Has anyone ever commissioned an Infi Axehead from the Custom Shop?

PeterPHWS

PeterPHWS

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Dec 31, 2005
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Looking at the properties of Infi and using the larger blades on trees it struck me that Infi would make a great steel for a an axe head...not a Crash Axe but a proper Woodsman's axe...has anyone ever ordered one?

Does an Axe head have to be "cast" or can you grind one?
 
I believe I read a post before by Jerry, where he said he doesn't have any stock thick enough for an axe head. It seemed to be a possibility.
 
Trust me, if they'd do it, I'd have already ordered it.

Actually, I have a neat design for a 'hawk, but I'd need the stock to be at least 1 inch thick. . .



<sigh>
 
Heat treating on an axe head is different than a knife blade, that might kill any advantages of INFI.
 
How about just using a piece of infi in the bit of a forged axe? I wonder if they'd sell some untempered infi, have an experienced smith make the head, then send it back to the shop for heat treating.
 
Ankar Sheng said:
How about just using a piece of infi in the bit of a forged axe? I wonder if they'd sell some untempered infi, have an experienced smith make the head, then send it back to the shop for heat treating.
Click to expand...

Well, INFi isn't really all that exotic material-wise (the formula has been posted here a few times). The heat treat is what makes INFI, INFI.
 
I guess Infi must come in Bar Stock which has'nt got the depth to cover off the thickness needed for the head of the Axe....the idea of taking a bar stock and re-forging the metal so that it could be smelted and cast in an Axe die sounds like too much work and would probably alter the grain structure of the metal compared to how it comes in the original stock. Or the factory is'nt set up with a forge...but rather more of a grinding shop...which sounds logical....I guess if Axe heads could have been done they would have been done a while ago.
 
Way back in the dim ages, there were a few axes made along the lines of the Western Cutlery ax/hunting knife combos. These have the general shape of a wood hatchet, but not the wedge thickness. You could probably duplicate the Estwing hatchet profile in INFI - the thickest Off-Duties, etc. are ~1"? Although I have no idea the size of the raw sheet from which they are cut. The major problem is the lack of sufficient thickness for a proper eye, so there needs to be a steel handle of some sort. That would be a serious limitation for a full-sized ax.
 
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