Hawk tutorials?

[Blaine Whitney]

Great job guys. That makes me want to try something new.

[DanM]

i am working on a little tutorial for adding brass,silver or whatever other nonferrous metals to a steel blade or other steel part. as Alan stated the process is fairly simple once you see the steps.

[Mike Ferrara]

Can't wait!

[Beau Erwin]

Oooh that's a neat inlay there with the holes making a design.

 

So if you don't put a wedge in the hawk tip, is it just a friction fit that's held in motion by centrifical force when you're doing any swinging with it? In other words the head is slipped over the bottom of the handle and slid up the length, and at the top it's tapered wide to skinny at the bottom where our hand would be, so when you swing, the head tries to fly off but since it's wider there, it can't and is wedged sort of.

 

=P

[J.Browne]

Thanks Alan and Daniel.

While we are on the subject, what is the best way/ alternatives for drifting the eye?

I have one of the hawk drifts but my hardie hole is only 7/8" and the drift wont go down far enough into the head using this method. I have tried resting the back on the anvil and driving the drift down through the eye while it is over hanging with very wonky results. Any tips?

Daniel could you please give some rough dimensions on your jig ? Gotta try this way.

Cheers guys

Jas.

[Alan Longmire]

Oooh that's a neat inlay there with the holes making a design.

 

So if you don't put a wedge in the hawk tip, is it just a friction fit that's held in motion  by centrifical force when you're doing any swinging with it?  In other words the head is slipped over the bottom of the handle and slid up the length, and at the top it's tapered wide to skinny at the bottom where our hand would be, so when you swing, the head tries to fly off but since it's wider there, it can't and is wedged sort of.

 

=P

36942[/snapback]

 

 

Yep, that's pretty much it! That's also the reason for the teardrop cross-section, it keep the head from twisting on the handle.

[Alan Longmire]

Thanks Alan and Daniel.

While we are on the subject, what is the best way/ alternatives for drifting the eye?

I have one of the hawk drifts but my hardie hole is only 7/8" and the drift wont go down far enough into the head using this method. I have tried resting the back on the anvil and driving the drift down through the eye while it is over hanging with very wonky results. Any tips?

36969[/snapback]

 

 

Do you have a post vise/leg vise? I use one of those, open just as far as the width of the bottom of the eye, to hold the head while I drift it. I don't put the head IN the vise, I just rest it atop the jaws and let the jaws catch the drift when it's through as far as I want it.

 

A helpful thing to do that minimizes the amount of drifting you have to do is to wrap the steel around the drfit and forge it to fit before you do the weld. Of course, if you're slitting and drifting rather than wrapping that won't help!

 

If you don't have a vise you can hammer on, the only anti-wonkification method I know of is to hang it over the edge of the anvil as you describe, but move it around every couple of whacks so you aren't putting too much force on one part of the eye. Or only make your eye as big as the drift can make it when put in a 7/8 hardy hole diagonally...

[D Winkler]

Here are couple more Tomahawk pictures. I enjoy making Axes, it's a nice break from knives and they are steady sellers. Not usually to hot or to cold but steady enough to keep up interest.

 

The pictures that have posted have been great and I am impressed with what I see. Every one seems to get a little inspiration and go with their own construction methods. I personally never had a lot of luck with drifts so I sought out different methods that work out better for me. Sometime I would like to see someone that is skilled with a drift forge a Hawk.

 

Daniel

 

 

[BSchermann]

Here is a link to a nice resource for tomahawks and trade axes. It has a lot of great pictures.

 

 

Trade Axe and Tomahawk Collector's Association

[Ron Hicks]

What finished size do you all make your Tomahawks ( Eye & length width over all of the head )

When drifting the eye how long to you make the slit for the drift ?

Thanks

Ron

[Ken Burns]

Jas - what I did to drift the eye is to take a pipe with a diameter the same (more or less) as drift is wide. Then I welded about a 5 or 6 in. sq. flat plate to one end and it stands up on its own. The pipe I used ia about 10 " long. I can put it on my anvil or set it on the floor and drift away. I did 'mash' the end of the pipe onto sorta an oval shape so it supports the head better on sides and end.

 

ksb

[J.Browne]

Thanks ksb.

:banghead: why didn't I think of that.

 

 

Jas

[Alan Longmire]

What finished size do you all make your Tomahawks (  Eye & length width over all of the head )

When drifting the eye how long to you make the slit for the drift ?

Thanks

Ron

37475[/snapback]

 

 

My regular pipe hawks are about 7 to 9 inches overall length, edge length is usually 2 to 2.5 inches. The eye is about .75" wide inside by 1.25" long at the top, slightly less at the bottom. Originals from the late 1700s-early 1800s are usually a bit smaller in all dimensions.

 

In the event I slit and drift one, I'll make the slit length about 1.5 times the width of the drift front-to-back, if that makes sense. That way the sides can move outwards without stretching much when you drift.

 

 

KSB: Great idea! :ylsuper:

[Ron Hicks]

My regular pipe hawks are about 7 to 9 inches overall length, edge length is usually 2 to 2.5 inches. The eye is about .75" wide inside by 1.25" long at the top, slightly less at the bottom. Originals from the late 1700s-early 1800s are usually a bit smaller in all dimensions.

 

In the event I slit and drift one, I'll make the slit length about 1.5 times the width of the drift front-to-back, if that makes sense. That way the sides can move outwards without stretching much when you drift.

KSB: Great idea! :ylsuper:

good stuff

[Greg Thomas Obach]

theres also a cool tutorial on primal

 

http://p222.ezboard.com/fprimalfiresfrm12....topicID=3.topic

 

 

Greg

[Frogfish]

Another source of dirifts and handles is Hawkins Knife Making Supplies (http://www.hawkinsknifemakingsupplies.com) nice folks to deal with.

[Ty Murch]

I know I'm bringing this thread back from the dead, but here it goes. This is a tutorial on doing a punched eye tomahawk/hatchet.

 

1.The Chisel. Mine is made from 1/4" x 1" air hardening steel. The sides of the chisel are sharpened as well. As the drawing shows, the corners of the chisel are smoothly rounded to keep them from heating up quickly and reduce drag. When splitting the eye do it at high heat, a bright orange or more so that you will avoid "punch suck-in". The bevel that you put on the chisel will depend on how good the steel is. If it is a good air hardening steel you can make it very sharp. If you don't use air quench steel then you won't be able to make it very sharp. When splitting the eye go in half way from one side, and then go in from the other side.

 

2.Fullering. Fuller your initial groove in front of the eye. This saves time and leaves you with just a little chunk of steel on the end that you have to forge out. I use 1" round bars to fuller 1" material. I have a 4" sq. piece of mild steel with the bottom fullering rod welded to the top of it. I hold the hawk billet in tongs with the tongs between my legs, and hold the top fullering rod with my left hand, and have my hammer in my right hand.

 

3.Forge out blade to desired shape. Might need to forge, grind, forge, grind, forge, grind.

 

4.Drifting. Set the hawk head on top of the vise with the jaws open to allow the drift to pass through. Do this at high heat as well to reduce "punch suck-in"

 

5.Finish. Grind, heat treat, stick a handle in it, treat handle with linseed oil, sharpen, rub some paste wax or bees wax on handle, oil head.

 

Sorry for the podunk pictures

Edited October 5, 2007 by Ty Murch

[RMJ Forge]

I learned a neat trick from a drop forging plant this week - they do a lot of hot punching on eyes very similar to tomahawks - they make their punches and drifts out of H-13 but TIG weld all of the shearing edges with Stellite and grind to finish. This may be overkill for hand forging but sounds promising for use on a hydraulic press. I will be trying this in a week or so, if it works I'll start a new post about it.

RMJ

[Alan W.]

Dunlap Woodcraft now list tomahawk handles on their website.