Mod'ing The CS Trail Hawk

I had so much fun looking at what you guys were doing I decided to try myself. Made this one to send off to my son, hope he has fun with it! It would have turned out so much better if I was good at following directions. But I did learn a lot and am planning on the next one.
Damn!!! I hate seeing all those pictures showing hawks and green grass! It will be months before I see that up here.

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Glen
 
ShawDAMAN said:
Sandblasting should work fine. The only thing about that is that I've heard it makes steel a bit more vulnerable to rust by, in essence, leaving the pores more "open" than other finishes might, but this is probably no big deal and should look nice.

As far as the haft, be careful with the sanding, you don't want to take too much off. Make sure you get some kind of a round file and round off the inside edges of the eye, this makes it a lot easier to fit, so the head doesn't bite into the wood on the way up making things more difficult. You just want it to smoothly tighten. If you have to put it in a vice and give it a careful squeeze onto the handle don't worry about it, you just don't want to smash it on or anything.
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Well I got it all sandblasted, and I really like the way it looks.
BUT got a couple problems...
1.) Anytime I touch it, it leaves dark spots on it!!! I don't like that at all... any suggestions??
2.) Is there any kind of finish I can put on it to keep the same look??

I realy like the finished look of the head, but I'm running into too many problems and for some reason I think that if I were to use it at all it would mess up the finish. Is there any alternatives to still make it look in a similar way, but be able to use it?!! I don't believe in having a weapon that only looks pretty and can't be used!!! :grumpy:
 
The blasted steel has a roughened surface and now has no protection whatsoever. The dark spots you see are the oils from your hands that remain on the metal. This contaminated surface will rust. Blueing will help prevent rusting to some degree. The old school method of acid or rust blue is tougher than hot dip, but is more labor intensive. Coating with oil or a firearn rust preventive product will also help or you can Duracoat or clear coat. The other Hawkmen on the forum all have various methods of putting a patina on metal. Patina is just a oxidative layer which will help protect the steel. Any finish will show signs of use which is not necessarily a bad thing. If you plan on using your hawk, wear will happen.
 
Pipe Hawk actually came that color
Will probably do something similar to the Pipe Hawk like I did the Rifleman's, and the Trail Hawk will most likely get a more tacti-cool design and whatnot
 
Senserazer said:
How are those rifleman hawks? I live in Denmark, and thus have access to a very limited market, but I know a place to get these. Thanks! :D
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If you're looking for something that's big beefy and more hatchet like, then you'll like the Rifleman's Hawk

If you're looking for something that's more well rounded and more packable for hiking and such, I'd suggest the Pipe Hawk
 
TheAznInvazn said:
If you're looking for something that's big beefy and more hatchet like, then you'll like the Rifleman's Hawk

If you're looking for something that's more well rounded and more packable for hiking and such, I'd suggest the Pipe Hawk
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Seconded. I like my rifleman's hawk because it looks intimidating when I hold it and I feel cooler ;)

But there's a reason I picked a pipe hawk for my bug-out-bag
 
Today has been fun. I finally received my blueing solution and quickly got to blueing, I originally wanted to brown my hawk but decided not to at the last minute. Anyway, here's some pics of her
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I also filled that hole with a brass screw I found in the road a few weeks ago, I just filed the screw smooth and peened it in then filed it flush as well as I could without ruining the blueing.
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It might not be perfect but I feel it really compliments the blued metal.
 
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Thanks guys. The blueing was easier to apply than expected, I only applied two coats for a lighter finish. It does seem to wear off pretty fast at the blade though, however the effect of it wearing off gives it a battle-worn look, kinda reminds me of an old and abused Kalishnikov.
 
Any thoughts on the Trail Hawk? I have access to: Trail Hawk, Rifleman's Hawk and this..Cold Steel Trench Hawk. Any thoughts guys? Preferably a good all round hawk that can also fit in to my go bag
 
If the hawk is geared towards more of the mobile and packing side, I'd definitely get the Trail Hawk
I would only get the Rifleman's Hawk if you know you want something closer to actual hatchet size and weight and don't mind the extra heft. The Rifleman's Hawk is the heaviest of the CS hawks, and the Trail Hawk is the lightest, so that's another point to chew on
 
I'll order a Trail Hawk to honor the thread in which I got the advice :P
Any ideas for modding it? Whar kind of paint would be good the head/handle accordingly?
Thanks for the replies! :D
 
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For the head, I'd use some sort of enamel type paint at the very least, preferably duracoat or something comparable

As for the handle, people generally stain, but if you're looking for a very specific color, just use the appropriate spray primer/paint
 
Duracoat's pretty easy to apply to these hawks. You can get a kit from Lauer Custom Weaponry that has the Duracoat and a disposable spray bottle (think a spray paint can without the paint) for not a lot of money. And the rough texture of the metal on the hawk head after you strip the factory paint is perfect for the Duracoat to adhere to. In all it only took me about an hour to paint my hawk, and that included degreasing and letting the Duracoat set a little in between coats
 
new to the forum & love some of the work on the hawks. my brother has recently got a trail hawk & started modding it with some help from me, he has done all the paint stripping & main dirty work & iv lent him my skills with metal, wood & leather work. hope that you like our work. i will be getting either a pipe or spike hawk to mod this week & will post pics as progress is made.

will post some pics of my brothers hawk once i get them uploaded.
 
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