A gentlemen contacted me about making a pipe hawk, purelyfor tobacco use I'm sure lol, anyways I suggested he make one out of a ball end hammer. Then he asked if it was safe to smoke out off, because he had heard that some metals are bad for you. Any ideas on if the hammer woud be "healthy" to use?

I smoked with my pipe hawk made from steel and curly maple way back when and I'm still here.........Was it ''healthy''? Probly not.... :lol:

You're smoking tobacco...it's unhealthy to begin with. But then again, working a forge all day, especially a coal one, is bad for you too. Pick your poison I suppose.

So long as there's no heavy metals involved to burn off, it should be relatively safe. Though I have heard that a metal pipe doesn't smoke the same as, say, a good briar. Not being a smoker, I couldn't say for certain.

I put a lot of thought into posting that smiley face and DO NOT appreciate it being removed

MIKE TANNER

I put a lot of thought into posting that smiley face and DO NOT appreciate it being removed

MIKE TANNER

There, there, you can have mine...... :)

I saw a pipe hawk at a show where the bowl part was threaded and screwed into the hawk head.  The advantage was that the bowl could be removed for throwing.  I suspect stainless steel tubing like they use for medical gasses would be pretty good for the bowl.  Just an idea.

I saw a pipe hawk at a show where the bowl part was threaded and screwed into the hawk head.  The advantage was that the bowl could be removed for throwing.  I suspect stainless steel tubing like they use for medical gasses would be pretty good for the bowl.  Just an idea.

Why would you want to throw the bowl? :)

I saw a pipe hawk at a show where the bowl part was threaded and screwed into the hawk head.  The advantage was that the bowl could be removed for throwing.  I suspect stainless steel tubing like they use for medical gasses would be pretty good for the bowl.  Just an idea.

Sounds like an excuse to justify a work around, aka lack of forging ability.

Some of the originals had an iron body and a brass bowl. Some have a forged iron body and a turned bowl. Either of these would be threaded.

 

The only advantage to ever be gained from removing the bowl of a pipe hawk would be for cleaning (when it comes to smoking, a clean pipe is a happy pipe).

 

I seriously doubt the originals saw much throwing.

Some of the originals had an iron body and a brass bowl. Some have a forged iron body and a turned bowl. Either of these would be threaded.

 

The only advantage to ever be gained from removing the bowl of a pipe hawk would be for cleaning (when it comes to smoking, a clean pipe is a happy pipe).

 

I seriously doubt the originals saw much throwing.

In the past ability and willingness to work hard was at times lacking as well.

This is one of Alan Longmire's pipehawks:

 

http://contemporarymakers.blogspot.com/2010/06/alan-longmire-pipe-ax.html

 

The bowl is either threaded or brazed in. I wouldn't accuse him of having a lack of ability or an unwillingness to work hard.

 

That's kinda like saying a swordsmith is slacking because his blade, guard and pommel are not all integrally forge or that a riflemaker is lazy because his barrel and lock are two seperate pieces.

No not exactly.  I think some are a bit forge shy they will stick with procedures they feel safe using. The integral bowl represents a higher level of skill and integerity.  Dont get me wrong its a wonderful hawk but the one thing my eye wants to see is the fillet under the bowl not a seem where the bowl has been screwed in.  What really inspires me is a craftsman is willing to take the risk of doing a dificult forging.   Doing it hot is doing it with out a net.  Relying on stock removal to do the hard parts takes away some of the wonder and meaning behind a traditional hand made object.  I should say also that I am not capable of producing a hawk at that level of finish but this is my opinion viewing it as an art object.

 

FYI

 

This is a picture of a 2012 painting of me as a dancer. I've been a powwower since 1949, and I've studied many Native artifacts including pipe tomahawks. I've made maybe a half dozen pipe tomahawks. I used as a guide Milford Chandler's Appendix in Harold Peterson"s American Indian Tomahawks." Chandler's Appendix shows different methods of forging and making pipe tomahawks. Chandler was the biggest collector of Indian artifacts in the U.S. during his time. I met Chandler in Detroit, Michigan, where he had an antique gun and Indian artifact shop. He said that in the early 1900's, he was collecting Winnebago medicine bags which are sacred, and some of the warriors came after him. He escaped by the skin of his teeth. Wow!

 

As a child, Chandler would hang out at a local blacksmith shop and watch the smiths make pipe tomahawks. His memories were eidetic and he was able to later write about what he saw. There was a method of threading on the bowl, but I have never seen a museum pipe made like that. My first two pipe tomahawks were made of a medium carbon steel octagonal gun barrel. This barrel was a reject because the bore was not centered and it was sold cheaply. By necking with fullers, the smith demarcates the bowl from the eye at the same time reducing the interior hole to about 1/8". The other hawks I made were forged of Swedish charcoal iron, a very high quality wrought iron that very seldom splits lengthwise if handled properly. The bowls were drilled out. The eyes were slit/drifted and file steel was laid in for the cutting edge. Lots of pipe tomahawks had a false pedistal filed out on the bowl.

 

The pipe tomahawks I've seen were carefully and beautifully made. Chandler suggested that they were not thrown, but were more of a prestige item. For example, a man would carry it on his arm when, say, welcoming guests into his lodge. The pipe could also be smoked and passed around as a good will gesture when all were seated.

Thanks for the insight and information Frank.

 

I want to be clear that I was not implying that there are not historic examples of integral pipe hawks. There are many, and many of them are finely done. However some of them are not.

 

There are also cast brass examples, some with steel bits dovetailed in. There are some with iron heads and brass bowls. There are some excellent pieces (significant historic pieces) with the bowl brazed in. The ones I am most familiar with are Eastern 18th Century pieces. The gun barrel thing seems to have evolved in the West at a slightly later period. Again, there are some dandy surviving examples as well as some not-so-dandies.

 

My point is this: because a craftsman chose to turn his bowl perfectly round and then spend several hours doing ornate filework on it and then braze it (or thread it) to the head such that the joint is virtually invisible... well, I wouldn't label him as "forge shy", a novice, or a slacker.

 

For a presentation grade piece, any method is going to require some degree of stock removal.

   When they were
traded to the Indians they commonly had no handle (at least the common ones like
the one I made). Google pipe tomahawk images and you'll see many versions of
the one(s) I made because it was among the most common patterns used for
trade, which is just what the NPS wanted for the General Store re
creation at Bent's Fort and I made 15 for them. The Indians had plenty of time to sit in their teepees and
whittle away. The hole could be burned through, drilled or a branch could be
split and then gouge a channel down either side, then put back together
(like a blow gun) and wrapped with wire or rawhide. I doubt they were
ever thrown with that much work involved but they were used for
fighting.....I love the 'love/hate' symbolism of these weapons.

  The piece in the pic is forged from a .50 cal gunbarrel with a bird's eye maple handle.