Forging a hawk from a ball-peen hammer

stabman

stabman

Joined
Sep 17, 2007
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I'm planning on making a tomahawk form an old ball-peen hammer I have.
Just wondering what steel it likely is (rather old hammer), and what quenchant to use.
I know using a known steel is best, but this is a project I want to do anyway. :)
 
I thought one of the local (blade forums) hawk makers said it was generally S7.
 
I have some old ones that are stamped 1065 on the side but dont know for certain that is designating the steel type. I have heard of some being 1050 or so also. For the ones I have made into hawks I have just heated past non mag with a short soak of a couple minutes or so and quenched in canola oil. It's a bit of a gamble when the steel is not known but so far it has worked ok for me. I usually quench only about 1 inch back from the cutting edge, then temper back.
 
Grayzer86 said:
I have some old ones that are stamped 1065 on the side but dont know for certain that is designating the steel type. I have heard of some being 1050 or so also. For the ones I have made into hawks I have just heated past non mag with a short soak of a couple minutes or so and quenched in canola oil. It's a bit of a gamble when the steel is not known but so far it has worked ok for me. I usually quench only about 1 inch back from the cutting edge, then temper back.
Click to expand...

Sounds good.:)
I was thinking canola oil for the quench, but getting some feedback from others is best.
 
Keep in mind I am not a pro and am learning as I go here too. Others may have better or more exact advice
 
I usually consider them around 50 points carbon. Oil is safer, but you can sometimes get a nice hamon-ish line with a water edge quench.

Draw the ball out into a cylinder first, then into straight spike, to give you something to hold on to while doing the hammer end into the hawk blade. When the blade is done, drift the eye, then shape the spike.
 
bladsmth said:
I usually consider them around 50 points carbon. Oil is safer, but you can sometimes get a nice hamon-ish line with a water edge quench.

Draw the ball out into a cylinder first, then into straight spike, to give you something to hold on to while doing the hammer end into the hawk blade. When the blade is done, drift the eye, then shape the spike.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. :)

Just wondering one thing; is there an advantage to drifting the eye into a shape different from the one intended for hammer use?
Would the head be likely to twist during use with the original hole shape?
Always something new to learn.
 
The eye won't stay the same shape even if you wanted it to. You want a hawk to have a tear drop shaped eye, and a hawk drift is the way to get that shape. The eye on a ball peen is also too small. Kayne and Sons as well as ebay carry tomahawk drifts at $25-$35. A two drift set for about $45 is a better deal.
 
I have the drift from kayne and sons and it works well. I did clean it up a bit on the belt just to true it up a bit. I also currently use their hawk handles since they are inexpensive and fit the hole their drift makes very well.
 
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