- Joined
- Jan 29, 2003
- Messages
- 1,568
I just finished wrapping this up today. Cold Steel Trail Hawks offer an excellent value for those looking to get into hawks and for those who have been around them for years. They come a bit rough from Cold Steel so it takes some elbow grease to get to the really nice tomahawk that is hidden inside the really rough one. With just a bit of work you can have a great woods bumming tool.
I clean the eye out since there is typically a lot of sharp flashing left over from the forging process. These sharp edges can cause your haft to break prematurely so it has to go. I also use a rotary tool and then wet/dry sand paper to chamfer the inside edges of the eye to make my life easier down the road should I have to re-haft this one.
Generally, I prefer a longer haft for my working hawks so I fit a 24" haft to this one. It needed a lot of sanding to remove the original finish and then smooth out. Then I finished with a few coats of tung oil. I was going to stain this one but the haft had some pretty nice grain so I just went with straight tung oil.
In order to give some character, I hand rubbed the head with 220 grit sand paper until the only black paint that was left was in the valleys and craters created by the forging process. This gives the head an antiqued look that looked great but was still too shiny for my tastes. I did several layers of mustard patina followed by a bit of vinegar rag patina to darken and age the head.
The edge that comes on these from the factory leaves a lot to be desired so I busted out the files and went to work. It was very thick and uneven but a good bastard file made quick work of the task. Then I worked my up through several grits of sandpaper (180 all the way to 2000 on a mousepad backer) and finished on a couple of loaded strops. The resulting polished convex edge will silently push cut paper will still remaining quite strong.
Finally, I reattached the head to the eye. Thanks to some careful fitting the set screw is no longer needed. I wrapped the handle with coyote brown para-cord under the head for over strike protection. Then I added several feet of jute twine to have as emergency tinder (and good looks). I also did a short wrap at the grip end of the haft to act as a hand stop. I don't grip the hawk there. I actually grip just above that so the wrap serves to keep the hawk anchored in the hand under use.
These Trail Hawks are a ton of fun to customize. If you have been looking to try out a tomahawk or just want a cheep project, I strongly encourage you to give one a try. They also make great gifts!
Post up pics of your hawks, especially customized ones!
I clean the eye out since there is typically a lot of sharp flashing left over from the forging process. These sharp edges can cause your haft to break prematurely so it has to go. I also use a rotary tool and then wet/dry sand paper to chamfer the inside edges of the eye to make my life easier down the road should I have to re-haft this one.
Generally, I prefer a longer haft for my working hawks so I fit a 24" haft to this one. It needed a lot of sanding to remove the original finish and then smooth out. Then I finished with a few coats of tung oil. I was going to stain this one but the haft had some pretty nice grain so I just went with straight tung oil.
In order to give some character, I hand rubbed the head with 220 grit sand paper until the only black paint that was left was in the valleys and craters created by the forging process. This gives the head an antiqued look that looked great but was still too shiny for my tastes. I did several layers of mustard patina followed by a bit of vinegar rag patina to darken and age the head.
The edge that comes on these from the factory leaves a lot to be desired so I busted out the files and went to work. It was very thick and uneven but a good bastard file made quick work of the task. Then I worked my up through several grits of sandpaper (180 all the way to 2000 on a mousepad backer) and finished on a couple of loaded strops. The resulting polished convex edge will silently push cut paper will still remaining quite strong.
Finally, I reattached the head to the eye. Thanks to some careful fitting the set screw is no longer needed. I wrapped the handle with coyote brown para-cord under the head for over strike protection. Then I added several feet of jute twine to have as emergency tinder (and good looks). I also did a short wrap at the grip end of the haft to act as a hand stop. I don't grip the hawk there. I actually grip just above that so the wrap serves to keep the hawk anchored in the hand under use.
These Trail Hawks are a ton of fun to customize. If you have been looking to try out a tomahawk or just want a cheep project, I strongly encourage you to give one a try. They also make great gifts!
Post up pics of your hawks, especially customized ones!
