Stormcrow

I drew the axes back to 535 degrees Fahrenheit.

Looks darn good!

Take a class with Brian Brazeal. Or at least go read what he has to say here on Iforgeiron about punching holes. He is a master at this, and the technique is pretty darn simple once you have it down.

I have one of the Harbor Freight 20 ton air/hydraulic bottle jacks. It's pretty slow, but people have made it work. There are threads on building forging presses with them here. I'd skip out on buying the whole shop press frames, as I have one as well and it is too weak and bent under the strain. Fabricate your own or have a welding shop fab one to your design and it should work better. I would guess that if you dig through the comments on this video from the MAD Dwarf Workshop you may find what tonnage they're using:

Thanks, Jerry! If it outperforms a commercial hammer in no other regard, mine at least makes more noise! I very much enjoyed having everyone there and would be glad to do it again. Monty - No, any medium-to-high carbon steel will work with proper heat treatment. I chose 4140 for its toughness, as I have hit plenty of rocks inadvertantly while working on clearing brush and want to minimize the blade's chances of chipping out while still holding a decent edge. The alloying metals in it lets it harden more than plain carbon steel in the same range of carbon would be able to, I believe.

Never had the problem myself, but saw it out on a country road in south Texas. They had left the old box, which had been smashed with an overhead swing, in place and put the new box next to it. Heavy walled pipe, with a decorative "comb" cut out of thin plate on top. Any bat descending on such would immediately be destroyed.

That's a good video, Mat. The hammers squishing out the blades are interesting, along the same lines as the ones I've seen in the Swedish ax manufacturer Youtube videos. I came across a video some time back showing a blacksmith shop in a town in Mexico that makes tequila. The shop made the agave cutting tools and other agricultural hand tools. That had the same general two-stage socket rolling setup on a power hammer. I'll see if I can locate it. Mark - You're not the first one to mention deanimating zombies in regards to the blades. Reckon why? Must have the look. I demonstrated rolling one of these handles for the Balcones Forge monthly meeting that was hosted at my shop yesterday. It went really well, and was the first time I rolled one without having to use my mandrel to help clean it up. Pics eventually.

Oh, 'bout yay thick. *indicates with fingers* The thickness is less important than the size of the handle preform sillhouette. You just need enough mass to get there. I've been refining my handle shape and have settled on making the prefrom about 2 1/2" wide right below the blade and somewhere under 4", say 3 3/4" or thereabouts, at the butt end. I also make these handles extra long to account for rolling the end of the socket over (something I do that you don't have to) and for the Turk's head knots I tie at either end of the wrap. I think the final length is about 7", which is just about right and gives a few options on how you hold it. And here are some videos I shot a while back showing the making of a socket handle:

Thanks, guys! Cliff & Willis - That's what I'm going for. My eye is initially drawn to flow of lines, so the overall form is what interests me. Embellishment isn't something I do a lot of. Willis - Here's how I learned: http://www.ropeworks.biz/archive/Aturkhed.html I played that over and over and over and... I'll give you a trick for tying it with two strands: Double your cord over and tape the ends together. Then you just make sure that the strands don't twist as you tie the knot. :D

While a lot of knife makers have been getting ready for the Blade Show in Atlanta, I've been flogging to get stuff ready for The End of the World...primitive skills gathering in Idaho, put on by Ron and Karen Hood's Hoodlums forum. I was not able to attend myself, but Luke Swenson offered to take up there whatever I was able to make and take care of sales for me. Luke left early, so Ghostwolf, Charlie of Two Wolves Outdoor supply, generously offered to take my inventory up for me. Much appreciation for these fellows! I really enjoyed getting to meet Charlie briefly and chat with him a bit. Here's what I was able to get together: 1.) Six socket-handled big blades. These are all forged from leaf spring, multiple hardened in veggie oil and given multiple tempering cycles. Handles are hemp cord wrap with cotton cord Turk's head knots and amber or black shellac sealer. Each one has a handle long enough that, in conjunction with the large choil, one can use it for a two-handed swing, or at least hand-and-a-half if you have gorilla paws like mine. Four of these are almost willow-leaf saber profiles, and I would consider them more of a bush sword than a machete. The other two are Southeast Asian style blunt-ended choppers. 2.) Six axes. These are forged from brand new 4140 and hardened in commercial quench oil. After heat treatment, I brushed off the loose scale and gave them a light etch in vinegar to darken them. The three on the longer handles all have heads just under 20 ounces, while those on the shorter handles have heads 16-17 ounces. I bought a dozen commercial hickory handles of each size, only to discover when they arrived that they were overly massive and even with my large hands were very uncomfortable. It felt like trying to hold a tree trunk! So each handle was carefully cut down, ground, rasped, and sanded to probably about half of their original mass, leaving comfortable, ergonomic shapes that are stil plenty strong. The profiles of the handles were also changed, ending up looking quite a bit different than what I purchased, and thankfully feeling a lot different as well. They were given a light stain and oiled. 3.) Two shorter socket-handled knives and a work knife. Leaf spring and 5160, respectively. Luke really likes the longer of these two socket-handled knives. I had hoped to get some more of the work knives finished, but slap-dab ran out of time. 4.) Four personal survival kit knives. A more substantial solution than putting a razor blade in your Altoids tin PSK. Two-finger grip, and shaves hair nicely. Made from plow disk, hardened in veggie oil, with high-visibbility orange nylon cord wrap sealed with epoxy. Charlie was sure eyeballing these. 5.) Small game gigs. Made from agricultural coil spring, hardened in veggie oil. You can lash it to a pole to gig fish, frogs, squirrels, etc., and the blade is large enough and sharp enough to process the critter aftewards. 6.) A sharp-nosed mouse. Little two-finger skinner with a nose, ears, and a tail. Made from plow disk, hardened in veggie oil, hemp cord and shellac wrap, Kydex sheath. And finally, the reusable crate I had made to transport it in. I based it loosely off an old rocket box I have, but scaled up. There's a small chamber on one end to keep the small stuff in. I need to stencil "Helm Enterprises, Forging Division" across the front now. And now, being very tired, I shall sleep. Thanks again to Luke and Charlie for their help!

Other than just a curiousity, I don't see the pont in building a modern one. With a step up in complexity, you can make a DePew-style helve hammer that will out work that water (now motor) driven one in the video with a fraction of the ram weight; with one step in complexity from the DePew you can make a Rusty-style guided helve hammer that will give a linear motion and adjustability. Just sayin'. Both of those are still bone-headedly simple designs.

Felix - Yep, it distributes the weight more forward, and flexes better should the tang need to. Brasilikilt - I've read a description of the Sandbar Fight knife that is slightly different since I made this one, so it'd be even harder to say. Different stories from different folks makes it hard on us yea these many years later. :)

I just completed this knife for a customer and it's ready for knifemaker Luke Swenson to make a sheath for it. This is a reproduction of the Caiaphas Ham knife that hangs on the wall of the Long Barracks at the Alamo, just a couple of miles or so from my shop. Ham was a friend of the Bowie brothers, and was given this knife by the knife nut of the family, Jim's brother Rezin. No one knows for certain what the knife used by Jim Bowie in the Sandbar Fight looked like, but the description given (guardless butcher knife made from an old file, overall length no more than 12 inches) seems to match fairly dead-on with the Ham Bowie, leading me to speculate that there is a slim chance that the Ham Bowie and the Sandbar Fight Bowie may well be one and the same. I don't know if anyone else holds this theory, though. The customer wanted the knife not only for its historical interest, but because he recognized the value of its shape in processing out game. There is a good picture of the original on page 79 of the June 2011 issue of Blade magazine, showing both a profile view and a good view of the spine, showing how it is pinched in and how the tang tapers. I had it open while working on the knife in order to get as close to the original's shape as I could. I also had a picture that the customer sent me and some basic dimensions graciously provided by one of the Alamo's upper curators. This reproduction is forged from 5160 spring steel, filed by hand, differentially hardened in vegetable oil, and given multiple tempering cycles. The handle slabs are mesquite, with brass pins offset like the original. This was actually the first slab handle I have done! The blade shaves hair quite nicely. Although I tried to get as close to the original as I reasonably could, I'm sure Luke will be making a much better sheath than the original. :)

Got a specific question? I made the hoe Steve mentioned. Phil - Interesting to see that planned out. Looks like it should work.

I've been helping clear some brush lately to help pay the bills. It's something that I've done since I was a kid around the family farm, so I have plenty of experience in how to cut the stuff. This time was unique for me, though. All of the tools used were ones I had custom made: an ax, a machete, and a Southeast Asian-style blunt-ended chopper (similar to the Rambo IV knife without all the suck of the officially liscensed product). The brush was pretty thick, a mix of mountain cedar, wild persimmon, some kind of whippy bushes that spread all over, and briars, narture's barbed wire. I spent a solid six hours working at it all by myself, and I covered more ground than I ever have before while clearing brush. I went through about three canteens of water and twice broke the ax handle because I overstruck. I am really pleased with how my tools performed. They worked better than any of the commercially made axes or machetes that I've used for the same kind of task. Held good edges, and the ax survived accidentally splitting several good-sized rocks with minimal chipping to the edge. Here's footage I shot afterwards. Not sure if it gives a good idea of how much area this entailed or not, but it was quite a bit for one man to do in less than a full day.

Those look good! There is a distinct pleasure in using a tool that you have made yourself and have it perform better than what you can buy. B)

A drift. Sorry. I forged it out of some 1 5/8" round. I think I'll be playing around with punches and drifts and see if I can get one that'll fit a standard cruiser ax handle without a lot of re-working. Need to get that punching setup built for my press and stop freehanding it. ETA: I'll try to get a pic of the drift and punch I used for you.

I've had enough inquiries about my garden hoe and my camp ax that they're now part of my official lineup: http://helmforge.blogspot.com/2011/05/garden-hoes-and-camp-axes-offered-for.html

Derek - Not a problem. I've been wanting to make a fokos for a while. I'm glad I can start some cogs a-turnin' in folks minds. B)

Thanks, guys! Jake - The handle isn't that long, around 28 inches if I remember right. The head ended up very light, so good thing I have that poll on there! Those walking axes are known by a bunch of widely varied names and the only one I can remember is the first name I learned it by, fokos. Aparantly the "s" is pronounced like "sh". A Google search will turn up a number of pictures with that.

This knife was ordered by a Vietnam vet. He wanted a small utility neck knife with some self defense capability. He liked the knife I made for my girlfriend, so we went with a scaled-down version with a forge finish. When I saw his Purple Heart license plates, I suggested using purple heart wood for the handle. He liked the idea, and added that he'd like to incorporate some antler. He brought an antler in, we talked it over and settled on a design. The blade is pretty small. It's forged from 5160, with a forge finished double guard. The sheath is made by knifemaker Luke Swenson since I don't work leather. As soon as Luke found out the customer was a Vietnam veteran, he dropped the price to half, and when he found out he was a Purple Heart, he said he'd make it for free. I was unable to financially be as generous, but I charged the minimum price. The customer was very pleased, and ended up giving each of us a small abstract painting from a series he had painted (he's an artist) in gratitude. Mine's orange, predominently. I like it! The customer wanted a neck sheath. Luke built one that could be rigged with a neck thong or could be worn on a belt. The customer was very happy with what we made for him.

I completed this last night. It's for myself to help clear brush, but it's a good camp ax size. It's forged from heavy duty pickup axle, cleaned up by grinding, and heat treated. The handle is kind of hastily done, shaped down from a cruiser ax handle. I'm still going to play some with the grind of the bevel. I think it has darn sexy lines. Must be the sideburns on it. Had two folks already order one for themselves just from seeing it in my shop. Gotta get busy!