Hand forged Hawk, how perfect does it need to be?

F1fan said:
Man I was going to go with Bill as well. The good thing is his shop is only about a half hour from me. Maybe I will see if I can swing by and hand pick one.

Also I have yet to see something bad come from Paps.
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Hey, want to buy a hammer poll? 😋

Don’t let my example stop you, especially if you can walk into his shop and pick one out. I’ve spoken to him on the phone when ordering and seems like a very nice guy. Maybe he had a bad day when making mine, who knows?

The Paps hawks run about a $100 more than the Beaver Bill ones but in my two examples, the Paps hawk is simply in another league, it’s not even close.

The leather work on both is another example. The Beaver Bill cover was very crude and rudimentary and came set up for a left hand carry which makes it unusable for me (which was strange since I never specified left hand carry. Isn’t right hand carry the default? 🤔). The Paps leather cover was something you would custom order from a high quality leather shop and extremely well executed. Just another data point. Let us know what you end up with and if you go with a Beaver Bill one, post up some pics. I’d like to think mine was fluke.
 
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Well this conversation got me to studying my SAM STONER hand forged hawk. I never really looked at it with a critical eye. Just appreciated that it was entirely hand made (in a shop powered by 2 draft horses walking a tread mill turning his belt driven equipment). Maybe I was seduced by the "romance" of the off grid forge. ;) In any case, I have used this hatchet happily and favored it over what was probably a prettier more precise PAPS Hawk (that I sold) now that I have been made aware.

So - this one - not such a great one off???

In profile. Not a so clean as it is a user. That twist is not a camera exaggeration.



You can see the twist in this photo too.



Here is the eye - crude but effective. I don't know if I should have expected more. Apparently yes. :rolleyes:



Bottom view ~



I bough this 2nd hand but unused for just under $300.00. You all think I got snookered? :oops:

No matter, I guess. I like it and use it. Has more character than a production hawk though likely less of an OOH AHH factor than one made by another.
 
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Slightly crooked bits are extremely common historically in the pre-drop-forged era and slight twists are effectively nothing more than an aesthetic concern. Never once have I run into an actual issue resulting from a slightly twisted bit.
 
The True North said:
It doesn’t matter what price it is, a forged traditionally fitted tomahawk should be straight and true.
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So, as a prologue to the story, Beaver Bill sent me a check for a refund but also followed it up with a phone call (he left a voicemail). Said that he was refunding me the money since I wasn’t happy with it but that he looked it over and saw nothing wrong with it. So apparently, it’s up to his standard 🤷‍♂️. If I hadn’t already had that Paps hawk and saw how straight and true a hand forged hawk could be, I may have settled for the Beaver Bill one.

In the final analysis, he was gracious enough about accepting the return but the fact that he thinks that twisted bit and the really rough grind and edge were up to HIS standard makes me think I did the right thing by sending it back. I just expected more for the price.

I appreciate the input from everyone here. Sometimes you need a reality check from the afficiandos
 
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