[mcraigl]

Mike-hr asked me to post pix of my first hawk to the existing thread, but that one has gotten a little long so I thought I'd start a new one. Anyway, I made this out of a new RR spike. I upset it to 3.5" long, then started the eye with a slot punch, finished with drifts, then I forged the blade section on Mike's power hammer with the incline dies in it. I polished it with little flapper wheels of assorted grits in my roto-zip (don't have a pneumatic die grinder yet) and with the dremel tool. then I buffed/polished. the handle is make from a broken shovel handle. I'm pretty happy with it. In fact several folks have asked me if it's a throwin' 'hawk and I've told 'em heck no. It's sort of like a brand new truck, I'm afraid to drive it through the brush until it's got it's first scratches... Some of you guys do amazing work and I'd appreciate any pointers on polishing irregular surfaces. I burned up an easy $25 worth of flapper wheels (don't think their designed for roto-zip rpm's even though they say they are). Also the buffing compound / felt thing is very very time consuming... Also, any good ideas for finishing that will help delay the onset of rust? Any other comments suggestions are also appreciated...

Thanks,
McRaigl