Making a hawk

Mark Williams

Mark Williams

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Nov 28, 2000
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Here's a few pic's of how I make a hawk. I'm going to do some Celtic Zoomorphic etching on the head and some inlay work on the haft. I'll post the finished product some time in the near future. I've got a Hawk class this w/e and the Trackrock hammer-in at the end of the month. I'll be doing a demo at the hammer-in. So come on down to the Trackrock hammer-in Nov 1st and 2nd in Blairsville Ga at the Trackrock campgrounds and stables. Their website is www.trackrock.com.



Mark

Heres the cutoff partially drifted.


hawk21.jpg


Here's my mini freon tank forge. Check out the tool/stock rest.It's a blade that didn't quite make it to the tempering oven.

hawk22.jpg


Fullering the edge
hawk23.jpg


Smoothing out the edge

hawk24.jpg


Spike end drawn and hole fully drifted.
hawk25.jpg



Crammed on a haft. need cleaned up and heat treatment.
hawk26.jpg
 
Man you seem to have it together. "how do you draw the end" ,and should it be drifted by hammering the drift through the piece?Mine looks nothing like that but then im starting pretty cold. Also do you have to watch how hot you heat up the piece each time?Thanks
 
Swede,

What I do is get the drift hammered through the stock till it is just about to punch completely through. Steel when hot just doesnt want to be punctured. So I flip the stock over and punch with the drift from the back side. Sometimes a piece of metal the shape of the drift will be pierced out and some times it smears along the inside of the hole and has to be cleaned up with a file. I keep heating and beating until I'm about half way drifted. That way I can do all the shaping of the bit and the spike without worrying about the hole distortion. After I'm happy with the way it looks then I drive the drift to the point were it is just about completely through. You dont want to go completely through or you will just have a straight hole without the taper that keeps the haft in place. I heat the whole thing up and drop the drift back in the hole and do my final hammering.
I draw out the spike slowly trying to make sure not to get too hot. When you work with a steel for the first time or even the same type steel but a differant batch, it is a good idea to check it with a magnet just to see when it goes non magnetic. Also working in low light helps a great deal.
The steel seems to follow laws of nature when working it for me. Once you get it to start moving it seems to get easier and easier to move . Getting it started to move is the hard part.
Bruce Evan has a video that you should consider ordering. He is Da man.

Mark
 
Gouge,
Thanks for taking the time to explain it all to me. There is so much info to process it could take a lifetime and one could still not know weverything. but the fun is in the trying.im ordering a video by chris crawford, where can i get the Bruce Evan video, i figure you cant have too many.Also is that just mild steel youre using? Or is it something else? Thanks again.
 
Its all a great adventure. when I got started It seemed overwhelming. It gets better and better. I'm hoping to make this a career/ well make that a hobbie that I can make money from anyway. The steel I'm using is 5160 spring steel. Some barbells are 5160. about the only way to tell for sure is to forge some down thin and quench it to harden. If a file just skates across it, its good stuff. I'll post a tutorial on how to do the wrapped style of hawk in a week or so. The Chris Crawford video is Bruce Evans doing the work. I haven't seen it but you cant go wrong with Bruce. Heck of a helpful guy that gives a great deal of help to anyone that needs it. Did you find a Drift yet?

Mark
 
Gouge, thanks..i have found a drift but i havent ordered it yet, Could you use car springs or coil springs? Do they sell 5160 in stock form? I bet you guys will be glad when i stop asking questions and start making stuff.Anyway thanks again for the info..too bad youre not is south texas, or id hang out at your house and eat all your food lol.
 
Sorry I havent been around for a while. I've been out of town.

Yes, you can use coil springs. The bigger the better.:D

I get my 5160 stock from these guys they only do C.O.D orders. all you have to do is e-mail them. State how much of what size you want and give them a shippin address and it mysteriously shows up at your fron door a few days later.

5160 and 1084

Mark
 
Mark, thanks for all the info..i think im going to practice with some scrap steel before i jump into the new stuff. My video is on the way and i should be ordering my drift next week. In the meantime im grinding a knife from a lawnmower blade to pass the time.
 
I thought my tanto was the winner of the 2003 ugly knife contest........ nice work there. crude. but looks very functional.
 
Crude? You must be looking at a different hawk. That was a well made hawk,freshly cleaned up, right before handle placement i would imagine. Crude? Not to me anyway but then again im just a waannabe.lets see some of your hawks,we love to pics of well made hawks?
 
CRUDE!

You should see some of my knives. Crude old looking and ugly is what I shoot for.:D It will look much better when its finished trust me.

I've posted a couple more in shoptalk.

Mark
 
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