a tip for getting a tight hawk fit

[Bushman5]

After sanding the eye smooth so it does'nt gouge the wood, and once your done all your sanding sealing staing modding etc etc, take the haft where it will fit the eye and plunge it into dry ice granules for an hour or so.

at the same time, warm up the hawk head in the oven or use a heat gun on the eye. Remove the haft from the dry ice and fit the hawk head as normal. Let the wood and steel return tonormal temps and your good to go.

 

[FSCJedi]

Nice tip! I guess in this instance you'd actually want to leave the haft where the head will go a bit oversized so that it squeezes tight once the heated eye is slipped on? I would think that a perfect fit before you did this cool/heat treatment would just negate itself, right?

 

[Bushman5]

^ yea, you dont want to go overboard on the sanding.

a machinist/metal guy showed me that one......he tore down all his wood hafted ball peens and refitted them. Works gangbusters when fitting two metal parts together...

 

[FSCJedi]

So if I don't have dry ice available, can I just throw the whole haft in the freezer overnight or something?

 

[PrimitiveMan]

Cold is cold.

The colder the better. but the freezer will work.

 

[sumoj275]

Thanks for the tip. I just picked up a Cold Steel Rifleman's hawk and plan to work it over a little. The thing is the head is a little loose on the haft right now so hopefully this will help when I am all done.
Take care

 

[FSCJedi]

Thanks for the tip. I just picked up a Cold Steel Rifleman's hawk and plan to work it over a little. The thing is the head is a little loose on the haft right now so hopefully this will help when I am all done.
Take care

If the haft is loose right now, then you need another haft. For this to work, the haft must be slightly oversized, not undersized.