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Mod'ing The CS Trail Hawk
- Thread starter CitizenQ
- Start date
It shouldn't get that hot near the blade, but you could just get a frontier hawk.
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2010
- Messages
- 2,890
I ground mine down pretty severely and liked it a lot better. It comes with a pronounced beak that makes chopping wood awkward, but would probably help it get through chain mail or other armor, I'm guessing, lol.
It probably would.
Grate work on that axe my friend.
Here is my latest, not a TH, but better on this thread than something separate, I guess.
This is the CS Rifleman's hawk. Head ground down severely with angle grinder, then etched with a norse dragon, then browned with Birchwood-Casey. You can see that somone got a little crazy with the grinder and took a big chunk out of the back of the head... filled with pewter. I plan to do another browning session with it because I had to scrub off some corrosion that developed when I wrapped in in wet leather sheath (I know, duh). Haft also cut down pretty severely, too, in order to put in the grip notchs and a bit of a tapering tail. Haft grip is cow belly pulled and stretched to form and sewed while wet. Dried on tight with zero give :thumbup: Sheath also cow belly, two pieces cut following Robin's tutorial for the welt and general procedure. Thanks Robin! I left on big crescent pieces to form the wrap. The back of the wrap has some sewing on it so that it all pops onto the head pretty tight. I like the hanging leather fronds but not so sure about the beads. Should I cut those off? All leather stained with a water-based dye I got from Tandy's, then gone over with a blow torch. Ok enough chatter, on to pics
This is the CS Rifleman's hawk. Head ground down severely with angle grinder, then etched with a norse dragon, then browned with Birchwood-Casey. You can see that somone got a little crazy with the grinder and took a big chunk out of the back of the head... filled with pewter. I plan to do another browning session with it because I had to scrub off some corrosion that developed when I wrapped in in wet leather sheath (I know, duh). Haft also cut down pretty severely, too, in order to put in the grip notchs and a bit of a tapering tail. Haft grip is cow belly pulled and stretched to form and sewed while wet. Dried on tight with zero give :thumbup: Sheath also cow belly, two pieces cut following Robin's tutorial for the welt and general procedure. Thanks Robin! I left on big crescent pieces to form the wrap. The back of the wrap has some sewing on it so that it all pops onto the head pretty tight. I like the hanging leather fronds but not so sure about the beads. Should I cut those off? All leather stained with a water-based dye I got from Tandy's, then gone over with a blow torch. Ok enough chatter, on to pics
I am working on one now.
I did the typical stripping of paint, boiled vinegar to the head. I changed the edge a little, but still left it a pretty much a medium convex. I tend to like this for splitting and general work when I am spiked out in the wilderness for work.
I shortened the handle to 16 inches for wilderness/woods carry. That is just a preference of mine.
The grain flow in the handle was exactly wrong. Not just a little but perfectly backwards. I have another handle coming to replace it that has the correct grain flow. In the meantime this is my tester handle: I have used dark red mahogany strain and Howard Wax and Feed to refinish the handle and have it drying now. I also flame hardened the handle and darkened the grain before the stain. I have been using Scotch Brite pads to apply stain rough the handle after torching.
QUESTION?
Has anyone done a decorative fill to the screw hole in the head? I was thinking of threading a piece of brass then hammering the last 2mm of stock down to the level of the head and then etching a leaf or feather over it and a potion of the steel. It would leave the brass hammered like a penny on the railroad tracks and the etching would attack it more than the steel.
I did the typical stripping of paint, boiled vinegar to the head. I changed the edge a little, but still left it a pretty much a medium convex. I tend to like this for splitting and general work when I am spiked out in the wilderness for work.
I shortened the handle to 16 inches for wilderness/woods carry. That is just a preference of mine.
The grain flow in the handle was exactly wrong. Not just a little but perfectly backwards. I have another handle coming to replace it that has the correct grain flow. In the meantime this is my tester handle: I have used dark red mahogany strain and Howard Wax and Feed to refinish the handle and have it drying now. I also flame hardened the handle and darkened the grain before the stain. I have been using Scotch Brite pads to apply stain rough the handle after torching.
QUESTION?
Has anyone done a decorative fill to the screw hole in the head? I was thinking of threading a piece of brass then hammering the last 2mm of stock down to the level of the head and then etching a leaf or feather over it and a potion of the steel. It would leave the brass hammered like a penny on the railroad tracks and the etching would attack it more than the steel.
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Sounds like a great idea. Look up hawkhead's work for decoartive pewter fills. I've tried but failed at that , ha ha
BryFry
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2009
- Messages
- 1,722
Yeah, like Pullrich said, Hawkhead has done some good work with that.
I didn't have the matterials or equipment to do any pewter or other pressious metal fills, so I did this quick ghetto fill on my hawk with some liquid steel JB weld type stuff....
