Usually I am more of a knife guy, but a while back a friend of mine asked me to make him a bearded axe/walking stick hybrid. Something he could walk his acreage with and chop any undesirable organisms, saplings and such. Always up for learning something new I took on the project. I don't have a whole lot of pictures, though, I like to explain my process to help receive more specific advice as well as to help others who may have questions similar to the ones I had before starting this project. I had to forge myself a drift in preparation to starting the axe. I did this from a 1 inch piece of round mild steel.
As far as the axe forging, I started with a 1 1/4"x1 1/4" bar of 1045. I left about 1 1/2" - 2" original thickness at the end to be drawn out into the bevel. I knocked down the body of the axe head (sorry if I mislabeled the area, my axe terminology is a bit rusty) till I had a six inch piece that was around 3/4"x3/4" square with a bulge at the end. Because of the deep bearded look I was going for I used the cross peen of my hammer to fan out the bulge into looking more like an axe. I chose to draw out the bearded bevel before I drifted the eye, because of my set up this limited how I was able to drift the eye later.
The drifting of the eye was a little tricky, the drift was larger than the hardy hole on my anvil so my only option was to drift it a majority of the way through upside down on a makeshift drift-driving-hole. This made it harder to keep it straight during the drift. When I was just a few hits from passing all the way through, I knocked it out, flipped it right side up, hung just over the edge of the anvil, and drove it the rest of the way through. After straightening I turned off the forge and let the piece sit in the heat overnight.
I took it to the grinder the next day, just to refine the profile, I wanted to keep the rough forged look on the sides of the axe. I ground, filed, and sanded till I was satisfied with the profile, and the feel of the axe head in hand (it is also a handle for a cane after all). I stamped my friends last name and USA on the body of the axe while it was still in it's softened state. I then fired up the forge for heat treatment. I read that the heat treatment of 1045 isn't terribly specific, which is good because my heat treatment abilities aren't terribly accurate
. I heated it up to a bit hotter than non magnetic and then quenched in McCmaster-Carr 11 second oil. canola oil or water would have probably worked as well, that's just what I had on hand. After hardening and a round of wire brushing, I tempered it in my oven at 400 Fahrenheit for about an hour and a half. while it was still hot from the oven i gave it a good rub down with some bees wax. making sure it melted into every nook and cranny. This is supposed to help with rust prevention.
This is how it sits right now, I am very pleased with it, considering it is my first go at forging an axe head. Next is to choose a handle material, the shaft is going to be around 3 feet long. Hickory seems like the generic choice . Does anyone know of another wood that would offer the same performance with a bit more flare? I'm open to suggestions, but not trying to get into anything too pricey. Perhaps something that would pair well with a brass or stainless steel end-cap.
All comments and questions are welcome.
Thank you for looking,
Trogdorr
As far as the axe forging, I started with a 1 1/4"x1 1/4" bar of 1045. I left about 1 1/2" - 2" original thickness at the end to be drawn out into the bevel. I knocked down the body of the axe head (sorry if I mislabeled the area, my axe terminology is a bit rusty) till I had a six inch piece that was around 3/4"x3/4" square with a bulge at the end. Because of the deep bearded look I was going for I used the cross peen of my hammer to fan out the bulge into looking more like an axe. I chose to draw out the bearded bevel before I drifted the eye, because of my set up this limited how I was able to drift the eye later.
The drifting of the eye was a little tricky, the drift was larger than the hardy hole on my anvil so my only option was to drift it a majority of the way through upside down on a makeshift drift-driving-hole. This made it harder to keep it straight during the drift. When I was just a few hits from passing all the way through, I knocked it out, flipped it right side up, hung just over the edge of the anvil, and drove it the rest of the way through. After straightening I turned off the forge and let the piece sit in the heat overnight.
I took it to the grinder the next day, just to refine the profile, I wanted to keep the rough forged look on the sides of the axe. I ground, filed, and sanded till I was satisfied with the profile, and the feel of the axe head in hand (it is also a handle for a cane after all). I stamped my friends last name and USA on the body of the axe while it was still in it's softened state. I then fired up the forge for heat treatment. I read that the heat treatment of 1045 isn't terribly specific, which is good because my heat treatment abilities aren't terribly accurate
. I heated it up to a bit hotter than non magnetic and then quenched in McCmaster-Carr 11 second oil. canola oil or water would have probably worked as well, that's just what I had on hand. After hardening and a round of wire brushing, I tempered it in my oven at 400 Fahrenheit for about an hour and a half. while it was still hot from the oven i gave it a good rub down with some bees wax. making sure it melted into every nook and cranny. This is supposed to help with rust prevention.This is how it sits right now, I am very pleased with it, considering it is my first go at forging an axe head. Next is to choose a handle material, the shaft is going to be around 3 feet long. Hickory seems like the generic choice . Does anyone know of another wood that would offer the same performance with a bit more flare? I'm open to suggestions, but not trying to get into anything too pricey. Perhaps something that would pair well with a brass or stainless steel end-cap.
All comments and questions are welcome.
Thank you for looking,
Trogdorr
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