Don A

Welcome, Jon. Have you looked through the Blueprints yet? Blueprint Index There's enough there to keep us all busy for a while. :cool:

Here

I seldom use one at home, but I finally had my wife sew me one for my reenactment work. I do F&I War period, and in cool weather I usually wear a really nice linen weskit (well, it was when I first got it). The apron is made of cotton duck canvas and of a triangular shape. It ties around the waist and then buttons into the top two buttons of the weskit. It's considered more sacraficial than protective. I burn hardwood charcoal, and I'd rather have the forge fleas burning little holes in my apron than in my good coat. Don

JWB, I have to give credit where credit is due. Most of what I have learned about this style tomahawk, I have picked up from a very fine craftsman named Alan Longmire from Johnson City, TN. I have seen him demo live at Ron Claiborne's bladesmith's hammer-in, but Alan has posted an excelent tutorial over on Fogg's forum: http://forums.dfoggknives.com/index.php?showtopic=4149&hl=tomahawk When it comes to hawks, he is the man. But if a Blueprint is still in order, I'd be glad to do it. Ron, I finally broke down and ordered a tomahawk drift from Rade Hawkins of Hawkins Knife Supply. Got my hickory handles from him, as well. A fine individual to do business with, I might add. Hawkins Knife making Supplies _

Here are the tomahawks I forged for my two nephews and my son. Here is the material I used... 2" x .25" bar from a scrapped-out bush hog and a blade insert from a file. This was my first try at a wrapped-eye tomahawk. I'll definitely be making more. :cool:

I'm assuming you are refering to a decorative twist... "just for looks". I have seen stress cracks in twisted sections when done under less-than-perfect circumstances; abused or over-worked steel, flawed stock, etc. I can't help to believe that even under ideal conditions, a twist would lessen the integrity of the stock, even if it's just a little bit. This would be a good test project for folks that like to make stuff and the destroy it. :cool:

habu, you've made my day. Thanks

It's the 20th, and I've got three tomahawks in the works; one for my son and two for my nephews. Nothing like a little axe related carnage to ring in the New Year! I broke down and ordered handles and a drift. They are supposed to be here Thursday or Friday. Keep your fingers crossed. I'll post some pics when I get'um done. Anybody ever read Pat McManus' "the Christmas Hatchet"?... "and don't chop anything!".

Nice. Real nice. Hopefully I'm not too far behind you. Tell me about your blower. Is it a store-bought forge blower, or a salvaged unit from some other equipment? CFM? Variable speed, air-gate, other?

I've seen these use by old farriers; not sure how common they might still be. They would pull the disagreeable horse's upper lip out and clamp the twitch down on it. The theory was that it might hurt a little bit if he stands real still, but it hurts like the dickens if he starts jerking around. So he learns real quick to be real still. If anyone happens to have one of those big binder clips, a 2 lb weight and some extra time on your hands, you could run a few tests on yourself to see if this theory actually works. Let us know how it goes. :D

Thank you for thr information. I'm going to give that a try this Saturday.

I've had it on my mind to forge myself a tomahawk drift. Those cast ones that you buy have a tear-drop shaped cross section. I have some 1.25" round that would work, but I'm having a hard time picturing how to forge a tapered tear-drop. Any ideas? :confused: