We took pics of this last build so I thought we would post them.Lisa sold this one the other day..
Start off with a 1" x 1 1/2" bar of mild steel..

First thing to do is make the eye..Here are the tools we use..A hand held hot slitter and a hammer.

Just started..

A "in the fire" pic..

Hot cut through both sides..

Opening the eye..


A spring swage in the hammer for drawing down the ears..

Ears drawn down..

Eye drifted to shape..

Poll cut to accept a cutting bit of 1075 steel..


All welded up with the edge trimmed away..You can see the 1075 between the layers of mild steel..

Shot of the eye..

Ready to anneal and grind on..

Getting ready to heat treat...

Heat treated,ground and ready to start assembling..

Heres a few finished pics..

VERY PRETTY! I like that shape. I don't like curly maple for handles though... it is too weak IMO. Pretty but weak.

I agree with you for the most part..Curly wood is weaker across the grain by its very nature and not as strong as straight grain..Customers have been wanting curly maple for the most part lately and you know the old saying "Customer is always right"..When your making for the wall hanger crowd and reenactor crowd if you dont work with curly woods you dont sell much..

Nice clean slit, I am having a heck of a time keeping mine nice and straight. only on my 3rd one though. Nice work.

That just takes practice friend..The creek in front of my shop is full of my failures,LOL

I really enjoy the pictures and info you give on the axes and tomahawks that you make. Keep up the good work!

Very nice, If the handle breaks I reckon you know where to get another..... :D

do you leave the drift in the eye for drawing out the ears?

I noticed that your slot punch is square tipped. Have you tried the Brazeal style point? If so, what advantage do you find with the square tip?

I'm also curious about the drift for drawing down the ears. What steel do you use for it? Mine get stuck something fierce.

What is the length of the bar you started with, you listed just the width and height.

Very awesome, heirloom quality I say!

Ok, yes you leave the drift in while forging down the ears..Its the flat drift. One used for opening up the initial hole.
yes, my hot cuts are square(with rounded corners)..Ive tried the other style and they work fine but this style seems to work better for us..Before I busted my back I could hot slit a 1" square bar of high carbon steel in two heats..One of those "aint broke, aint gonna try and fix it" things..Takes Lisa more heats of course..I cant really say their is an advantage to mine at all, we'er just practised with it..
I think that flat drift happens to be 4140..The final drift is just mild steel.

is the eye hourglaas shaped like for a hammer and then wedged? or is it straight sided but tapered like for a tomahawk and not wedged?

rthibeau,

It's probably wedged from the top since the unfinished handle picture shows how the wood flares just outside of the eye.

yea, its an hourglass shaped hole with the top wedged..

Nice little axe. I glad to know. I am not the only one uses flat edges with round corners on my slitters. People always looks at them and roll their eyes. It seems I can keep it straighter with them. Been using them like that for 25 yrs.

Thanks Stewart, its just the way I learned and the way Ive been teaching Lisa..Seems I always had an easier time keeping it straight too..

Beautiful axe. Great job!