New Guy - Just received - Wolf Creek Forge Rasp Hatchet

Col Defender

Col Defender

Joined
Nov 11, 2011
Messages
1,398
Hi everyone

I've been around Blade Forums for a while but this is the first post on the Axe Sub-forum. I just bought this little hatchet on the Exchange from one of our members and I really like it. But I am definitely not an axe/hatchet guy and really don't know much about it except what I gleaned from Wolf Creek Forge's website. PLEASE - tell me what you can. I definitely want to use it for light chopping and splitting, even batoning but don't want to abuse it either. Don't know what kind of steel it is and what it can handle.

What is the right way to sharpen/maintain it? It's pretty sharp now and appears unused but should I attempt to get a shaving sharp knife edge on it? Is a diamond stone OK to use?



Anyway - you can see I know essentially nothing so would value all your opinions on what kind of quality I have here, what I can safely do with it and absolutely anything else that comes to mind.

Thanks so much!!
 
I'm no expert either, and for that reason I would suggest keeping close to the edge profile it came with. Getting the edge down to a one-dimensional line is good, but you want to leave some strength behind it.
I would avoid batoning. I think it will bite deeper from a swing than from rapping with a stick, and the eye is probably fairly soft as well as not very heavy.
They're fun to throw, too, but easy to lose.
Main thing, it's a sweet-looking hawk. Congratulations.
Oh, and I've heard nothing but positives about Wolf Creek quality.
 
I would call it a tomahawk because of its wraparound construction and lack of a poll to balance the blade. (Tactical types have tomahawks of heavier construction and elaborate shapes for breaching or escaping. You probably know more about those than I do.)
It's a bit like squares and rectangles. An axe is usually full size or 3/4 size, but axe is also the generic term. (I just bought a belt axe of 8 oz head-weight.) Tomahawks are also called trade axes because they were the sort of axes traded to our fore-runners. European colonials soon called any Indian striking weapon a tomahawk, after learning the name from Capt John Smith. It was Algonquian for club when Smith learned it. Colonials often called their own hatchets hatchets (or Indian Axes).
Hatchets of course are small axes. Though somebody once posted that we were all wrong to call small axes hatchets. He never explained, but maybe he meant that hatchet should be reserved for riggers', carpenters' or lathing hatchets rather than camping axes.
As I say, I'm no expert. I might be in for some corrections or amplifications shortly, but usage varies too.
 
They have it listed on their website as the Rasp Tomahawk. You should contact Lisa about sharpening info.
 
If a case hardened rasp was used then a high carbon bit should have been forge welded between the layers of the rasp for the last couple of inches to the edge. If the rasp was high carbon then it wouldn't have been necessary to weld a bit in. Get in touch with Wolf Creek and find out. In any case the hawk looks awesome!
 
Hi, sorry to bring up an old topic but I wanted to answer..I cant tell from the pic if it was made from an entire rasp welded over itself or if it had a added in bit..I could easily tell if I saw the top or bottom..Either way we never use case hardened rasps for cutting bits..W ehave used them for the body and then add a good bit..there are only about three brands of rasps we use for the steel(meaning we don't have to add a HC bit) Those we have tested so we know they are similar to 1095..So most likely your hawk has a cutting bit of 1075 steel or 1095 steel..
Use it, that's what its made for..We have one just like yours here on the farm that has been used heartily..The only thing I would watch is heavy hammering on the eye..driving tent pegs and such are no problem at all..i just wouldent drive railroad spikes with it:D
regardless that hawk is under warrenty..it dosnt matter if you bought it second hand..If it breaks due to craftsmanship Ill make it right...Also any stone or diamond will be fine to sharpen it with.
Thanks
 
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