monstermetal Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 I probably am not the first guy to think of this, I know there have been some really nice hammers with bat handles on eBay lately. Probably not many out there with scratch forged axe heads though. The axe is 4 pounds with a war club on the back, It is 5 layers thick with a full length 4340 core and sharp enough to shave with. A lot of fun. I bought three more bats and more are in the works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will52100 Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Cool, never thought of using a bat for a handle, looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 There is a reason that axes don't have round handles. How's your liability insurance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted July 16, 2014 Author Share Posted July 16, 2014 War axes have had round handles for thousands of years, and nobody is going to be chopping wood with a $600 fantasy axe. And for the record I have 2 million dollars of product liability insurance and won't be selling you one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 My great great Uncle died from blood poisoning when an axe glanced and took off his toe; having seen the idiocy folks have done with multi-thousand dollar custom swords I think you are too sanguine over a mere $600 axe never being used/abused. Humans have a positive talent in that direction especially when alcohol may be involved! Also the number of war axes with provable original handles is fairly low making researching the original shapes a bit dicey as so many of them have been re-hilted during the last 1000 years, (especially the Victorians that would sometimes remove an original handle to replace it with one that "looked cooler") Good that you are well insured; many people don't realize that a lot of folks' insurance requires them to sue third parties even when they don't want to; just to be covered. (And even if you win legal costs can bankrupt you.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted July 16, 2014 Author Share Posted July 16, 2014 There are countless examples of Viking axes with round eyes, there is little need to speculate on the shape of the handle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Quite easy to drawknife flats on a handle that has a round eye; we advise it for hammers on this site all the time. By assuming round you are speculating. I really do like the terminal knob though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benton Frisse Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 I like the warclub on the back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefflus Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Can't begin to say how glad I am that I live in a country where people are responsible for their own actions. And I'm not confident a couple of flats will make you strong enough and your reflexes quick enough to keep an axe from glancing if you do something silly with a limb in the way. The pointy end of the typical oval handle is supposed to be an index for feeling where the edge is. I find them painful when doing precision work, so for those axes I rasp it round and put my index finger down the side of the head. Log cabin axes sometimes have severely bent handles, this would give better leverage to stop the axe glancing, but I'm not sure that's why it's there. Nice axe, is the "hammer" end ground or forged? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Hewing axes use a handle bent out to prevent you from barking your knuckles when hewing round logs to rectangular Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted July 16, 2014 Author Share Posted July 16, 2014 The Viking axes have a round tapered eye with the large end up, it seats on the haft with this taper fit. The handle could have the sides of the round haft flattened but the handle still has to be round with no part larger than what will pass through the eye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted July 16, 2014 Author Share Posted July 16, 2014 You know this is much why I quit posting on IFI, a guy wants to come show his work, a pointless toy meant to just be fun and creative. Instead we get off on a tangent about liability, handle shape and everything that is "wrong"with what was done. It can't be wrong because it's not meant to do anything other than look cool. There is no other one to judge it against. How many axes have you forged this week Thomas? This site seems like it has a whole lot of folks who do very little blacksmithing telling those of us who forge every day how we did it wrong. It's why I quit posting here. I got mentally exhausted of justifying and explaining every hammer blow to a bunch of armchair critics. With the exception of Mike Bondi I have the largest artist blacksmith shop on the west coast. I have forged and heat treated over 50,000 tools. I have made over a thousand pair if tongs so far this year and this is probably the 100th or so axe. I don't know everything, I learn something every day, but it really is discouraging when you play show and tell and the response is "well that's dumb, hope you have good insurance". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted July 16, 2014 Author Share Posted July 16, 2014 Gerald You and Jim Austin have inspired me to try my hand at Viking style axes. Here is the one I was working on today. I got the 1095 bit welded in before it got too hot to play anymore. Maybe tomorrow I'll get it shaped the rest of the way and heat treated. And Thomas I know your a real guy and do real work. You have been around here for a long time. I dont mean to pitch a fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 I'm just cranky cause I'm working 12-14 hour days in hot noisy environments and fussing on the net is the closest I'm getting to forging this week---Though the site boss did mention noticing that more and more folks were getting hand forged cubicle hooks to hang their coats/laptop bags on... I'd be here all night if the border crossing didn't shut down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.J.watts Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 I have notices this as well at times. I'm a beginner and it can be very discouraging but the thing to remember is if you like it that's all that matters. Cratasism is good but not everyone like the same things. Take it all with a grain of salt and keep doing what you love. No since in letting someone you will probably never meet in person get under your skin. The axe looks good and I like the bat for the handle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.J.watts Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Most of the guys on here are very helpful and are a wealth of knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastRonin Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 I have learned to just take it as they are presenting a possible worst case scenario that whoever made the OP might not have thought about. Not necessarily saying the work was 'stupid'. Just that they saw a possibility of something detrimental to a fellow blacksmith happening and wanted to 'have your back' by pointing it out to you in case it was something that you might want to step back and go "hmmm" about. OR, you also always have the right (and I believe everyone on here respects that right) to sit back and think 'I don't care what X said... I like it and I'm doing it that way.' For my opinion, the "Bat'tle Axe" looks really neat. I'd love to see one with a more pronounced hammerhead on the backside too. Maybe even a mace version... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 My thought is that, with a bit of tweaking, it might work well as a splitting maul! In the style of Tom Clark's "Buster"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benton Frisse Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 On 7/16/2014 at 7:19 PM, monstermetal said: Gerald You and Jim Austin have inspired me to try my hand at Viking style axes. Here is the one I was working on today. I got the 1095 bit welded in before it got too hot to play anymore. Maybe tomorrow I'll get it shaped the rest of the way and heat treated. And Thomas I know your a real guy and do real work. You have been around here for a long time. I dont mean to pitch a fit. That's a nice looking ax. I like viking axes. A lot. I've seen where people drift and shape the whole thing, and some that fold. Which did you do for that little gem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Though the site boss did mention noticing that more and more folks were getting hand forged cubicle hooks to hang their coats/laptop bags on... I'd be here all night if the border crossing didn't shut down. Cool, Please post a pic or two of these, I'm always trying to find ways of inducing hand forged iron work into the cubicle enviornment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstar.esq Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Michael, I read your response and the very first thing I thought of was Monster's Slugger Axe at work in the cube farm! I don't know if you've seen the movie "Office Space" but there's a scene where three office guy's take an office printer out to a field and work it over with a bat. If there's a device that causes more office frustration than a printer, I've never encountered it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 No, I meant the cubicle hooks, though Office Space has bit of a cult following around here. The red stapler is currently chained to the wall in the copy room. When a printer here was due to be trashed (stripped plastic gears, years out of warrenty) we took turns nudging it, by tiny increments, towards the end of the table, the person who pushed it over the edge, smashing on the tile floor, had to buy lunch. Sort of like office JENGA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstar.esq Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 I've heard Vegas has a company that rents heavy equipment time on a "playground" where folks can go out and crush stuff. Perhaps there's a market for printer "recycling" to give people some stress relief. Must look into that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted July 19, 2014 Author Share Posted July 19, 2014 Here is a pic of the bearded axe fininished up. I think it turned out pretty good. Not sure how the 1095 bit will hold up, Might be a bit high carbon for a axe bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 The 1095 should work very well! IME many rotary mower blades are made of it! Your heat treatment is the critical thing... high carbon is GOOD! For an impact tool just temper a bit softer... it will still be more durable than a lower carbon steel! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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