How do you all fashion your Tomahawk handles?

DarthTaco123

DarthTaco123

Joined
Mar 28, 2013
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I bought a 'hawk off Ebay a bit back with a handle that never fit. The grain was awful, and it's started to warp. That and I could slide the hawk all teh way up the haft until about half the eye was sticking over the top of the handle. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, and I've thrown it a bit, but when it get's to any form of chopping it's just awful. The balance is way wrong. Anyways, I have limited equipment, basically a draw knife, rasp, and sand paper. Should I be able to fashion a decent hawk handle like that, or is there a better route?
 
What kind of hawk do you have? You have all the tools you need to make your own or there is always the option of buying a ready made haft and tweaking it to fit your head.
 
Not a clue as to what "kind" it is. I'll take a pic real quick of it and show you. All it was advertised as was "hand forged tomahawk" and it's evident it was hand forged. It came with a rather half assed grind on it so it might have been hand forged...in pakistan. I don't know if they do that or not, but it has no identifying stamps on it.

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DarthTaco123 said:
Not a clue as to what "kind" it is. I'll take a pic real quick of it and show you. All it was advertised as was "hand forged tomahawk" and it's evident it was hand forged. It came with a rather half assed grind on it so it might have been hand forged...in pakistan. I don't know if they do that or not, but it has no identifying stamps on it.

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Take a pic of the top of the eye if you could looks to be standard size haft you can pick one up and a little rasp and sandpaper work it will fit much better.
 
Looks like a standard size to me if you want to buy one Track of the Wolf has them in different lengths and different wood. If you want to make one your gonna have to find some ash or hickory and carve away. Myself, I buy mine and make them fit as do most hawk makers not all of course. At least the ones you buy will have a straight grain. If you have any questions feel free to email or PM me .
 
Sounds good, I have some maple that's been drying for a bow, but I have a nice section that's fairly straight I might carve away at.
 
That will work I have a piece of Osage been drying for a bow myself you can use the old haft for a template just leave a little extra on the top.
 
DarthTaco123 said:
Anyways, I have limited equipment, basically a draw knife, rasp, and sand paper. Should I be able to fashion a decent hawk handle like that, or is there a better route?
Click to expand...

I've made my share of tomahawk handles out of sledgehammer handles with not many more tools than that.
 
Funny you mentioned that. I found an old sledge handle from a splitting maul I picked up from an antique mall last year. I re-handled it because the top portion was falling apart in the eye. I found a section that's usable, and I'm about half done now. About 13 and 3/8" down the handle, and have about 10 left on the handle. Probably going to go down 8 1/2 or 9 inches to leave room for the head to slide up over use.
 
Time to double post, huzzah! Anyways: Update on the new handle. Sanded, first coat of stain is on, and I'm kinda happy with myself. Fits like a glove.
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