evil,of course...AND using leaf-spring in and of itself is a constant challenge...

Great beginning though,right on!!!

[Joshua States 766]

I told my wife, it looks like the world's largest tomahawk.

[jake pogrebinsky 56]

Tomahawks descent,in part,from what a guy may term "Biscay" pattern,as in around about Bay of Biscay,where iron was plenty and economy weak,so many cheaper trade-goods were obtained therein...

Those were agrarian regions,with the type of wood-cutting chores amounting to the Slashing sort,clearing land,pruning fruit trees,and the like.

(Although Basques do have some massive,thick/heavy/convex-bladed felling axes that they make to this day,and that they're famous for). 

So these smaller axes had a keen blade,thinning considerably in front of eye.

It's pretty much a natural consequence of  when you go to make a weld right there,forward of the eye,without you indulge in all sorts of specialized trickery to deliberately avoid that..

So yes,you're right,it's rather tomahawk-like in essentials.Trade-axish branch of that whole tree:)

[MikeDT 63]

My first attempt was also a fail - and its unfinished ugliness sits next to my forge as a constant reminder to push on and keep trying to improve. I agree with Jake and Alan about the 2nd attempt success.

[Troels Saabye 22]

On 5/18/2019 at 2:04 AM, MikeDT said:

My first attempt was also a fail - and its unfinished ugliness sits next to my forge as a constant reminder to push on and keep trying to improve. I agree with Jake and Alan about the 2nd attempt success.

Same goes for my first axe :b *!"¤ ugly but a great door stopper

[Joshua States 766]

I am seriously considering giving this a second shot at killing me. I think there is still enough steel in that blade to do some widening and maybe get something closer to this.

[Zeb Camper 482]

Lil' cross peen action on er...

I'm in love with this guy named "Tord Berglund" or something like that. He's on FB. Guy makes batches and batches of big ol' dane axes; prettiest I've seen. He welds the bit on in the traditional way where it is higher than the body of the axe. I wish he hung out here. 

[Gerald Boggs 107]

20 hours ago, Joshua States said:

I am seriously considering giving this a second shot at killing me. I think there is still enough steel in that blade to do some widening and maybe get something closer to this.

Have you had the chance to watch Jim demo the axe or have the dvd?  He has some nice steps that help the process go a bit smoother.

[Joshua States 766]

3 hours ago, Gerald Boggs said:

Have you had the chance to watch Jim demo the axe or have the dvd?  He has some nice steps that help the process go a bit smoother.

Oh Yeah. I saw the demo in Salt Lake and watched his DVD several times. Something about your tutorial made me think it was the easier way to go when learning, probably the symmetry. I made all the tools he has in the video except those top & bottom fullers. I have a 25# LG hammer that I can do single strikes with, so it acts more like a treadle or drop hammer. I figured that if I needed to replicate his forging technique, I'd have a way to do it without having to ask my wife to be a striker!.  I also made something to replicate your radiused anvil edge, because I don't have an anvil with nicely radiused edges......1-1/2" square stock

I didn't think the process itself was difficult to understand or systematically approach. It was just a lot of hard forging and I'm not doing this every day. As a matter of fact, I don't even forge once a week. Taking a whole day and spending it turning some O-1 drill rod into a Bowie and doing this axe pretty much all by hand, was a bit of a workout.

[Alan Longmire 1,457]

Crosspein or a fuller under the power hammer.  That can be just a bit of 3/4" round mild if you want.

[Joshua States 766]

18 hours ago, Zeb Camper said:

Tord Berglund"

Found 6 of them. Saw no axes.