Cold Steel Pipe Hawk

[wendysman8888]

I am getting ready to purchase the Cold Steel Pipe Hawk and am going to be stripping the black off when it arrives. I've heard the set screw is crap and I need to pitch it after I take it out to strip the head. My question is how do I fasten the head to the handle afterwards? What are the best methods that you guys have used?

Thanks

 

[Pirate63]

You don't need to fasten the head. Sand the top portion of the handle and file or sand the inside of the eye to remove burrs and imperfections to smooth out the inside of the eye to get the best fit possible, and then snug the head down by striking the handle down on a hard object and this seats the head tight. It will on occasion get loose during throwing or chopping so you just snug it down again. If you fasten the head to the handle it will damage the handle and lead to breaking and cracks.

 

[knifecollector73]

I took the set screw out, and my handle still cracked. I think i had a bad grain run out though.

 

[upnorth]

After removal, I took a brass wire wheel on a hand drill to a few C.S. hawk heads which zipped the black crap off lickety split. Then I wiped some cold blue on them. I cleaned them up inside with a rat tail file. The sanded the shaft for a better fit. Finally I slathered a big wad of tub calk or rubber silicone, whatever, onto the shaft and inside the head. I slammed the head tight, set the screw, wiped off excess silicone, and left them sitting in a hot room for about 3-4 days. They have not come loose in years.

 

[Josifter]

well this is what I did and it's definately not the "right" way. First I removed the set screw and fit the head farther down without any sanding or modding. Then I used the heck out of the hawk. Once the head seemed to shift I removed it and noticed from the wear on the handle where I needed to sand the handle and where to sand on the eye. I sanded the handle with sandpaper and I sanded the eye with sandpaper wrapped around a drill it on my drill ( lol I know not the safest or smartest but it got the job done). On my pipe hawk there seemed to be an edge around the top of the eye that would dig into the handle during use so I made sure to sand it very smooth. Then I slid the head back on and slammed the handle down a couple of times and now it's very much more sturdy. Like I said this is definately not the preferred way of doing this but it's how I did it. My hawk is also a pipe hawk and my first cold steel. Good luck! Have fun!