Mod'ing The CS Trail Hawk

A couple of you have asked about how I did the patina. It was sort of a combination of what I had read others do with a bit of dumb luck.

- I stripped the paint finish with spray on Jasso. Easy as can be, then wiped down the head with alcohol to clean it off real good.

- I took a large Folgers coffee bucket, empty of course, and filled it with water then poured in about 2 cups of old bleach. I first put the head in with the edge down and hammer poll up. Immediately the hammer poll began to rust up pretty good. After about 2 hours the blade portion was barely rusted so I assumed that the bleach wasn't staying mixed real well so I just flipped the head over so the edge was now up and left it over night.

- next morning I noticed the nice streaks of jelly like rust that formed on the head. Pulled it out and was really surprised that there were some fairly decent areas without any rust. I expected a nice overall rust but instead got the stripes.

- I washed the head off with water and lightly scrubbed it. Then I lightly scrubbed it with alcohol and steel wool to make sure the active rust was done. That's when I noticed the bit of red still but thought it looked cool.

- After cleaning it up I rubbed it down with some tomatoe from the fridge that my wife had cut up for a salad. That did darken down the steel to a nice light gray. Still wasn't satisfied/

- So last but not least I borrowed some Birchwood Casey liquid blue and rubbed it on until I liked the results. It did seem to bring out the red in the rusty streaks even more.

That's basically it in a nutshell.

Now to test the above I have done most of these steps to a spike hawk with somewhat similar results so it looks at least conceptually repeatable.

Charlie
 
Hi,
First of all I'd like to thank you all for the awesome inspirations this thread has given me so far!
I've been following it for the past month, and now I finally decided to register myself. The thread also made me buy my first tomahawk to mod it, so I got myself a CS Spike Hawk.

I didn't do a lot to it:

1) Stripped the paint of the head (not completely) and sanded it, it gave the head a "forged"-look
2) sanded the handle, burned and oiled it (using olive oil ;-), didn't have anything else).
3) Put on a convex edge using a file and sandpaper
4) finished the sharpening with a sharpening bench stone and a leather strop w/ polishing paste

Pictures are below:

tools that I used:

csspikehawk7.jpg


and the finished Hawk:

csspikehawkburnedhandle.jpg


csspikehawkburnedhandle.jpg


csspikehawkburnedhandle.jpg


csspikehawkburnedhandle.jpg


csspikehawkburnedhandle.jpg



PS: I'm from Germany, so (as English isn't my mothertongue) forgive any mistakes you find ;-)
 
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Nice work. You will definitely get others to mod. I find I have gotten more ideas for mods as I have done additional ones. Enjoy.

Howard
 
InSilvam said:
Hi,

csspikehawkburnedhandle.jpg



PS: I'm from Germany, so (as English isn't my mothertongue) forgive any mistakes you find ;-)
Click to expand...

Looks good. My hawk had an almost identical spot on both sides as well. Had me a bit concerned but it seemed to come out well with some light sanding.

Charlie
 
Thanks for your kind comments! My next project will be to mod an medieval axehead replica (10th century), but I'll better post that into a new thread. Regarding the CS Hawks, I'm thinking about getting myself a Norsehawk, when my budget allows it ;-)

I also got a question to you guys (it has probably been already answered, but I didn't find it in the 1928 posts this thread has so far):
I saw some of you filling the setscrew-hole in the head so it looks star-shaped, I'm just wondering how to do this? Do you use a tiny round-file and fill it with JBWeld?

Best regards,
InSilvam
 
Hey Insilvan, check out my norse hawk several pages back when you get the chance. I love the shape of that hawk.

I know a few filled it in with jb weld, but some on this forum have done it with brass as well. I want to do this on my pipe hawk as well so I'd like to hear any solutions anyone has or ideas as well.
 
On my Spike Hawk, I installed the set screw partially in, making sure the end did not project inside the eye, and epoxied it. After letting the epoxy cure for 24 hours, I cut the four-sided design in using a small diamond tip cutter on my Dremel. Then I put bleach on it, let that rust up for 24 hours, cleaned it up, then gave it a dose of salt water, let that rust up for 24 hours, then cleaned it up again. With a good patina forming after that, the set screw isn't even noticeable as such unless you know what it was.
 
Hey Ponsau,

I just checked out your Norse Hawk - it looks just awesome! Did you do anything with the setscrew hole, doesn't show in the pictures. I'm thinking about putting some sort of decorative screw in it, looking similar to the ones on the handle here:

Airmobile_21 said:
IMG_0537_2.jpg
Click to expand...
 
I had an older Norse hawk that had no set screw. They used to come without them. Yeah I want to put tacks or something like those on the handle of my pipe hawk as well. The pipe hawk has a set screw I will remove, but want to file it and fill it. I'm busy moving so haven't been able to work on it. I have seen these tacks at leather stores and furniture stores here. You could try a hobby shop as well.

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&rh=n:2257858011,p_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin:4552435011&page=1
 
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Sharp Knives 86 said:
How do you guys get that forged look on your hawk heads? I would like to try that on one of my machetes.
Click to expand...

A lot of that is from the rough finish underneath Cold Steel's black paint. Once it's stripped, all the little cosmetic imperfections are revealed: pits, dings, and rough spots from the drop forging process. All I do with mine is patinate the bare surface with applications of bleach, saltwater, etc. I sometimes even wipe my own sweat on it, which is basically salt water with other minerals, some skin oils and acids. Do it enough and it slowly "browns up".

I got some help with this process last week when we were without power for eight days during a heat wave. All the nightly condensation really helped "age" the head of my Spike Hawk. The surface used to resemble aged pewter, now it looks almost like damascus. Cool.
 
Sharp Knives 86 said:
How do you guys get that forged look on your hawk heads? I would like to try that on one of my machetes.
Click to expand...

As Wolf_1989 already said, the pattern comes from the forging process, and I guess it would be hard to emulate that if you already sanded it smooth, or if your machete just doesn't show a pattern that much.

Cutting an onion and rubbing it over the metal, or painting it with mustard also gives a nice dark patina, the mustard one will be light yellowish. You could paint a patina-pattern using some of the mentioned methods, to give it a damascus-steel-like look.
 
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Hey guys, I need some input on my new Norse Hawk. I received it today after getting a Pipe Hawk (and loving it) and it came with a loose head, mangled shaft, and horribly dull blade. No matter how much sanding I do, I can't seem to get the head to do a good friction fit, and it's getting very close to the top of the shaft. Should I just call this one a loss and buy a new handle? Does anyone know if Cold Steel will send you a new handle if theirs was defective?
 
Try sanding the handle where the head meets and rubs against it for a better friction fit. Also sand a bit on the axe head around the top where the head widens out. That's what I did and got a very solid friction fit. If you think it is beyond that, I have heard that cold steel will send replacement handles. Also replacement handles are sold from cold steel. I've also seen them on amazon.
 
Wolf_1989 said:
A lot of that is from the rough finish underneath Cold Steel's black paint. Once it's stripped, all the little cosmetic imperfections are revealed: pits, dings, and rough spots from the drop forging process. All I do with mine is patinate the bare surface with applications of bleach, saltwater, etc. I sometimes even wipe my own sweat on it, which is basically salt water with other minerals, some skin oils and acids. Do it enough and it slowly "browns up".

I got some help with this process last week when we were without power for eight days during a heat wave. All the nightly condensation really helped "age" the head of my Spike Hawk. The surface used to resemble aged pewter, now it looks almost like damascus. Cool.
Click to expand...

InSilvam said:
As Wolf_1989 already said, the pattern comes from the forging process, and I guess it would be hard to emulate that if you already sanded it smooth, or if your machete just doesn't show a pattern that much.

Cutting an onion and rubbing it over the metal, or painting it with mustard also gives a nice dark patina, the mustard one will be light yellowish. You could paint a patina-pattern using some of the mentioned methods, to give it a damascus-steel-like look.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys. I actually already put a patina on the machete. I was just thought you guys were doing something that helped you emulate a forged look.
 
@Ponsau
Hey,
I just took another look at your pictures again admiring your awesome hawk ;-), and I was wondering whats the knife in the last picture? Looks quite cool, and I like the sheath with the holster for a fire-steel.

Ponsau said:
[...]
axenkife.jpg
Click to expand...
 
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