A custom spike tomahawk from Coal Creek Forge and Steve Liley

Ranger1

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For those of you who did not know, Steve has retired. A true gentleman and craftsman that I had many communications with and I ended up with several of his wonderful tomahawks.

This is a steel version of my thoughts of the ideal spike tomahawk. I like simplicity and I never saw any use for the long curved spikes that so many use, so this was Steve’s interpretation of my idea. The only modification I have made to this was to grind out the eye to accommodate a larger diameter handle. I made the handle myself using some nice maple that Steve supplied to me. I used a small plane and cut it down from a rough blank. The head is tightly fitted and approximately 1 inch of wood is seen above the eye. I finished the handle by sanding it smooth and then coating it with aqua fortis to bring out the stripes in the maple. I used alternating applications of aqua fortis and then steel wool to smooth up the whiskers and then carefully moving it over a stove burner, more aqua fortis and I continued the process until the color was to my liking. Then, I gave it several coats of linspeed. The result is quite nice. This is a lightweight and very fast handling hawk. The finish is fire blued, however the steel is rather hard and it did not take that well. It could stand sharpening and there are some light scratches from some cursory woodcutting. Steve’s “SL” is stamped on the bottom of the head.

The head dimensions are 7.25 inches in length and the blade is 2.25 at its widest. The spike is .75 inches in width and approximately 1.5 inches at its longest. You can see that the handle is a bit larger in diameter from the photos. The handle length is 21.75 inches and the circumference on this larger diameter handle is 4.5 inches and it tapers to 4.25 inches at the butt.

I have numerous other photographs if you would prefer other views. In the "family photo" below, this hawk is the one at the top.

I am asking $100.00. Shipping including. Paypal is fine, please add 3.5%, and I will only ship to a USA address.

Please feel free to ask any questions.

Thank you.
 
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It looks like the hawk with the crucifix cut out is SPF. The spike hawk is still available.
 
I received an inquiry as to how much metal was ground out of the eye in order to fit a slightly larger OD handle. As you can see here, there is approximately 1/8 inch thickness at its thinnest, and then it quickly becomes thicker toward each end. You will never break this…
 
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