mod'ing the cold steel spike hawk

buckmaster96

buckmaster96

Joined
Jan 6, 2012
Messages
794
hello all. i figured id make my first post (i think) in tomahawk forums a big one. so here it is (sorry no pics of the un modded one)
images.jpg

well the handle finish was shoddy at best. it was so rough that it felt like holding sandpaper. so what i did was sand the handle to 1000 grit or so. if you want a comparison sand the wood until it is literally as smooth as glass. then i hand rubbed about 35-40 coats of amazon teak oil into the wood. this brought out the grain fairly well without adding to much color. then i went over it again with five coats of beeswax and polished to a nice satin (for lack of a better word) finish. all in all the handle took me about 4 1/2 hours to complete. then near the completion of the handle i started stripping the head. when that was done i deburred the eye and patina'ed it in a mix of apple cider vinegar, spicy sesame oil, rice vinegar and white wine vinegar. this left a nice "subdued rainbow" patina on it. (its more visible on the edge).
IMG_20120413_232046.jpg
IMG_20120413_232053.jpg
will upload action shots when i can
 
Nice job! Are you finished with it, or do you have more plans for further modding?

I've found that hawk modding can be pretty adicting! :) Careful with that spike, by the way... I've acidentally poked myself in the back, and nicked my head with the damn thing while throwing it!
 
yeah i am propably gonna find a way to give it some grip. i looked at paracord but it wasnt the traditional style i wanted. any suggestions
 
I really like the patina on the head ;-)
Perhaps wrap the handle with rawhide thong instead of paracord? Or a piece of rawhide/leather sewn on with a baseball stitch?
 
Rawhide or leather stitched at the seam and then carpet (upholstery) tacks around teh top and bottom. Wet the leather and stretch it when you stitch it, let it dry, then add a ring of tacks around the top and bottom ("nailing" the leather to the wood) then treat the leather with a waterproofing agent. You should end up with a very nice looking, functional, and secure grip.
 
Shoot, youknow, I don't know what oz. I live like three blocks away from a tandy leather, so for something like that I would just go look in their scrap bin, but I would figure probly at least three or four ounce, enough to add some size, but not overly so. Sorry it took so long for me to respond, things been busy. If you use a tooling leather, and stamp some kind of pattern into the leather (basket weave, floral pattern, etc) it should give a little more of a three dimensional aspect and improve teh grip even more (although the tacks should also help keep your hand from sliding off the grip.
 
For a handle wrap I use soft garment weight leather, Deer or Moose also works, a piece out of an old leather jacket will work If you can find on at a used clothing store. Baseball stitch is the right way to do it IMO. Under cut the leather so your stitch pulls the join tight together again, I usually undercut about 3/16ths. The one in the picture is dyed rawhide. You can also get a great grip with wrapped jute.

Regards

Robin

6875784202_d9cb8fc665.jpg
[/url][/IMG]
 
I love the baseball stitched and stretched leather look. However, I also like the feel you get by using 3/4 inch wide strips wrapped around the handle in a slight overlapping manner. The resulting ridges give you a secure grip. I use shellac on my leather as a finish quite often. "Nailing" the edges is always nice.

Howard
 
I got impatient and just paracord wrapped the handle I think it looks good and I like that if I ever get into a situation I have about 30 feet of cord
 
You are absolutely right Wolf. I used them all the time when I owned a small furniture manufacturing plant where we also redid antique furniture back in the mid 70s.

Howard
 
Crazy Crow has my favorites, the 1/4" diameter head cone-shaped tacks, also in antiqued nickle silver. I think I'll be using those on my next CS tomahawk mod, which will be the Pipe Hawk.
 
This is a great mod...makes the spyke hawk look more like the weapon it was patterned after...

What about durability factor in this one vs. CS TRENCH HAWK?
 
tikkidaddy said:
This is a great mod...makes the spyke hawk look more like the weapon it was patterned after...

What about durability factor in this one vs. CS TRENCH HAWK?
Click to expand...

I can say this about the Spike Hawk:

When I first remounted it on a new haft, it didn't impress me because the head would come loose VERY easily. I don't mean by throwing it either. Just a moderately powered wack into a dead log and the head would be loose.

So this last time, I put the head on making doggone sure it was perfectly fitted, and after I was satisfied with that head to haft fit, I slid it up to the head into a steel pipe and gave it some good dedicated blows with a sledgehammer to fully seat it as tight as possible.

Now that sucker ain't goin' nowhere. For the last month I've thrown it, smacked, bashed, hacked,and spiked stuff with it, and it feels as solid as if it were made of one solid piece of material.

Last week, the storms left us without electricity. We were living in temperatures of around 100F and high humidity. Eight days of being exposed to humidity made it look better. I had patinated the head with saltwater and achieved a look which resembled antique pewter. The humidity now has given it almost a damascus look. And now it has a story to tell.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top