Will Brouwers Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 Hello all, a friend and I are making a pair of axes. This is my first time trying to do this, and I don’t know how to proceed. The eyes are too long, so I was going to try and upset them to make them more round, and then put a drift through them to make them the right size, but the cheeks are very thick. Should I try to thin out the cheeks? And should I do this with a cross pein or fuller, or just the flat hammer face? Also, the transition from the cheeks to the blade of the axe seems too thick to me, but I wonder if thinning out the cheeks would help with that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goods Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 Will, do you have a good hatchet/axe drift. Drifting and drawing the cheeks is basically where I would go next. (I don’t start on the blade until after I’ve done at least the initial drifting.) The punched holes don’t look too big to me, but you may have a hard time straightening the one on the right. For the transition from the eye to the blade, just draw it down to where you want it and if the blade gets too long, just cut it back. Just my thoughts… Keep it fun, David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Brouwers Posted March 21 Author Share Posted March 21 David, Thanks for responding! When I was writing this I was thinking about your axes and hatchets and hoping I would get your wisdom and expertise! I am putting the cart before the horse with this project. I was (naively) hoping that I wouldn’t need a drift, or that I could get by without one. I do have a marlin spike that I use as a drift and a smaller round drift. I was also trying to forge out an axe drift, so I will continue doing that. Thanks for the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goods Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 Unfortunately, if you going for a typical elongated teardrop eye (especially with the cheeks drawn down into “lugs”) I don’t think there is a reliable way to forge that shape without a drift. They are not hard to make, but I broke down and ordered a new set (hand held & progressive segment set) from Holland Anvil. My 4140 drift didn’t hold up well to the power hammer drawing the lugs… I’m expecting the H13 will hold up considerably longer. I’ve got several blanks forged out, but haven’t had a chance to work on them yet. If I can find my notes from when I was planning my last hatchets, I’ll take a picture and post it here. (Most of the time I will plan my forging steps out on a quartered piece of paper in detail, then refer to those notes when forging. This provides me with target dimensions and keeps me from jumping ahead, but I generally use the notes as a guide, not a rule.) Keep it fun, David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Brouwers Posted March 21 Author Share Posted March 21 I have considered getting a set of their drifts! think my plan is to use some big round drifts that I have and just make the eye like a hammer eye. So I will still be able to thin the cheeks of the axe out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goods Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 It took me a while to find any notes from making hatchets, but the way this is laid out is my typical approach to forging something I need to think through. Note: this doesn’t include any of the tweaking that needs done just to keep everything in alignment and clean. It’s just the major steps I tried to follow to get where I wanted to go… This plan was written with using my power hammer, and I’ve made several hatchet specific tools over the past couple years. At this point, I need to remake some of the tooling… I hope this proves useful. Keep it fun, David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Brouwers Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 Thanks for sharing that David!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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