- Joined
- Nov 29, 2005
- Messages
- 887
How (and Whether) to Heat-Treat Tomahawk Heads
I gather that Im not alone in wondering about the best low-tech way to heat-treat tomahawk heads, so Im posting this question in a couple of forums where someone who might have some ideas might read it.
Ive got some very inexpensive tomahawk heads whose blades seem to have been made by lap-welding a steel cutting bit in between layers of softer iron or steel. I have no real way of telling just what kind of steel is involved. Im interested in your thoughts on the following:
1. How do I tell whether I have to heat-treat each head at all? Thus far, Ive checked out only one of the tomahawks. Specifically, I tried scratching the cutting edge with a file, and then scratching the area of the eye with a file, and the two scratches seem to be almost the same in depth. I suspect, then, that the cutting bit on that hatchet is roughly as soft as the eye, which it should not be. Any ideas how, with low-tech equipment, I can tell whether the edge is hard enough? (Part of this question is, how hard is hard enough for general tough wilderness use? And what sign do I look for to see, with low-tech equipment, whether a given blade is of that hardness?)
2. Assuming that one or more of the hatchet-heads has a bit thats too soft, whats the easiest low-tech, foolproof way to fix the situation? Im assuming that what I want is a differential temper, with a somewhat-hard (but not brittle-hard) cutting edge, and a softer eye/poll area. How do I do this? One thing Im thinking of doing is using some variation of what Alexander Weygers mentionshe wrote of seeing a Filipino smith heat-treat a bolo blade in one step, by heating the entire blade to cherry-red, then simply chopping it a fraction of an inch into a section of cut squash or gourd, the shape of which roughly corresponded to the curve of the blade. The effect was to cool the very edge rapidly, while allowing the rest of the blade to cool more slowly. It seems to me that a similar effect might be achieved by similar means using some kind of live vegetable material (squash, or whatever), or by dipping the very edge of a hatchet-blade into thick mud, etc., etc.
2(a): Would this work well to heat-treat a tomahawk head?
2(b): Right now, the bits of these tomahawks are VERY dull, and it will take a good deal of stock removal to bring them anywhere near cutting sharpness. Itd be easier to do the sharpening before the heat-treating, but if necessary I guess it could be done afterwards. If I sharpen them before the heat-treating, does that increase the odds that Ill crack the edges during the heat-treat? Advice on how to proceed?
3. How, if at all, would your advice change if the tomahawk head were made out of a single kind of temperable steel?
I gather that Im not alone in wondering about the best low-tech way to heat-treat tomahawk heads, so Im posting this question in a couple of forums where someone who might have some ideas might read it.
Ive got some very inexpensive tomahawk heads whose blades seem to have been made by lap-welding a steel cutting bit in between layers of softer iron or steel. I have no real way of telling just what kind of steel is involved. Im interested in your thoughts on the following:
1. How do I tell whether I have to heat-treat each head at all? Thus far, Ive checked out only one of the tomahawks. Specifically, I tried scratching the cutting edge with a file, and then scratching the area of the eye with a file, and the two scratches seem to be almost the same in depth. I suspect, then, that the cutting bit on that hatchet is roughly as soft as the eye, which it should not be. Any ideas how, with low-tech equipment, I can tell whether the edge is hard enough? (Part of this question is, how hard is hard enough for general tough wilderness use? And what sign do I look for to see, with low-tech equipment, whether a given blade is of that hardness?)
2. Assuming that one or more of the hatchet-heads has a bit thats too soft, whats the easiest low-tech, foolproof way to fix the situation? Im assuming that what I want is a differential temper, with a somewhat-hard (but not brittle-hard) cutting edge, and a softer eye/poll area. How do I do this? One thing Im thinking of doing is using some variation of what Alexander Weygers mentionshe wrote of seeing a Filipino smith heat-treat a bolo blade in one step, by heating the entire blade to cherry-red, then simply chopping it a fraction of an inch into a section of cut squash or gourd, the shape of which roughly corresponded to the curve of the blade. The effect was to cool the very edge rapidly, while allowing the rest of the blade to cool more slowly. It seems to me that a similar effect might be achieved by similar means using some kind of live vegetable material (squash, or whatever), or by dipping the very edge of a hatchet-blade into thick mud, etc., etc.
2(a): Would this work well to heat-treat a tomahawk head?
2(b): Right now, the bits of these tomahawks are VERY dull, and it will take a good deal of stock removal to bring them anywhere near cutting sharpness. Itd be easier to do the sharpening before the heat-treating, but if necessary I guess it could be done afterwards. If I sharpen them before the heat-treating, does that increase the odds that Ill crack the edges during the heat-treat? Advice on how to proceed?
3. How, if at all, would your advice change if the tomahawk head were made out of a single kind of temperable steel?
