muskiedaze

Well, I've tried a 1/4 in. twist bit and a self feed auger bit on hickory, osage, and maple. I made a jig to try and keep the drill running true. I tried drilling from both ends. I haven't been able to make it work. I'm stumped. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, John

I suppose I should have been more specific. I meant that I found the barrel to be easier to work with than a SOLID piece of steel. I don't think carbon content is too much of and issue with my pipe hawks , which are not intended for throwing, but I'd like to try forging hawk from one of those drills. What is the typical diameter of the drill and the hole? Thanks again. John

Cool, I understand what you're saying. I have found it very difficult to make a hot slit and keep everything straight and true. If I drill adjacent 1/8" holes I can slit the barrel without collapsing it and maintain the octagon shape of the barrel for the pipe and the socket, which I think looks pretty cool. I do need to find another barrel or two before I empty my gun cabinet. Post, I'm sure you're right, and I've been attempting to do just that, but not very successfully. It seems that when I correct one problem I create another. Thanks for the help. John

Hey Guys, I haven't been here in awhile, but I have been forging a bunch of hawks. I just finished my first 4 pipehawks and am very pleased with the results. I used 6 inch sections of a muzzleloader barrel instead of a piece of steel. I found it much, much, easer to forge a hawk from the barrel. The biggest problem I've been having with most of my hawks is keeping the blade and the spike or poll in the same plane. I do put the blade in my vice, insert the drift and use it to align everthing as best I can. I've been drilling (is that cheating?) and drifting the sockets so they're pretty straight. Any tips? Thanks. John

Mark, My Dad and I used to show our hand crafted furniture at the PV craft fair for many years and my wife worked at their store for awhile. I've had many friends who were residents there. I live along the Delaware about a mile upstream from the Dingmans Ferry Bridge on a 2 mile dead end. Awesome spot for a guy that likes to hunt and fish and make a lot of noise on an anvil. It hasn't changed much here in a long time. Good to hear from you. John

Frosty, I've been useing mostly A 36 steel which works much easier than one hawk I attemped from a ball peen hammer, which was much more difficult to work. I had it about 3/4 done when I burned up the thinner steel on the socket. I also completed one from what I believe was some type of stainless which was very difficult to work. Won't try that again.. THE A-36 seems to harden somewhat, judging from the feel of a file on it, but I'm not sure. I'm useing my hawks for throwing, so a really hard edge is not critical. What type of steel would be the easiest for me to learn on? I haven't been able to forge weld the A-36, but I did weld up some re-bar successfully. Thanks for your thoughts. John

Mitch, I live in Layton NJ. There's a place about 2 miles from me called Peter's Valley which has an awesome facility for teaching blacksmithing. They have 9 coal Forges, a couple gas ones, trip hammers and all the accessories. Unfortunatly they didn't have enough students sign up to offer any classes this year, but their main guy offered some private lessons.His name is Dick Seargent and I believe he's pretty well known in the blacksmithing community. matter of fact, he lives next door to me. Thanks for your input. John

I've been hammerin steel for about 3 weeks and I'm primarily interested in making tomahawks. I've got a Weber grill forge, a shop vac blower, a vice, and a couple of hammers. Its been pretty tough challenge so far, but I really like doing it. I've had more failures than successes but I've completed a few crude hawks and a couple of hardies and knives. A couple lessons would help a lot. Any criticism or advice would be appreciated. Don't laugh too hard. John

Frost, At one unhappy point in my life I heat-treated hudge racks of aircraft components and learned some metalurgy. The difficult and interesting part for me is trying to develope some skill with a hammer. I may be making some very basic mistakes that I'm not even aware of, as was the case when I first started laminating bows. My work is quite crude compared to the fine craftsmanship I've seen here and on other forums. Hey, the harder one works, the " luckier" he gets. I also need to work on my computer skills. Thanks for the input. John

Anti, I've killed a pile of deer with homemade bows and arrows, but not with forged heads, (yet). Having an exit wound is vastly better than having the arrow remain in the deer. If you make a head 3/4 to 7/8" wide by about 2 3/4" long , weighing 125 - 175 grains, and get it really sharp, it will kill any deer in North America if properly placed in the vitals. Even with a 40# bow. By all means , have at it. John

Thanks for the warm welcome. I live along the Delaware River, way off the beaten path in the wilds of NW New Jersey,in the Delaware Watergap National Rec area. I'm beyond the effective range of a normal DSL internet connection so its impossible for me to upload photos from home. Perhaps my kid can do it from college, but I'm basically an analog guy in a digital world. I live just a few miles from Peter's Valley craft village which offers blacksmithing classes which I'm too cheap to attend, but I've been invited to check out their shop, which I plan on doing soon. I have a pretty well equiped bow shop where I've been making laminated recurve and longbows for the last 4 years.I guide for muskies and walleyes,and I'm also an electrician to finance my other money-pit businesses. I look forward to being a part of this forum. Thanks again. John

Greetings: I recently attended a traditional archery shoot where someone put a tomahawk in my hand. I stuck it in a stump and was instantly hooked. Shortly thereafter I rigged up a forge from a brick lined Weber grill with a sheet metal hood and a shop vac blower with a couple of waste gates to control air flow. I purchased some hammers and chisles, a used anvil, a hawk drift, flux and some books. I scrounged up some steel and made a couple half decent knives. I sucessfully forge-welded some practice pieces then botched a few attempts at wrapped hawks, but learned a few things about making coal fires. I just finished my first drifted hawk and am pleased with the results despite some hammer marks left after grinding. Just wanted to say thanks for the vast amount of knowledge and expertice in this forum. I currently know so little that I don't even know what questions to ask, but I'm learning. Thanks again. John