Teebs Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 So I thought it would be a good idea to forge a hatchet out of a piece of 1" round O1 by hand. First I made a handle drift out of mild steel, made a Brian Brazeal style slitting chisel from a piece of coil spring and made a new pair of tongs. I then broke the chisel and had to make a new one! The first chisel was not normalized or annealed and when it broke the grain size was quite large, good learning experience. I squared up one end of the stock and upset the other end for the blade, as you can see from the pics it is not very symmetrical as the stock was a bit too long. Hammering this O1 by hand was brutal! I really wished I had a power hammer after a couple hundred hits with a 4 lb hammer and still lots to go.... I still need to shape, sharpen and heat treat. I am not overly happy with the handle drift dimensions but I will make a handle to fit and see how it works. Feel free to comment, I need to figure out the best way to upset the stock to make a larger beard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cdworks Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Awesome! Cant wait to see it finished! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan C Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 That looks nice! Here is one I just did from an HC rr spike. I need to snug up the eye on the handle. Have you seen Mark Asprey's video or the one Autine uploaded? You will likely get some ideas there. One common thing in both of these videos is the head of the axe is not high carbon, but a bit for the blade is forge welded in later. This makes sense for forging, functionality and safety reasons as an axe head is going to flex and need to be tough. If it doesn't it could shatter and become a hazard. '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 To upset stock you need to localize heat just in the area you wish to bump up.Not easy to do in a gasser...yoiu did not say wot you use. Think about using a piece of modelin clay the size of your stock and forming it so you know wot it will take to get the size yoi wish from it. And since youi had a time forging the metal youi chose,,,do not expect bumping it up to reduce youir work load...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 i wonder since youi told us how long it took with your hammer to shape this piece..if youi have good forging basics? Are youi forging with a flat faced hammer on a flat bottom die?,,,that is the hard way...If the hammer is too heavy for you it will lead to porr swings and increaded work load. I ask as I do not know what your level of experince is at this time. in the early sessions of the knife making lessons we covered how to move metal in as easy a way as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted June 19, 2013 Author Share Posted June 19, 2013 Rich, you speak the truth, I am a beginner at blacksmithing. I have been at it for 5 months since I had taken a basic blacksmithing weekend course. I am using a home made propane forge and most of this hammering was done with a 4 lb hammer that one face I dressed as slightly rounded. I should have been using the horn of the anvil now that I think of it, it would have forged the metal more efficiently. I most often use a 2 lb cross pien hammer but for this I switched to the heavier hammer but I don't think I saved any effort! I will definitely do more research in the knife making forum. Funny thing is with the mild steel you can get away with forging on the flat face and a flat hammer ( with smaller stock) but the larger stock and the tool steel will give you a workout, and make you realize how inefficient your effort actually is! Dcraven, did you purchase a hawk drift? I would like to buy one that will give that nice taper for a hawk type handle. My drift is more like a standard hammer handle which is what I think I will use on mine. Stay tuned for the completed piece, my arm feels pretty good so I will give a new one a shot after doing some more practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harris Snyder Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 So I thought it would be a good idea to forge a hatchet out of a piece of 1" round O1 by hand. Sounds like a great idea :) I just made a hot cut chisel by hand out of part of an axe head. I dunno exactly what it is, but it's tool steel, cause the axe didn't have a welded in bit, and it hardened up nicely when quenched. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan C Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Teebs, I did buy the hawk drift & some handles from Kayne & Sons. I had someone asking to buy and since I'm new to smithing didn't want to take the time & frustration to forge my own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cdworks Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Dc how's that drift work for you? I have one coming in today. Any tips? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan C Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Tips from me...take them with a grain of salt, this is only the first time of done this, but here's what I learned and what to improve on. Head bolt tongs sure would've sure made the forging go better. I need to revisit the dimensions of the slit punch that I made. Is it correct to say the width of the slot made should be 1/2 the distance of the circumference, ie. 1 1/4" circumference needs a slot 3/4" wide? I read that in some postings which seems right, but then in this one, '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>> It says the width should be the same as the circumference. As said, first time slitting & drifting but that would seem to be too much. Maybe I'm reading it wrong. I saw where it was suggested to pre-drill a center hole for the slit punch which helps centering the slot. Don't know if that's necessary, but I was going to try it. Mine turned out okay, but could've used some improvement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cdworks Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 I only have about a 1/2" hole... Guess i have some work to do this weekend Making a slit punch. I have to find something to make it out of first :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnailForge Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 This makes sense for forging, functionality and safety reasons as an axe head is going to flex and need to be tough. If it doesn't it could shatter and become a hazard. It could shatter, but would most likely do so when the sharp bits were already stuck in something. I've read about people felling a tree with a frozen axe, and having a half-moon break out of the edge when it thunked into the wood. That is certainly annoying, but not that dangerous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan C Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 I can see that as far as the edge being too hard, I test my knife points by hammering them into wood and then twisting them out. I guess unlike a hammer that's striking metal on metal an axe head would probably just crack if not tempered enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted June 20, 2013 Author Share Posted June 20, 2013 I have differential tempered the head, used the oven for tempering the entire piece then while keeping the blade in water I used a torch on the eye and poll to "soften" some more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted June 21, 2013 Author Share Posted June 21, 2013 Finished product, don't really like the shape as it is a bit long, but it shaves hairs and it doesn't feel too bad in the hand. I cheated a bit and used a store bought hickory hammer handle, but next time I will try a dedicated hawk drift and hawk handle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted June 23, 2013 Author Share Posted June 23, 2013 A kydex sheath for the big nosed hatchet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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