couple questions about Hawk head construction ?

[Bruce Evans]

Since I have been asked to mak a few Hawks for people and I make knives I am wondering if anybody can answer a few questions for me.First I really don't plan on making Hawks full time only when ordered or if I want to make one for a show or something.

(1),When making the eye by wrapping and forge welding I was told that a welded bead at the seem would let you clean the eye up better (I haven't tried this so I was wondering if I should or not),is this a good idea or does it make the hawk look like it was poorly constructed and is trying to be covered up?

(2)How wide should the eye be around the handle? When I wrap one it is wide,but when I hot cut and drift the eye they seem to be thinner.Is this something I am doing wrong or does it matter?

(3)I have started making solid heads from 5160 and when done forging I will normalize 4 times then shape the ruff head before I take and quench about 3/4 to 1 inch of the cutting end ( from edge back towards the eye) then temper as I would my Bowie knives.This leaves the rest of the Hawk soft is this the correct way to do this ?

(4)What is the standard length of the cutting edge supposed to be ?

(5) how much of the handle should stick out the top end of the hawk head ?

Thanks for putting up with the questions.I want the few Hawks I make to be done a correctly as possiable like I want my knives to be as perfect as possiable.
Bruce

 

[Brian C]

Bruce, you may want to check out the following on Ryan Johnson's RMJ Forge site:

How They're Made

FAQs (still under construction)

Featured Project (also under construction but has some great pix)

NOTE: I don't know why two of the above URLs were not converted to hyperlinks, unless the apostrophes somehow threw off the Vb code conversion. Regardless, the URLs themselves are correct.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

The width of the eye wrap effects weight and strength. The strength is really only an issue if you are beating on the tomahawk to split wood, as this is the death of many axes as it will deform/break the eye. So for tomahawks, the critical issue is just the raw mass.

As for hardening, tomahawks usually either have hammer polls or spikes. These are not going to be functional if they are really soft. Do some basic cutting and pounding and see if the necessary hardness is achieved after the normalizing, or does it need to be hardened.

The length of the cutting edge is usually in the range of 2.5 to 3.5 inches. Because you are dealing with a small axe, usually used one handed, you don't want to make the cutting edge too wide as you will lose too much penetration when chopping.

As for the head sticking up. You don't want to go right flush, as that gives you no where to go when the head loosens, and it will, regardless of how tight you press it on. If it is really sticking out, say 2" or so, that is going to be awkward as it will get in the way, but a sensible amount (<1"), won't be a problem.

-Cliff

 

[Bruce Evans]

Thanks guys,This is what i was needingto know.I didn't think about turning it around and hardening the back side also,but that sounds like a good idea now that you mention it,Hck a hammer face is hard so I should make mine that way also..
Bruce