My Hawk design, ideas wanted

[Jason Cutter]

Hi guys, thought this might be the place to get your ideas about hawks. This one I designed and tested - modification of a "full tang" hawk style. The head - forged O-1, 58-59HRC (sounds a bit hard but it holds up extremely well)only 3/16inch thick, Loveless screws and stainless pins, 12inch shaft of brown canvas Micarta. Wrapped handle is only experimental and way to harsh for comfy use.

However, Other hawks are the traditional pattern with a haft hole / drift. There must be a reason for that. I find these ones easy to make and design.

Who has used the full tang hawks / hatchets and are they any good ?
Suggestions ? Experience ? Thanks in advance. Jason.

http:www.jcbkknives.com

 

[Cliff Stamp]

The drift attachment has the advantage of ease of replacement which is a critical area for throwing tomahawks. If the blade off to the side in your attachment, putting the edge off center from the handle? Doesn't that make it fairly awkward in use? Why no curvature in the bit face, it is fairly square.

-Cliff

 

[Jason Cutter]

The head is sandwiched between the panels of Micarta, so it is dead centre and due to my basic forging skills, it took a bit of work to get the head to in fact be centred.Its not like forging blades and it seems a whole different skill type.

The head as you pointed out I agree is not curved enough. I made the mistake of forging a nice curve in and then grinding it off - lack of experience with hawks. I noticed the deficit as soon as I started using it - a curve would have more "bite" across a greater range of angles of cut.

Thanks. Jason.