hawk idea

C

cckw

Joined
May 24, 2008
Messages
561
I have been thinking about this for a while so I'll bounce it off of you guys. I have been cruising the antique malls for axes and axe heads. I see a lot of roofing hatchets that are in good shape. My thought is to take one with a poor handle (so cheap) and give it a hawk make over. some metal removal to make it more stylish. thought i would share the concept and also see if anyone has tried it. Also, does anyone have any knowledge on these, is the bit hardened like on an axe? It crossed my mind that with the shorter handle and it's intended use it may not have been necessary.

Here is a photo of one so you know what I mean

hatchet.jpg
 
I think it would make a great hawk, been thinking about the same thing. I would assume that the bit is hardened but not sure of that. I also like the idea of a wedged haft. Go for it.

Best regards

Robin
 
I don't know if a haft that thin will hold up to much throwing, but if you just want to use it, and not throw it, I think it's a great idea.
 
BearKinder said:
I don't know if a haft that thin will hold up to much throwing, but if you just want to use it, and not throw it, I think it's a great idea.
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Hey Bear
This hawk is my main thrower and it's 1 inch diameter at the handle and just a bit more at the head, round haft, never slips and never breaks. Other than when I pull a stunt like the picture :D I'm a big fan of thin hafts that are round rather than egg shaped. I think a roundish handle with flair for an axe eye and wedge might work well as long as you have the correct grain right through the haft.

Best regards

Robin

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I may be wrong but I thought the main difference between axes and hawks was how it attached to the handle. Meaning, a hatchet can't be a hawk and vice versa.
 
No I get it but the fact remains that the eye is still that of a hatchet so in my eyes, it's still a hatchet. Now if the mod involved reforming the eye then yes, you made a hawk out of the head of a hatchet.
 
Shotgun said:
I may be wrong but I thought the main difference between axes and hawks was how it attached to the handle. Meaning, a hatchet can't be a hawk and vice versa.
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Well I believe the main difference between axes and hawks is the attachment method - axe heads fit on from the top and secured with a wedge, hawks from bottom and secured by friction caused by the swell at the end.

That said, I believe the hole tends to taper - on axes, it's marginally larger on on the bottom and on hawks, it's larger on the top. It shouldn't be that difficult to dremel out some material from the inside of the eye of an axe to make the taper suitable for attachment to a haft like a hawk... the question is about the initial dimensions of the axe's eye as that's going to be what the handle has to be shaped to, and might be, IMO, too wide and not thick enough.
 
There are many different haft styles used on tomahawks both old and new. I have seen quite a number of early hawks made with hatchet style eyes with wedges. Many of the early hawks with early (if not original) have this type of haft. I guess my real point is, I get sick of heads coming loose and am interested in trying an axe style attachment for throwing. I believe the round (my preference) and egg shape was used so as to be able to fit a branch as a quick replacement.

Best regards

Robin
 
I have been thinking of that for quite a while as well. Cool to see others with the same thoughts.

Crossada thanks for the link hook-up
 
I apologize if I offended any purists. I used the term hawk in the OP thinking of cutting the hammer head off, or at least reshaping for a more cool look. I don't care if the technical definition then becomes a hawk, hatchet, or hybred nameless tool. My only purpose to make it over to something enjoyable.

I wanted to share the idea with anyone who might want to do something similar and also hoped to learn if the bit is typically hardened or not of these.
 
cckw said:
I apologize if I offended any purists. I used the term hawk in the OP thinking of cutting the hammer head off, or at least reshaping for a more cool look. I don't care if the technical definition then becomes a hawk, hatchet, or hybred nameless tool. My only purpose to make it over to something enjoyable.

I wanted to share the idea with anyone who might want to do something similar and also hoped to learn if the bit is typically hardened or not of these.
Click to expand...

No apology needed around here cckw, all good folks here who like you are interested in mods and all variety of hawks, axes and hatchets.
Maybe we should do a mod contest using shinglers hatchets.:D
Best regards

Robin
 
Pipeman said:
No apology needed around here cckw, all good folks here who like you are interested in mods and all variety of hawks, axes and hatchets.
Maybe we should do a mod contest using shinglers hatchets.:D
Best regards

Robin
Click to expand...

Oh, glad you said that, I had kinda decided on my mod and was going to share my idea, but now I'm clamming up.

I was at an antique shop today and saw one, price was $4 but on a closer look stamped into it was "wear safety gasses" so not only not old, but modding that one would be as uncool as being the only kid in town that had to wear a helmet and pads to ride my bike in Jr high.
 
A few years ago I saw on someone's Blog that they had taken this style of hatchet and ground out the nail notch in an arc, made kind of a bearded or beaked axe and they cut off the poll to lighten it up, go crazy they should take whatever you can do to it.
 
I like the idea of grinding the nail notch out and reshaping it into a modified beard then forging the poll out into a spike.
 
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