H&B Forge

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Michaux111

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Apr 28, 2015
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I'm considering a hawk for light duty use and woods walking. I've seen what's out there; CRT, Cold Steel etc. But I came across H&B Forge and they look like a pretty good hawk. Question. Is anyone here using one and would you share your thoughts. And are they worth the price - double the price of run of the mill hawks. Any information would be appreciated.
 
I really enjoy mine, although due to the weight of the head on this model I made a hatchet handle for it (which looks weird bc it is made to accommodate 3 hand positions). It has been a blast to use, for many years.
 

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Well, I picked up an older/well used one off eBay at a good price. Should be here in a week or so. Will need some tlc and a new handle but I'm looking forward to cleaning/sharpening it up and putting it to work. Thanks all for your guidance.
 
Nothing here I can add. H&B makes arguably the best traditionally made (meaning a harder bit, usually something like 1080 or something, forged into a softer head) hawk money can buy.
 
Btw they dress up real good too. With a little love it'll be your favorite piece of camp gear for a lifetime. This thread made me wanna clean mine up for a full blown spa treatment. I rubbed her down with blo, and remade her sheath/overstrike guard. Those cover any and all damage she ever took.. now you can't tell she's not brand new lol). I resharpened and stropped her. She looking good.. and yours can be equally awesome with a little work.. you'll appreciate the tool a lot more too.

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I've got a long way to go to get an edge like your Aries. Someone put a grinder to it (not a lot but it sure jacked-up the edge) and I'm starting from scratch; total redo. Handle from Track of the Wolf is on it's way so things are beginning to come together. First order is a new edge and I'm looking forward to the project.
 
Michaux111 said:
I've got a long way to go to get an edge like your Aries. Someone put a grinder to it (not a lot but it sure jacked-up the edge) and I'm starting from scratch; total redo. Handle from Track of the Wolf is on it's way so things are beginning to come together. First order is a new edge and I'm looking forward to the project.
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You know you gotta keep this thread alive with progress pics now right? We wanna see 😁

Use imgur if you don't wanna buy gold. You just upload pics to imgur. Then copy the URL and paste it here in the messages. We'll get it.
 
Aries; your edge is a work of art. I can almost guarantee you that my edge won't look like yours. I'll see what I come up with and then decide if it's worthy of pictures. Right now, after a bit of filing I've decided I need to take the entire edge down a bit more to get rid of two grind marks. Like I said, I'm starting from scratch and then some.
 
Michaux111 said:
Aries; your edge is a work of art. I can almost guarantee you that my edge won't look like yours. I'll see what I come up with and then decide if it's worthy of pictures. Right now, after a bit of filing I've decided I need to take the entire edge down a bit more to get rid of two grind marks. Like I said, I'm starting from scratch and then some.
Click to expand...
I have found this video to be useful for getting a good edge .
 
Michaux111 said:
Aries; your edge is a work of art. I can almost guarantee you that my edge won't look like yours. I'll see what I come up with and then decide if it's worthy of pictures. Right now, after a bit of filing I've decided I need to take the entire edge down a bit more to get rid of two grind marks. Like I said, I'm starting from scratch and then some.
Click to expand...
It's not too difficult to pull off with some decent stones and water. I free-hand everything. If your working with a system you'll be fine. Don't go too deep. Remember.. this is a hardened bit forged into another steel.. not a through hardened hawk of one type.. That hard edge goes away eventually and becomes the milder steel of the head.

I did this with an atoma 140 then moved up to a medium of like 300. Then proceeded to just go up from there with ceramic stones (the spyderco set). As long as you don't move up in "grit" too fast and get that scratch pattern nice and uniform before you move on up you'll eventually get to around 1000 grit and up and start noticing some sweet mirror effects. That's key though. Get the scratch pattern uniform when hand rubbing and sharpening if you want shiny.
 
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