Thanx for your replies - much appreciated.
I am from Waverley, a suburb in the town of Bloemfontein in the Free State province, almost right in the centre of South Africa.
One of the main reasons for me using HC for the whole axe head was because I got a 5kg (11 lb) piece of a truck leaf spring for free and thought it would make a good axe. The leaf spring is about 89mm (3 1/2") wide x 14mm (1/2") thick x 522mm (20 1/2") long.
Now, surely I won't be using the whole piece for making this one axe - so I will save some for other axes, etc made in the traditional way.
I was just concerned about the workability of the HC, but seems from your replies that it won,t be a problem. I would like though, to also make an axe from mild steel with a HC inlay at the bit and then compare the performance of both axes in terms of absorbing the impact of the blow, keeping the cutting edge, etc.
Is there somone who can tell me what coke really is and where in SA you could find some? I assume it is not the same as anthrasite?