Hay hook fighter

Raymond Richard

Raymond Richard

Joined
Jun 17, 2001
Messages
5,705
This past fall a blacksmith friend of mine, Gene Chapman gave me an old hay hook. I'm not 100% sure how it was used but I believe it was used in an old time hay bailing operation. Anyway the hook itself was close to 3' overall. I forged a couple knife blades out of it. The first one was sacrificed to a water quench and this one oil quenched. I believe this steel to be 1080. The blade on this knife is just over 11" and overall its 16 1/2". Handle is curly maple and all the fitting are from an iron buggy wheel. The rest of this steel will be used for hawks and small axes.

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Yep, stabby and excellent in every way, nice hamon too. what is the weight and balance point? I bet the scabbard will be as classy as the knife.
 
I got to hold this one yesterday when Ray was dry fitting it (you should all be jealous of that!!!). It is definitely a keeper. I'm a Raymond Richards fan! Great knives and a super nice guy. Thanks again for having me over to your shop Ray!!
 
cadillac forge said:
did your hay hook look like this?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ANTIQUE-HAY-SAW...oryZ1217QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Click to expand...

Hay hook and hay saw are two different animals. I should have taken a picture of the hook before I started cutting it up.

Original, I weighed this knife a couple time and I keep coming up with 12 oz. Balance point on this knife is 1 1/2" in front of guard. At this time this knife will be last in line for a sheath. It will be lucky if it gets one the way I've been making knives lately.

George D., Right now I'm gearing up for the OKCA Show in April. If it doesn't sell at the show it will be up for grabs afterwards.
 
""Hay hook and hay saw are two different animals"" yea i know, i live in hay
country and never seen a hay hook that big, i figured the saw is what ya meant-would be interesting to know why someone would make a hay hook that big? unless they used it to stand in a wagon and pick the bales up off the ground and stack in the wagon. nice blade ray!!
 
cadillac forge said:
""Hay hook and hay saw are two different animals"" yea i know, i live in hay
country and never seen a hay hook that big, i figured the saw is what ya meant-would be interesting to know why someone would make a hay hook that big? unless they used it to stand in a wagon and pick the bales up off the ground and stack in the wagon. nice blade ray!!
Click to expand...

The hay hook I used was an antique. I had never seen one like it myself and I'm almost an antique. The hay saw on ebay is probably the same vintage as the hook I used.
 
Geez Ray you can't be stopped and I truly hope you never ever do. Damn good job. I never get tired of your work. Luke
 
Man, you really make a beautiful package Raymond! Thanks for the pic.
 
Looked up hay fork and came up with this. I think the fork tine would have been like in #99 illustration. click on the link below. I am going to post a image too.

http://www.history.rochester.edu/Appleton/a/hhayfork.html

I had 3 or 4 of these at one time, made some knives and tooling. I bought them from a junk shop in Klamith Falls, Oregon many years ago. The shop owner said they were used in barns loading hay and the County used them to clean irrigation ditches. My wife carves Pacific NW art. This is a talking stick, just thought it would look nice in the picture.

hay-hook.jpg


The diameter of the tine at the big end is about 3/4 by 1 inch.
 
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