making a hawk from hammer?

N

nc527

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Mar 22, 2009
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I was wondering if its possible to take a large hammer head and turn it in to a hawk head. It would be easier for me since my anvil is a piece of railround track.
 
This fellow does a good job of it

http://www.swillisforge.com/index.html

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I make a lot of hawk polls from the HF ball peen hammers.They come in sizes from tiny to huge.They are regularly on sale very cheap. I often pick up broken hammers at yard sales for next to free.I treat it like 4140.

You will need a drift. You can find one on ebay easily, or order one from a supplier.
I start by drawing out the ball to a long spike ( leave it straight for now). Then I start flattening and drawing out the head into the blade. When all is about right, I drift the eye. After straightening things up and smoothing the metal over the eye ( with the drift in place) , I curve the spike to the desired shape. I heat the blade and edge quench in water (oil works fine and is safer), then heat the spike and harden it about half way down. Temper in the kitchen oven at 450 twice.
The rest is some grinding and adding the haft.
 
I have made lots of hawks from ball peens. I drift the hole first. Then I pull out the blade and then the spike or hammer poll which I am doing. Then grind. There is no certain seqence of doing it. Which ever feels comfortable for you. Heat treat as Stacy says and you will be ready to go.
 
What size hammer should I use? the 32 oz? I ask since HF has them on sale right now.
 
That will make a big hawk. I use the 24 for most hawks, and the 16 for "Mouse Hawks".
 
What size drift do you use or what size does the finished hole end up.
Thank you
Richard
 
I use a cast tomahawk drift I bought from hawkins supply. Its getting pretty beat up, I will probably blacksmith myself a new one pretty soon maybe even harden it. I also got the handles from Hawkins to ensure the drift was compatible with the handles.
Chris
 
blindhogg said:
I use a cast tomahawk drift I bought from hawkins supply. Its getting pretty beat up, I will probably blacksmith myself a new one pretty soon maybe even harden it. I also got the handles from Hawkins to ensure the drift was compatible with the handles.
Chris
Click to expand...

Hi, any chance you could measure it for me or post a link.
The ones I found on Ebay are 11" long and go from 3/8" to 1 1/4"
Thank you
Richard
 
A drift is usually cast ductile iron, but you could make one from steel. If you make one, do not harden it. You don't want to be striking hardened steel, and the hardening would be ruined the first time it was used, anyway. If you are beating your drift up to a point where it is unusable, the hawk head is most likely not hot enough.Get the head up to near welding heat to drift the eye and it will go quite smoothly. The drift's end will mushroom somewhat during use, and any sharp lip that forms can be ground away as needed. When you get the drift, it will have a rough cast surface and the casting seam may be sticking out. A quick cleanup of the seams on the belt grinder won't hurt. The rough surface on the rest of it is OK as long as there aren't any big bumps sticking out. No need to make it smooth all over.

You should also get/make some smaller drifting tools to open up the slot. An old hot punch ( looks like a hammer with a spike) can be re-shaped to make a great starter drift. You place the punch in/on the slot and strike the other end ( looks like the hammer head) with a maul.
You can make your own hot punch from a large ball peen hammer head. Draw the ball out into a 4" long spike and shape it to a wedge shape. Re-handle it and you are ready to go.

Now, I will give you another great idea.
There are two cardinal things in drifting a head -
1) Drifting a hawk/axe is really a two man job.
2) Everyone ends up burning themselves on the drift.......it gets hot fast.

A handle will help a lot in controlling the drift and keeping your hand un-burned and un-smashed. Take a 20" piece of 1/2" round mild steel stock and flatten about 6" of one end. Fold 3" of that back around and weld it to itself for about 2", leaving an unwelded slot of about 1". Heat it to forging temp and drift the slot until it goes about 2" from the end of your drift. Take the other end and bring 6" of it around to make an oval loop grip. Now you have a 10" long fitted drift handle. Besides keeping you hand from being burned, a big plus for this tool is that it is less nerve wracking to have a striker hit the drift for you when your hand isn't directly under the spot he is hitting.....especially when the striker is inexperienced and swinging a 4# maul.
Cost - $1-2. Money saved on burn cream and trips to the ER for wrist X-rays - $5-500. Value of making your own tools and using them - Priceless.

Lots of folks sell drifts. Blacksmith depot sells a good one, as do many other suppliers. Unless you make a lot of hawks, one drift should last for life.
 
Well I went last night and picked up a 24 oz hammer, as well as a carbon steel chisel I believe will make a good hawk. It has a wide cutting edge (like 3" wide) and a 1/2 in round piece about 6" long. I plan to flatten out the long piece, and then do a wrap around style hawk. The reason I got it was because like I said, the hawk head is already formed.
 
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