my first hawk

[edge9001]

I made a hawk from a ballpeen hammer for my nephew, Jamie. After my brother saw it he said Jaie couldn't have it. I asked him before starting and he said yes, then I finished and he said no...all that hard work. Now I have myself a nice hawk.
This is my first try at making any bladed thing. I love it, there are a few hammer marks on the blade side I couldn't get out, but I can over look them. then there are some hammer marks on the hammer side I decided to leave. I think they make it look interesting.

my second blade was a knife kmade from a lathe chisel I had a tempering issue and the tang broke off. its one the scrap pile until I decide it's time to learn to forge weld.

my next try at a hawk was a RR spike hawk also my first attempt at hot cutting. When I cut the eye hole, my cut was off center, and then the socket broke. I think I waited too long before returning it to the fire.

I guess I get to learn from my mistake by having everything break. lol.
when these thing broke I stopped working on them, to finish or retask the metal later
sorry my pics aren't the best

[wathomas]

Tim---thanks for taking time to post pictures. The one you finished from the ball pien has a nice shape. You have figured out the the issue with slitting/punching the eye so clearly you learned from that one too.

With tempering , I have broken a fair share of mostly wood carving chisels (worked from disgarded coil springs)...it happens and doesn't take a thing away from the learning if you have watched the color you will have a better idea how to work that particular steel.

Sometimes can be useful to harden by cooling locally....just submerging the end or edge you want hard into the quench...this will keep the sections you want less brittle (like the tang of your knife or even back edge) softer. Another useful aid can be the oven...using an oven for 45 minutes to hour I can usually sneek up on a color amd draw pretty evenly the full length a straw or bronze. Typically set the oven at 405F to 425F (...varies by spring). But if I want a chisel that I will be hitting regularly with a maul or hammer I will sometimes still draw by torch or using the forge so I can let the colors go blue near the handle and only have the end straw.

[edge9001]

thanks, I appreciate the comments. Next I think I'm going to go look for some items to build me a small propane forge for anealling purposes. OR... how would wrapping a heated piece of metal, say a knife or tomahawk, in some kaowool. Would that hold the heat in enough to anneal the material(ballpeen hammers heads and similar small pieces)?

[pjh66]

Looking good Tim. I find it fun making items that are to be usful tools
Nothing wrong with makeing mistakes if you learn by them.
You just learn what not to do. As they say practise makes perfect (I know I need heaps of it )

[edge9001]

Looking good Tim. I find it fun making items that are to be usful tools
Nothing wrong with makeing mistakes if you learn by them.
You just learn what not to do. As they say practise makes perfect (I know I need heaps of it )

I get to figure out how I messed this up. I took another lok at the cracked hole I cut. It looks as if the hot cut I twisted as it cut, as if while I hammered on it I pulled it towards one side and cut a curved hole. Not sure how this happened.

Oh!! I had a thought today(I know I know, hurry save it they don't come along too often) while at the local HD today I saw a masons chisel. it looks essentially like a flat bar with a chisel ground on one end, and the other slightly rounded for a striking surface. the package says its made from alloy tool steel(i wonder what alloy). I'm thinking this might be a good steel for a blade. as it already is used to made a chisel. Dunno. pretty sure its cheaper to but raw steel that a processed tool, but just a thought.

tim

[pkrankow]

thanks, I appreciate the comments. Next I think I'm going to go look for some items to build me a small propane forge for anealling purposes. OR... how would wrapping a heated piece of metal, say a knife or tomahawk, in some kaowool. Would that hold the heat in enough to anneal the material(ballpeen hammers heads and similar small pieces)?

The kaowool method has been suggested before, but for blade blanks you may need to include additional steel for thermal mass. For less money you can clean out your (or your neighbor's) woodburning fireplace into a small metal trash can and bury in the fluffy ash. Not as clean but works a treat. Still need to add thermal mass to small items by heating up some mild to go in with.
Phil

[edge9001]

The kaowool method has been suggested before, but for blade blanks you may need to include additional steel for thermal mass. For less money you can clean out your (or your neighbor's) woodburning fireplace into a small metal trash can and bury in the fluffy ash. Not as clean but works a treat. Still need to add thermal mass to small items by heating up some mild to go in with.
Phil

thanks. my ex-in-laws use a wood stove to heat their house, so guess I'll go pay em a visit. Since we are still speaking after the divorce. I'm sure they wont mind helping out...especially now with daily temps topping out around 95+, like they did today.

[pkrankow]

thanks. my ex-in-laws use a wood stove to heat their house, so guess I'll go pay em a visit. Since we are still speaking after the divorce. I'm sure they wont mind helping out...especially now with daily temps topping out around 95+, like they did today.

"Do you mind if I clean out your stove?" "Sure, no problem!"

Just remember that you need about 4 inches from both ends of the largest you plan to anneal when buried. Size your can accordingly.

Phil

[edge9001]

"Do you mind if I clean out your stove?" "Sure, no problem!"

Just remember that you need about 4 inches from both ends of the largest you plan to anneal when buried. Size your can accordingly.

Phil

well we are on more than good terms they all hate the ex as much as i do(oops did I just type that...lol) when she got arrested and convicted of child abuse they wrote her off. and yep that spretty much the way the conversation is going to go, except they will ask why, I'll tell them and the they will say yes.... or not i hope yes.

[wathomas]

I thought this topic had some clear explanation on various heat treat operations and might be worth checking out if you haven't seen it.

[edge9001]

I tried to make another RR spike hawk. This one was made for one of older boyscouts. He requested I not polish it, and to change the rr spike as little as possible to make a good hawk. I finnally figures out how to get the eye in the right place. I first drilled a series of 5 holes through the center, then hot cut the webbing between them, followed by drifting the hole to size.

this thing to me doesnt look finished but as they say the customer is always right.



as you can see the blade needs to be further filed/sanded and polished. but does make a handy hammer and the blade is well hardened and tempered. I've already tested it, it cut a 2x2 to kindling pretty fast, and still has a great edge.

[pkrankow]

Yep, its rough. The shape is nice. Overall I like it.

Phil

[edge9001]

I'm going to spend the day thursday and make a few more of them, perhaps I will have enough time to actually polish a few of them up pretty well. Of course I'll post pictures when I get them done, and during the process if my wife wants to work the camera.

[divermike]

In Mark Aspery's class he made a point which has helped me tremendously, when punching, make the first blow light, lift the punch and check where the mark is, this is the time to correct it, he repeated this time after time, and it sure stuck with me. His methodology is consistancy and accuracy, which I was sadly lacking, and because of his repetative instruction, I now have little trouble with lining up my punch holes. And 2 years later, I still find myself repeating his comment, check it, this is the time to correct it!!

[CurlyGeorge]

Tim, when I started slitting the spikes, I had trouble with them wanting to split out on one side. I was told, too, to first drill a small hole on each end of the cut, then cut it, That helped stop them from splitting out. Glad to hear that they're working out for you now. :)

[beslagsmed]

This is my first Hawk. It was from a ballpeen hammer in which the ballpeen head had been modified for farrier work, so the other end is not as big as it should be, but the blade turned out fairly well. Although no power hammer was abused in making this, my new Krusty did lend a hand in making it :D

[beslagsmed]

Ok, I got the pic loaded this time. I'm not as computer savy as some!!

[CurlyGeorge]

Mikel, that is a very nice looking hawk, especially for your first one. They'll only look better from here on. Thanks for sharing. :D

[beslagsmed]

Mikel, that is a very nice looking hawk, especially for your first one. They'll only look better from here on. Thanks for sharing.

It was a good exercise in figuring out how to work with my power hammer, how to hold my work and move it under the ram to get what I want.