Forging a Tomahawk from a wrench?

A

a Trexler Ranger

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Nov 17, 2016
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So I was cruising Youtube and I saw a video about forging a tomahawk from a wrench. Has anyone done this? I was considering grabbing a wrench next time I'm at Harbor Freight to test and see
 
yeah trexler, i tried it, grab a big one. you will definetly need to anneal it 2-3 times. a few months ago i tried to make one, didnt even dent it. tried to make a knife by cutting the crescent off, dulled my cold cut chisel. all this was done at orange and yellow heat. annealing is a must but grab a big wrench, maybe like 2.5" or bigger
 
If you're after the novelty of a wrench-hawk, good on ya and post a WIP.
If you just want to forge a hawk, order a couple feet of 1084 from njsteelbaron(.com) for a wrap-and-weld. $15 will get you 4 feet of 0.140"x1.5". Or go thicker, or wider, or whatever. I would LOVE to do this, but my forge is too small and I don't know jack about heat-and-beat.
 
If you do this, please be aware of the possibility of hexavalent chrome, which when you put it in the forge and heat, is very dangerous.

https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/hexavalentchromium/

If you must, make sure you use proper PPE, and stand up wind! You can strip it off with acid, which has its own hazards​!
Best bet would find a really old wrench (which no longer has any type of plating) or buy the 1084 as stated above.
 
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I would buy some steel , because chrome can be toxic. Then you don't have to ruin a vintage wrench.
Recently on YouTube I saw an absolutely horrific video on YouTube where a guy destroyed a vintage plomb pebble finish ratchet just to make it into a horribly performing throwing knife / dart thingy, and it was such a shame.
 
I'd be more worried about breathing chrome particles from grinding than fumes from forging a single piece. It don't rust out of your lungs.
 
Sosa said:
I'd be more worried about breathing chrome particles from grinding than fumes from forging a single piece. It don't rust out of your lungs.
Click to expand...

Either way would be a health hazard, and why the recommendation to buy new stock or something old enough not to have plating, also why I posted the OSHA link above.
This falls right in with heating up in a forge anything zink plated. There was a popular blacksmith on another forum site named Paw-Paw who put some galvanized pipe in a forge to burn off the coating, he later died, the fumes contributed to his death. And he knew better, and was an experienced blacksmith. It's nothing to take lightly.
 
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