Nose to the grindstone. Well, 'hawks to the belt grinder.

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Apr 12, 2006
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I've finally got the ball rolling on everything and am working on the first batch of tomahawks since getting my new heat treatment furnace set up. I'm first working on taking care of military orders, then will work on the rest in order.

Here's the first batch of five. I plan on working on six at a time in the future, but I wanted to get these finished and to the customers ASAP.



All of them have sharpened inner beards except the second hammer poll from the left. I know some of them are hard to see in the pic. It was taken under fluorescent lights at night in my shop.

Here they are on the combination tempering/coating baking rack in the big 3 phase kiln that I use for such operations. At this point, they've been normalized, ground, and hardened.



And the two heat treatment devices side-by-side. The new furnace, dedicated to the hardening phase, is on the right. The 3 phase kiln, dedicated to tempering and baking on the finish, is on the left. The first tempering cycle is just starting and the kiln isn't up to temp yet.



The rack I use for normalizing is to the right of the furnace, with only one foot visible. The quench tank is just out of the shot on the right and forward.

Also, after wrestling with the idea for a while, I've decided to name my models. Model names for blades can get really gimmicky for some folks, but I wanted something straightforward that would be evocative of the intended use.

So, I chose War Chief, Wrecker, and Woodsman.

War Chief (combat spike) on the left, Wrecker (pry spike) on the right.



And Woodsman (hammer poll):



I have a pretty good handful of orders to get made, and should start putting up some finished pictures in the next few days, all going well. :)
 
Thank y'all!

I have a couple from an earlier batch that were waiting for me to build sheaths (another long, involved setup process building tooling and testing it out) that went out to customers this weekend. Once I hear back, I'll put pictures up here.
 
Got this batch Durabaked today.

I need to build a better spraying setup, but I rigged this up as a temporary solution and it did all right.



Everyone in this batch wanted black, except one.



About to bake in the kiln.



Cooling off afterwards on the normalizing rack.



And the whole heat treatment setup. Three phase kiln on the left used for tempering and baking on the finish, Evenheat used for hardening to the right of that, normalizing rack to the right of that, tomahawk quench oil in the black barrel, and canola oil for quenching bush swords in the square tube quench tank.



Tomorrow the plan is to get Micarta sheets sandblasted and cut up, and possibly shaped into slabs and on the 'hawks.

I also shot a little video showing durability in response to a handful of people who have asked me about if the top rivet hole on the short 'hawks is a weak spot. The video is uploading and I'll post it when finished.
 
I also shot a little video showing durability in response to a handful of people who have asked me about if the top rivet hole on the short 'hawks is a weak spot. The video is uploading and I'll post it when finished.

Awesome pics James. Lookin' forward to seein' the video. BTW, does the video include the "TDT" (Tobin Drop Test)....:p:D
 
Nah, we thought we'd try something more challenging. Cutting though a Kephart. :D :D :D Just kidding, your knife is safe and sound. :)
 
Here we go, whacking on the handle with a six pound sledgehammer to check the strength of a spot a couple of folks had thought might be a weak point, then chopping a nail.

[video=youtube;S9DyU-W4tK0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9DyU-W4tK0[/video]

This isn't a demolition edge, either, it's a wood chopping edge. What can I say, I love 4140! :)
 
I don't know about it being the next video, but I'm certainly planning on an involved testing video that will include turning that pristine clothes dryer you saw into a cheese grater. :D Soon.
 
I don't know about it being the next video, but I'm certainly planning on an involved testing video that will include turning that pristine clothes dryer you saw into a cheese grater. :D Soon.

Cool, re-purposing a household appliance!
 
I don't know about it being the next video, but I'm certainly planning on an involved testing video that will include turning that pristine clothes dryer you saw into a cheese grater. :D Soon.

Those appliances have no idea of the fury which will be unleashed upon them. I'll bring the smoked gouda...:D
 
Great looking hawks. Liked the video looks, like those baby will take a lickin' and keep on tickin'.

steve
 
Thank y'all! :)

I got Micarta sheets sandblasted and cut into manageable sizes today. I also cut the slabs for this batch, though I haven't shaped them yet, and cut the stainless steel tube rivets. More pics tomorrow.
 
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