Ok so I got one on order with him
and I have a Question
how does the handle compare to G10 or other similar material?
sorry to catch this late.
oooh, that's a tough one to answer...; - ya might skip to the Summary at the end.
otherwise let me victimize yer chaste minds with this, my terse reply, before i rush off to Monday Night Bible Study.
(- no comments about it not taking yet - har! )
.............
from what i know about G10 the raw materials are
generally very similar
(except for the polycarbonate structures i use in the Mk 4's), but i haven't experienced G10 in much more than knife handle slabs;
i weave my handles so they have
directional strength assets (i don't know what else to call it, sorry) - brother burningcort - i don't have all my notes in front of me, but you have the
Gen 1 Mk 3 with the Damascus head that i am working on, don't ya? - that's my last
Gen 1 Mk 3 if the
Mk 4's prototypes keep performing. i should've urged harder for you to wait and get the
Mk 4, although i expect you'll like the
Mk 3 a whole lot -
anyways, the reason i ask is because that is a
Mk 3, which the new
Gen 1 Mk 4's i am developing are
based off of; they are like a
Gen 1 Mk 3 on crack, as far as i can tell so far;
so let's talk about the
Gen 1 Mk 3's, of which there are a lot out there right now - they are kind of like G10 in the
endoskeletal structure, except they are
not planar like G10 is, that is,
layed up in a plane.
i think G10 uses a
vinylester-based resin in it too, which is slightly better at heat than the epoxies i use
(which are way beyond anything a human being could take anyways), but the
vinylesters are more brittle,
which is fine when your fibers are not moving in relation to one another, or at least not by much - like on a handle slab - if you made a G10 handle for a tomahawk, i think you'd get a lot of feedback into your hand on every chop, plus i think G10 is electrically conductive because of their
unshielded carbon content (don't quote me on that, i am going by memory here on something i crossed off a long time ago, brethren.)
- plus if you kept the G10
planar, you'd be hosed when you
pried with your hawk. - it's only strong in one direction
(unless you make it yourself, which is possible, but i wouldn't do it for a handle in most cases.)
G10 would work
until it didn't work - then you'd have an exploding handle because of the
torsional forces on a tomahawk
(i hypothesize).
i've been experimenting with making
micarta/glass composite handles in the
Gen 1 Mk 4 lay-up schedule - with a protoype head that one of the makers is helping me out on. - so far it is pretty
funky, as in
good funky. - the micarta follows along with the glass in the lay-up, so you get a handle that doesn't have sharp lips like a micarta or G10 slab might, nor do you have stress risers, which allows you to use LESS MATERIAL, for added strength.
in other words,
stronger and lighter and tougher.
it's still experimental.
(looks good.)
i need to get my
Hawk Journal up on my website, to give Investors a chance to look over my shoulder without otherwise being left in the dark when i go deep for some building and R&D
(i suck.) - i'll post a notice when i get that up, i am just too busy developing right now to get anything else done fast - it drives my Erica nuts as i obsess on every detail on my handles
while dripping coffee all over the floor - she's looks really hot with lasers coming out of her eyes and fire out her ears though...
...(vector ducks another laser volley)....
Summary;
1) my handles are more forgiving than G10 could ever be, from what i can tell. - i could make the handles twenty times stronger
(before a re-design), i reckon - but then they wouldn't
"give" and all that force would go into your poor hands.
2) my handles insulate more,
especially the ones that are skinned with the 1000 Denier Cordura.
3) because of the directionally-layed fibers in the
Gen 1 Series handles, you can have
empty space to store stuff inside your hawks - a utility which is buit-into the new
Gen 1 Mk 4 hawks. -
that's not possible without weakening planar G10, and similar
lay-ups.
4) as the humble
Hawk Project is fundamentally a
Development Project, the hawks keep improving with each group that is done; We have had some special challenges, being low in tools, but from those challenges, we have learned some things about composites that wouldn't have been gleaned any other way but through trial and error - a lot of it; i have learned special techniques that are almost mystical (to me at least) and as we gain a larger tooling inventory here, we are taking greater advantage of those tricks that we have learned.
what does that mean to you? -
excellent question - that means that we are not as dependent on WHAT we make a hawk with as HOW we make it -
it is a parellel with knife and tool making, and how a good heat treat is more important with crap steel than great steel with a crappy heat treat.
that was a crappy answer, wasn't it.
dang it.
gotta share some good news; i just got an
aliwah in the mail from my headhunter mentor
(he's a real Isnag headhunter, and all ya gotta know about an aliwah is it is completely badass) - this one is ancient and he wants me to put a composite handle on it! that makes me laugh, but if he likes it, he will lower himself to getting me some aliwah made in Apayao, PI, where my Christian Mission was last year - that means i get to go back maybe next year and bug the blacksmiths there - that is vector's kinda place AND get a
short run of aliwah.
if that happens, watch out, fellow-babies.
pray for the humble Hawk Project, brethren.
and thank you.
your bud,
vec
