Benton Frisse

Forged this quite somentime ago but finally finished. Not big on doing Damascus, but sometimes I feel lucky! 

130 layer, hickory handle. .5lb, 2 inch but, 4 inch head. Might keep it! 

That is a beautiful axe. Excellent work! 

Hi Stephen, if you still havent had much luck on this, I would urge you to check out Axe Junkies on Facebook. 30,000 members that are geared more towards the vintage axe restoration and collection ball game. Lots of knowledge on there as well. 

Thank you everyone for your kind words! I sincerely appreciate every single one. It has been quite the journey but it's only begun. 

I've decided to move to 1084 from 5160 because of how nicely it heat treats, forge welds, and has a great edge retention for hawks and small camp hatchets. 

The handles, I'm sourcing my ash from a local joint here in SW Indiana. Longer handles indont carve, but anything under about 20 inches i typically do. I can score 5/4 straight grain ash lumber for pretty cheap. Otherwise, a handle any bigger takes me longer to carve than it does to forge and finish the axe. I really, really like elm. It's my favorite to carve and hang axes on. Not as tough as ash or hickory but it performs well.  

Should be ordering my motor and pump next week for our 25t press, and then the real fun begins. I've done some heat treat testing of 4140 from tool steel service of California, excellent stuff. I'm really impressed with how it has performed as an axe. Super tough, stays sharp. Having the hard poll is nice, too. Punching eyes, for my personal preference, makes a bit cleaner lines than I can do by folding or doing the asymmetrical weld style. And it also makes a monster axe. 

Hey Folks! 

It's been quite some time since I've posted. Just thought I'd share a few goodies from recent orders. 

The snowy camp axe is mild with 5160 bit, the last of my axes with 5160. It is also a hand-carved ash handle.

The camp axe i'm holding is with a 1084 bit, and the long scandi axe, it's smaller hudson bay-ish partner are 4140. The 4140 axes are punched and drifted... I'm not a fan of doing this solo so we're building a 25t C frame press from Batson's book. Pretty excited to have it finished and start punching, drifting, and forging axes! 

The hawks are mild and 1084. I love 1084... it sticks SO nicely to A36. 

Cheers!

That Persian hunter is SEXY, man! 

Good clean eye punch and drift. Clean 'er up on the grinder and show us how it looks on a handle. Great work!

53 minutes ago, Buzzkill said:

It bears more than a passing resemblance to the Daedric dagger in Skyrim.  Not sure how practical it is, but it is some interesting eye candy.

I thought the same! I was like "Man, this is like a damascus version of the Daedric Dagger!" 
 

Hadara, fantastic work! 

True works of art. I hope that one day my work can look a fraction as nice as your work, Jim! 

Jim, this is beautiful! Stunning pattern and excellent execution of blended styles that normally wouldn't play well together. 

James, it's so awesome to see people rocking your gear with such pride. #snackbreak

Excellent work, can't wait to see the finished product!

 

Benton, you would be most welcome.

Thank you, Owen! One day!

FanTASTIC work, MP! 

Killin' it! Awesome stuff!

I find that leaf springs harden nicely in veggie oil. No toxic fumes. Buzz down to Sam's or GFS and buy a 5 gallon bucket of it. It'll go bad after a while, but I'd rather quench in Veggie oil than toxic-fuming stuff. Great work on your first project. Keep on forging, Bob! 

James, your stuff rocks! 

Good golly almighty, this is my favorite piece you've done! 

Love this! Hello from a fellow Hoosier! 

14 hours ago, Michael Cochran said:

Since you're obviously able to forge weld, may I make a suggestion? Instead of using thicker bar resulting in more drawing down the rest, why not weld on a piece at the back of the pole. Maybe welding on a piece of 1/2" after you get the steps forged in would be enough.  Never did it myself but I have seen mention of it somewhere.

That's a great idea! I had completely forgotten about that option, honestly. I think I will take this route next time. I have some 5160 that would weld nicely to it! Thanks, Michael.

Hi folks, sorry should have clarified what exactly I meant by restoration. I would like to clean the rust off of the blade, and some dark tarnishing has occurred from 70 years of people testing the edge with their fingers. I recently spoke with the president of the San Francisco Nipponto Society, and he seems to think it was a Chinese made sword. I am awaiting another appraisal for confirmation. 

If it is indeed a chinese made sword with not much value, I will clean the blade and polish it myself, since it probably isn't worth much besides sentimental value. The saya does not close properly. It's missing a tsuba, etc. I'd like to polish it and clean it up, keep the old mountings in safe storage, and carve a shirasaya for it to sit nicely next to my two iaito and one shinken on my wall. I would love to one day take it to the dojo and see how it cuts, even. It's a bit shorter than most, maybe 2.35 or 2.3 shaku. 

If it is worth something, regardless of it's origin, I will pay to have it polished professionally. 

21 hours ago, bobasaurus said:

Excellent axe.  Is it wrapped or punched?  I've never tried one, but really want to.  

Thanks, Bob! This is folded. I really like this style, I find it easier than punching eyes. I can get these a lot straighter. It can just be hard to get enough meat for the poll unless you swap up to larger stock, which I am contemplating. I think my next experiment will be with 5/8 x 1 1/2 x 10 or maybe even 3/4. 

Hey Folks! Does anyone have any Japanese blade appraisers that are recommended? I have come into possession of a WW2 officer's sword through my grandfather. No signature on the tang, no hamon, etc. Would like to know the age and value. If it's worth something, I'll have a professional restore it. if it's not worth much other than the priceless sentimental value, I'll restore it myself. 

Thanks! 

My god, Owen, this is stunning! My goal is to cross the pond and enroll in one of your classes one day. 

3 hours ago, Gergely said:

Hi BF,

Very nice and clean axe you have there! So nice it made me want to make one  

Apropo: I do all my axe HT-s the same way you described. It works pretty well and is easy.

Bests:

Gergely

Thanks, Gergely! Happy forging to you! Share photos of the one you make!