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Showing results for tags 'Tomahawk'.
Found 21 results
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Here are a couple of hawks I just finished. Both were forged from old ballpeen hammers. -
This was filmed way back in May just after I made the tomahawk mandrel video.. I haven't been feeling inspired to produce videos so this video has minimal edits. 1 to be exact. Been to busy with other things. I left in all the mistakes. which I usually do. It's part of the fun. -
I made this hawk out of an old single jack starter steel. I have a hand full I have came across the years in mining. With it probly being over a hundred years old I can’t be certain what the alloy is. It had a complex spark and hardened when oil quenched and drew a light straw temper. “File Skated” only time will tell how it will hold an edge. I figured that if it can cut rock it will handle wood.
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how do you get the weeping heart in a tomhawk?
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Been getting ready for the Teaching Tent at this year's conference. I've settled on the flavor of tomahawk for the workshop. I started with 10 inches of 1 1/4 by 1/4 and used a bit of high carbon for the performance edge. Next step is time with the belt sander. Once I have the story board made, I'll post photos of that. For teaching I find I like (if practical) to have both a story board and step by step samples for folks to look and handle. Nothing answers a question, like being able to pick up and look at the next step :-)
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Some throwers made out of old carpenters hammers. Each is different, as experimenting with shape- the one closest is my sons fav- he's 17 and was the striker and helper. Eyes were drifted bigger, trad hammer wedge - next set i make will be tapered eyes like a pick axe/ regular hawk. Rudimentary heat treat in oil from critical, tempered by heating eye till the edge was brown- not very hard a file will bite but still hard enough to resist a bit of misuse. The short handle is from old hammer and the other 2 were the bar from a closet. Rasped, hand sand, fire and oil finish Great fun so far- not my nicest work, but we just wanted to play!
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Here's the newest one I just finished I have two more left to do handles for. I started with 4 1/2" of axel and went from there. Definitely going to make a few more out of the axel as it was relatively easy to work and took a nice heat treatment and stayed hard so there was no need to forge weld a higher carbon bit in. I quenched in 100degree motor oil at around 1500 degrees and tempered in the oven for two hours at 360. It's slightly modeled to be a smaller variation of the Kentucky or Ft. Meigs belt ax. The handle is hickory. Please let me know what ya think and any suggestions or criticism is welcome!
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Here is a wrench axe I made for my brother for a Christmas gift. He specifically wanted it to be a made from a wrench. He came across a you tube video of the one Miller Knives posted and thought it was cool but I thought I would do something a little more different. I then searched and found the largest wrench I could find on Ebay. I do need to get the Axe back to maybe doing a leather wrap handle and perhaps even a sheath. It weighs about 5 pounds and the cutting edge is 6 inches. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.
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Ok so this is my first attempt at forging a small axe. Some friends of mine have recently taken up the hobby of axe throwing and everyone there uses these off the shelf home depot hatchets. So I wanted my friends to stand out a little bit. This was made using a bell pien hammer head. I forged out the whole thing by hand although I wish I had a press for the end even just to make the thing a little easier to hold onto with my tongs. I had to start out by holding the piece through the eye and started working out the axe and of it. This was definitely a mistake as I just couldn’t get a decent grip so a lot of my time was wasted fiddling with the hold I could get. Once I had the blade shaped I had initially intended to cut off the back part of the hammer but then I saw I picture online of an axe with a spike and I loved it so I drew that out. Quickly I realised that a square taper at the back was super easy to hold with my v bit tongs and so I forged the spike halfway and worked way more on the blade which helped out immensely with straightening out the blade and getting it to a shape I liked. Once that was done I finished forging out the spike. I used an angle grinder with a 40 grit flap disk to take out most of the deep hammer marks. I had never used the angle grinder before but it worked really well. Finally I heated up the whole thing to an orange heat and quenched the blade about half way up into the oil for a few seconds until the temp on the spike was a red then I dunked the rest of it into the oil. I still need to clean off the oil residue and put an edge on it but overall I like the shape so far.
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I picked up some large Ball Peen Hammers, I've found lots of info already on forging them into Tomahawks... Question: My Ball Peens seem to have a variety of hole diameters for the handle, all of which seem small for a Hawk. Do most people use a drift to enlarge the original hole for a hawk? Thanks...
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I have a railroad spike that I found a little while ago and after a little thought I finally decided to make a tomahawk out of it. This will be my first hawk and I thought someone here might have some tips/advice that would make it easier for me. Any pictures/advice are greatly appreciated. Thanks! P.S.- My current forge is pretty small, as is my anvil, and I do not own a power hammer, although I know someone who does if it is absolutely needed. Just some extra info :)
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Hello, I Forge Iron community! So happy to join! I have a few questions, as I'm new to forging axes (but utterly obsessed). 1. I am considering a project where I pattern weld some coil spring steel together to use as a carbon insert tip for folded hawks. As long as my welds are solid (I know, I know. Easier said than done, right?) I shouldn't have any trouble with splitting or anything, right? I'm hoping to be able to see the pattern welded layers on the tip of the hawk. I think I've seen this before? 2. I'm all about recycling and upcycling steel. Generally, are lawn mower blades high carbon? Or are they just a bit harder than hot rolled or cold rolled steel? I've been given 3 of them from a zero-turn mower (and if they're carbon, I have more on the way). 3. I'm interested in forging historical blades, mainly from the Viking era. I'd like to forge mainly axes, but long blades and seax would be fun, too. Other than just giving it a whirl (in which I've gave a few stabs at), are there any literature pieces that you as a community like to refer people to? I have some in my library now, but always looking to expand :) 4. I've been hammering and smithing for about 2 years now, but only started forging and finishing axes in the last 6-7 months or so. I'm looking for some good chisels to do some metal carving/engraving into ax heads. Do you, as a community, have any that you find to be tried and true? Best recommendations? Thanks so much! Happy hammering! -Benton
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Had a nice weekend and got some hours in on the forge. Amongst the projects: - fixed the parts for a messed up dragon doorknocker - forged some copper wings for it. (one part will take soldering) - toyed with forging aluminum for the first time - modified a hammer into a diagonal peen - just barely began a knife from a little chunk of file (got tired, didn't finish) - made an oogly nail header and a few nails - couple of new punches - did some hammer and hardy tool holders for my stump, - straightened and started grinding/filing a ballpeen tomahawk. (yeah, it's got some fuller marks to take out, but hey, it's a first.) - worked on my bulldog bottle openers, definitely better. They ain't perfect, but they're mine. Also spent some time with the umm, whatta ya call 'em....wife and kids? I'll can always sleep when I'm dead. How was your weekend? -
I've been playing with my new tomahawk drift the past few days on the forge... there's a little bit of a learning curve getting everything tight and decent looking (or what passes for it in my shop), but I've had lots of fun. I messed up the first time and spread the bit too thin before slitting to steel the bit, but decided to finish it out, assuming correctly that I'd mess up something else along the way. This one taught me a lot about keeping the eye the way I want it and forming the blade. The second hawk was better, steeled the bit with 1095 at the same time that I brought the sides together. My gas forge is a little cool for welding mild steel (I think I need to reline it, bought it used), but I got it to weld. This was a gift to a friend. The third hawk was made on my coal forge, so the welds are a lot better. I think the shape is better too. I welcome any feedback. -
Hey Guys, today Henrick and I forged our first rail road spike tomahawk. It has a welded-in cutting edge from coil spring steel. It is hardened and tempered. It has some welding failuirs in the blade but it holds firmly and has a very sharp cutting edge. Bare with us, as I said this was the first tomahawk he and I made. Take it easy guys! - Daniel
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I'm trying to harden and temper a tomahawk made from a ball peen hammer head. I have no idea when or from what the head was made from. I assume tool steel, definetely carbon steel. It was heavily rusted when I rescued it. I don't have an original picture but I have a couple after the first session. I annealed it and want to get it back to at least it's original hardness. I'm not sure what temp or how long to oven temper it. I'm considering a coal forge tempering and quench. Do you quench when you bring a piece out of the oven when tempering? I've been reading a little on this but I have not found a lot on oven tempering. Thanks in advance for any advice. This is the first piece I'm really trying to get the hardness and toughness right. The guy I'm making the hawk for says it's for display but I think it might get used, especially by his three boys. Here are some in process pics. I thought I would add some pics but for some reason I cannot upload them. I tried both loaders but no luck. Thanks, BTKS -
I am finishing up a blade to be used in an axe or spear that I made from a lawnmower blade. Its 13 inches long, 2 inches wide, & 1/4 inch thick. Of the 13 inches long, 9 will be blade. The tang goes 4 inches into the handle. The weight is 1 pound, 10.3 ounces. My issue is that I can’t seem to find a guide on what proportions a blade should be to the handle. I don’t want to mount it and then have to take apart again over and over if its not right. Any suggestions, videos, books, or places I can look? Thanks for the help. -
Howdy, I found some plans online for a tomahawk when I was rooting around. This is my attempt thus far, I have finished the rough figure, but I still have to drift it open for the handle and clean up the shape. Tell me what you think, and any advice on drifting it would be welcome, as this will be my first attempt at doing so. I started with a run of the mill RR spike Then I cut the point off Next I upset the end to allocate the necessary metal to form the head, It was upset to about one inch square. I proceeded to fuller the head out. I continued to fuller it with a vertical cross peen until I reached my present state. I plan to use a punch to help start the drift for the handle, then clean up the form of the piece itself.
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Had a hard day at the forge so far, i started by making a new spring fuller that i am quite happy with. then i decided to start a couple hawks, there is where the problem starts.... what kind...how big....what steel....maybe WI? well i settled on some 3/4" mild that i would weld a bit into, i went to drill the holes to line up the slitter and broke 2 drill bits, oops, then forgot the mild in the fire when my mom called me into the house for a minute...great start all over, then i couldnt stick the weld... finally weld was done went to slit and my slitter cracked, drift....what drift? i dont have a hawk drift yet.... i give up come inside and now am typing this.... Josh the frustrated :/
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I forged out the rough shape of 2 rail road spike tomahawks today, tomorrow I'll slit one with the hot chisel, and maybe order a drift. Is it better to slit then shape to preferred handle diameter? Or just buy the drift set?
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I got ahold of some pretty rough coal, it finally rained and I started the forge with a sheet of newspapaer as usual, about 15 minutes after the yellow and green smoke dissapeared, and the fire burned down enough, I put a rail road spike in the fire to heat. When I went to take the spike out, the bloomin' thing stuck to my tongs! To my absolute surprise, the spike and my tongs were stuck together with a clinker. I am now looking into ordering a 1/2 ton of coal. Best places to get coal, shoot...
