Hand forging a hawk

Ray, this is the BEST progression thread ever! It's like a story, man- too bad you didn't add some catharsis for us to ponder by way of some photos of you hacking down those cherry trees!
Just say NO, to crack!:):thumbup:
 
Lorien said:
Ray, this is the BEST progression thread ever! It's like a story, man- too bad you didn't add some catharsis for us to ponder by way of some photos of you hacking down those cherry trees!
Just say NO, to crack!:):thumbup:
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Lorien, I didn't hack the cherry trees down I just chewed them off with my four teeth.

Feeling better now about the cracked up situation from yesterday. Second Time Around is crack free. Shorter by maybe 1/2", cleaner shaved, and a lot more fit than yesterdays model. I ground it down to 80 grit and did a quick etch and there were no cracks to be found!

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A silk purse out of a sow's ear??? :D

Even without the beard, you managed to save a great looking head! It still looks like it'll be a winner when you git'er done! :thumbup:

Glad you went ahead and overcame the visit by Senor Murphy! :o

So, what are ya gonna do for the handle? Oosic, maybe???

Ray, particulary because of the "failure", what you've done, and overcome, makes this one of the more informative threads I've seen in awhile regarding forging... I'm still in a one-bedroom apt in the middle of suburbia - I think the neighbors would frown on me banging metal at anytime, regardless of the fact that I don't think my floor or my balcony is built to take an anvil's weight and any hammerin'!! :eek: :D So these threads are a particular treat for me....

Thanks for taking the time to do it!
 
Another day in the sweat shop. Spent the last few hours rubbing out this hawk. Normally when I first start doing the hand rubbing I prefer using oil especially with 220 or 320 w/d paper. I think what I'm using in the photo is Texaco Type A. I prefer mineral based oils since petroleum oils give me a headache. After that I'll go with water with maybe a little baking soda to stop the rusting.
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I won't bother going any further than this with the hand rubbing until after I get the haft made. Got a pretty interesting hamon going. Not sure how that came about since I didn't use any clay.

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Very nice Ray. I lost another one today. Cracked 8 places. Really sucks to hear the chink.... I guess I need to stop taking shortcuts.
 
A C Richards said:
Very nice Ray. I lost another one today. Cracked 8 places. Really sucks to hear the chink.... I guess I need to stop taking shortcuts.
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Chuck, Are you getting the cracks in your new damascus? I have a hard enough time with regular steel. I think my cracking problem was due to taking a short cut also.
 
OH MY GOODNESS NO>>>>>!!!!!... I cracked a W-2 chopper blade again. But his time it was in Parks. I cracked one last week with my every other year try in water. I think my problem was cold oil and coarse grind finish. I wanted the clay to stick better. Just need to take the time and go to 220 grit and heat up my oil on cold days.
 
YEAH, way to go Ray!!!

Way to salvage that thing. Did I ever tell you how much I loe small hawks??? :D :D :D
 
I'm going to call it a day. I've been working on the haft for the last few hours. I'm using a piece of hickory that Scott Icky gave me a year or so ago. I'm doing the haft pretty much the sameway most hammer heads are done. Trying to get this fit right involves a fair amount of time and constant checking. I only take a little off each time so I don't go to far. Here's a few more pictures.

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The haft is roughly shaped in this photo. Still have a lot more material to remove. I picked up a whole osic when I did the Washington Show. I used the osic as a pattern for this haft.
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I'm using a piece of hickory that Scott Icky gave me a year or so ago.
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I've been watching this thread closely. It's my year end performance review time (teleconference with my manager in the morning!), so I've been catching up to this thread a page at a time. It's been really busy trying to summarize my years worth of activities to justify my job, but it happens every year.

This quote though has really got me excited. I've been waiting for Ray to make something out of that hickory! I had a bunch of hickory left over from the building of my shop cabinets, and Ray had asked if anyone had any hickory. Since I had a bunch laying around, waiting to be made into handles, I couldn't think of a better person to give a couple of boards to.

Here's a couple of photos to show you what it looks like in my shop. I can't wait to see how this turns out on this hawk!!
 

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that's looking swell, Ray!:thumbup:
 
Great thread, Ray! I especially like and appreciate you showing how you overcame that crack. Many threads of this type just die when that happens. Thanks for sticking it out.
 
Wow, that is coming along. It looks awesome Ray, i love everything about this one...
 
Ray
Sorry about the crack but you made a dandy axe. Thanks again for the awesome thread i like how you do your handles as well.

Bob
 
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