MilwaukeeJon

Please post pics if you do split it open.

Good that you left a hefty amount of steel to work with after the weld. I got rather thin on my first few.

Do the bolts spark differently from one another on a grinder? Also, be very careful with that break test. That piece can fly off like a bullet in any direction.

How heavy? And do you know the specific maker and year of production?

Fantastic! Fantastic!

While the price may be high, a key point here is that it is a gift for your Dad. What a nice thing to do! Does your Dad like vintage tools over new ones? Would he particularly prize a Wright anvil?

I’ve done a few with 8670 which seems to be a good steel for this purpose. Info from Alpha Knife Supply: “This steel is used extensively in the lumber industry for making large circular saw blades. The nickel add toughness and there is enough carbon for good edge holding. There is not enough nickel to make a good shiny layer in damascus. Think of 8670 as an improved version of 5160, better toughness and edge holding.”

Seems to be very common in both folded and drifted ax bodies to to taper down to a thin edge where the similarly tapered bit gets welded. I definitely will keep on practicing....

Thanks for the suggestions. Still working out the ax welding approach that works best for me (and my forge). Maybe this is common but I find that the thin edges of the slit end of the body don’t tend to weld so well. As a result there is a bit of grinding or filing to get back to a solid weld.

I’ve been making more axes recently and so far have used 1080, 1080+, 5160, 1045, and 1084 as bits. Any thoughts on which is the easiest to forge weld (in a gas forge) to a 1018 ax body or do they all generally weld the same?

Nicely done!

JHCC, what size was the stock, what kind of steel, and what was the finished size?

Great thread. My new treadle hammer (a prototype by a maker who may go public once his design/construction is dialed in) has nearly 50lbs of lead in the head. It is fun getting to learn the tool and certainly when doing fullering/flatting this machine can greatly speed up what I can do with a hand hammer. Still I love having the option to either use a hand hammer, which can offer a very different type of control and power. On another recent project, drew out the tang for a knife on the treadle and it was so easy. Far more efficient movement of the steel per heat than with a hand hammer, and far cleaner result because of the flattness of each blow. Looking forward to doing more piercing, cutting, and drifting to see how that does as well. Expect that to be far easier on my arm and faster as well. Will never crush big pieces of steel anywhere near as well as a power hammer or a hydraulic press....not even close! But it is going to be an arm saver for me in the months and years to come. Ahead, I will need to make some additional smaller flat dies to help target the blow (1 1/2" top and bottom will be good for me) and make also some some rounded/angled dies for specific fullering. Already made a little angled fuller for setting the initial V-shaped grooves on a folded axe billet. Fun stuff!

Thanks

Thanks Buzzkill. I've never used an electric welder and am looking for a solution that is really easy and inexpensive for this small scale stack/rebar handle work.