Casting?

vector001 said:
why would you want one, brother...?

over forged carbon steel, i mean.

vec
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Vec-

Not sure if this would hold for hawks, but in my world, the answer is, $200. That is, you would save about half the cost ($425) of a forged axe by going with a cast axe ($225). Not as nice of an axe, but in many cases, totally serviceable, and it looks really nice when you set it next to the pile of money you saved, or the other axe you were able to afford.

That being said, I own 3 forged comp axes and 1 cast comp axe, so I guess I am in the forged camp too.

-chuck
 
thechuck said:
Vec-

Not sure if this would hold for hawks, but in my world, the answer is, $200. That is, you would save about half the cost ($425) of a forged axe by going with a cast axe ($225). Not as nice of an axe, but in many cases, totally serviceable, and it looks really nice when you set it next to the pile of money you saved, or the other axe you were able to afford.

That being said, I own 3 forged comp axes and 1 cast comp axe, so I guess I am in the forged camp too.

-chuck
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we've had bad luck with forged heads, performance-wise.

good to know some buddy is doing them correctly, i reckon, brother chuck.

the only thing i like cast are good anvils and door-knockers.


i think the more mass you have, the more you can milk out of a steel casting.

axe heads must be better than hatchets and hawks.

dunno really - not enough samples for me to come up with a cogent opinion on that.


i get screwed ever time i try to go cheap - are you winning with those cast heads, brother 'chuck...?

- that'd be good enough for me.

vec
 
I just designed a head and wanted to make a few. having cast and then heat treated is the easiest way.
 
vector001 said:
think the more mass you have, the more you can milk out of a steel casting.

axe heads must be better than hatchets and hawks.

dunno really - not enough samples for me to come up with a cogent opinion on that.

i get screwed ever time i try to go cheap - are you winning with those cast heads, brother 'chuck...?
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Yeah. I've actually won more with my cast axe than any other, but I've had it the longest, so it doesn't really compare. In terms of the other things above, I suspect the difference is mostly mass. These things come out of the mold around 6 - 6.5 lbs. There are no thin places where bad casting will show up as a weakness. Also, the amount of use is probably very different. My axe comes out, maybe I grease it, then I hit a clean, green block 8 - (hopefully no more than) 20 times, depending on the size. I then clean off any pitch and remaining grease, oil the axe and put it back in the box until the next show.

The guy who has ground most of my axes doesn't like to work on the cast ones. when he gets blanks, the eye and the bit are not always square to each other, and the faces are irregular. He'll grind anything I send him, but he only buys forged blanks (Tuatahi).

Now, the cast heads I am talking about are sand cast, so the things I have mentioned may be attypical for other methods, I don't really know. Additionally, there are often sand pits in these heads, whick can look really weird at the end of a chop. The have a tendency to pick up stray wood fibers, and look like little pom-poms.

Vec - What kinds of problems do you have with cast heads? I know the racing axes that are cast are REALLY hard, and grinding is a problem.

Have a good one all.

-Chuck
 
thechuck said:
Vec - What kinds of problems do you have with cast heads? I know the racing axes that are cast are REALLY hard, and grinding is a problem.

Have a good one all.

-Chuck
Click to expand...

we've seen two cast tomahawks fail in the cold, brother.

the Cold Steel hawks are 1055 forged and differentially tempered, and have done okay in sub-zero - at least from what the testors have reported back to us.

that said, i always cringe when i see guys whaling away when the mercury goes below zero....

anyways,

....you know how it is - once bitten, twice shy.

before i give one of my hawks to a brother - i expect him to be able to trust his life to it, becuase sometimes they are needed in that capacity - i have handled cast heads, and will do so in the future, but i can't gauarantee them with our Condition-Free Happiness Guarantee, nor stainlesses.

one might consider, i have cast metal tools, and know a little bit about them.

sand casting is old, and it works, probably due largely to the thermal tricks a good metals-man can use in that process, vice metal molds, etc.


so i am not knocking casting, but i am also not going to appreciate it until it can be explained to me why i should trust my life to it, and how it can possibly out-perform forged heads.


'hope that isn't too serious a subject.

i take my craft seriously.

:cool:

vec
 
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