tomahawk/ hatchet

[tompdw]

What is a good steel for the drifts?

[rthibeau]

You can use just about anything if the size is right.....coil spring, axle shaft, any rod off a vehicle, old pry bars. They are drifts to push out the metal to form the hole, not tempered cutting tools. I happened to have drops of 1045 that I used.

[Askdamice]

Originally Posted by Jmercier

They're only different shaped if you want them to be different shaped. Joe Szliaski, ABS Master Smith, recommended that you actually dont want a "hawk shaped hole" for user hawks anyways because if you're in the woods and your handle breaks, it's far easier to use a square or round hole to secure the head on a makeshift handle than it is to try to carve a piece of wood to fit the typical "tear drop" shape you see on many hawks.

I must respectfully disagree with Joe having dedicated most of my life to wilderness living and primitive skills. Trying to remove a broken handle from an axehead in the woods is a daunting task to say the least. Then you have to fit the head and drive a wedge in! tough stuff in my experience. I stopped carrying Gransfors Bruks axes for exactly that reason. It takes a lot less effort to taper a limb to fit a hawk and the teardrop is only needed for the last six inches or so. Historicaly, very few "Mountainmen", "Longhunters" and "Voyageurs" carried a axe when compared to a hawk. Especially when on the move. In permanent camps the axe was preferred for heavier work.

That is from my own experience... to each his own, bro.

Rick

I agree with drifting the eye rather than using a mandrel

***EDIT***
After reviewing the post... I could be wrong in thinking Joe meant the typical straight axe head eye... if he meant to simply use a round or square shaped "tapered" hawk eye... then I agree to some extent but the round hole could allow the head to spin during use which is dagerous.

[tompdw]

Here they are. They are crude and rough but I know what needs done on the next ones.