boraeili Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I decided to forge an axe but I do not posses the knowledge of how to make a proper axes, so i took inspiration from primitive stone axes. The axe is made from mild steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Everyone has to learn to walk one step at a time. Its a start. There is no one right way to do any job. This is your interpretation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 welcome to the nut house. Next time try to leave off that curl, it will prevent the axe from getting into the wood far enough to split it. If yer ever in Ft Wayne call me and pop into the shop, we can make an axe together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boraeili Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 welcome to the nut house. Next time try to leave off that curl, it will prevent the axe from getting into the wood far enough to split it. If yer ever in Ft Wayne call me and pop into the shop, we can make an axe together. i I would really love that, im going to ft Wayne next Friday, maybe i can stop over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Your forging skills are clearly evident regardless of design. It could be used as a handheld hide scraper...just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 If it wasnt mild steal it would make a nice oloo, looks very nice regardles. It will be a beutiful decoration none the less. To basic metal axes, eyed and tanged. Groved and wraped is much more of a stome thing. A tanged axe is just a big chisel mounted in the end of a branch with an aproriat nob (usualy a fork) if you turn the blace 90% and mount it in the end of the forked branch you have an ads, if you take the same blade and mount it in the end of a longer stick you have a sod cutter. An eyed axe can be either slit and drift, rap and weld, or split and weld (spit the back of the stock and form the eye, forgewelding the pole, seen on some viking axes) at this point you have two choices, a round eye or the clasic axe eye. The round eue is either taper one way like a pick head or drifted both ways as a hamer head. The clasic is usualy drifted both. The round lends it s self to found branches and no spliting if you need to rehandle in the feild and the pick type eye wont fly off. Wile the clasic "D" shaped eye lends its self well to either of the welded heads (tho split and drifted "D" shaped eyes are in the historical record) the "D" saves some work with spliting out handles from logs, and i think this is why some of the hamers and axes that are split and drifted maintained this eye. Tyoicaly these heads are drifted from both sides and retained by a wedge, but one sides drifting is posible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boraeili Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 well, the axe is supposed to work like this... it works well, just i wish i could forge a proper one, mainly due to the lack of steel i have and lack of drifting tools. not my picture btw. If it wasnt mild steal it would make a nice oloo, looks very nice regardles. It will be a beutiful decoration none the less. To basic metal axes, eyed and tanged. Groved and wraped is much more of a stome thing. A tanged axe is just a big chisel mounted in the end of a branch with an aproriat nob (usualy a fork) if you turn the blace 90% and mount it in the end of the forked branch you have an ads, if you take the same blade and mount it in the end of a longer stick you have a sod cutter. An eyed axe can be either slit and drift, rap and weld, or split and weld (spit the back of the stock and form the eye, forgewelding the pole, seen on some viking axes) at this point you have two choices, a round eye or the clasic axe eye. The round eue is either taper one way like a pick head or drifted both ways as a hamer head. The clasic is usualy drifted both. The round lends it s self to found branches and no spliting if you need to rehandle in the feild and the pick type eye wont fly off. Wile the clasic "D" shaped eye lends its self well to either of the welded heads (tho split and drifted "D" shaped eyes are in the historical record) the "D" saves some work with spliting out handles from logs, and i think this is why some of the hamers and axes that are split and drifted maintained this eye. Tyoicaly these heads are drifted from both sides and retained by a wedge, but one sides drifting is posible. you ahh, you seem to know your stuff. I'll definitely use this in consideration. =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Most of what I know I have learned from other smithes here or looking at archilogical texts as well as smithing texts and persanal experience.helps to be a melee weapon and hand tool nerd So Ii pass your prais along ;-) Now as to steel and tools, I assume that cars and trucks exist in your part of the world., stearing linkage on light and heavy trucks, torsion bars, sway bars, axles and springs are all steels that make servicible tools and some make good blades. Torsian bars are heavy spring stock, as are the heavy leaves from over the road trackters (big rigs) and make nice stock for slit and drift axes, wile mid raped and welded to a thiner spring insert works well to (most automotive spring has cromium and it dosnt like to weld to its self) it gets a bit tricky to do a split and weld eye, as the crome/moly steels dont weld tothem selves well, so a peice of mild split at both ends, one with a spring edge welded in and the other pole welded. African/ bronze era style axes lend them selves to leaf spring, as your basicaly making a tanged chisel.no welding, or drifting. As to the drift, forge that axle to shape, need a sliter? Ise that spring, leaf is already half way shaped. Other sorces of salvaged steel, old axe heads, old picks, old agricoltural tools... Cant think of any were you cant find those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormcrow Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Not a bad approach! Certainly artistic. It'd have limited penetration, but should work for limbing. Shame about it being mild steel, though. :( Try the next one with leaf spring if you don't want to buy new blade steel. Gotta say that new 5160 from the New Jersey Steel Baron is pretty darn cheap, though shipping adds quite a bit to the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 One other thing is if you put a bend at the eye you can center up the eye with the center of the handle if you choose to handle it and not use it as a hand axe. Make the hanle a little bigger than the eye so your wrap ask as a spring retention to help hold the handle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Not the best image, but if you straiten the axe back out, you could have this. '> Anyway, I bet you can find steel, and you have already shone you can get it hot and forge it, time to make the tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eseemann Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 I love your axe, that is not something you see every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickOHH Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Very interesting approach to the axe. Well done , nice for your first one. Make another out of spring steel and see how it performs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Hand axes are surprisingly effective in moving through green wood. Your design will wear your hand to a frazzle after a few minutes, but it's an excellent bit of artistic work. I love the way you scrolled it. If the Elves had a neanderthal stage, this might be how their hand axes looked! :D If you had drawn the butt end to a point, you could have made a very functional hafted axe by burning the pointy end through a handle. Very common design in primitive lands even today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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