O'Katz Handmade Full Tang Hawk - WIP

[mohd]

I, JayGoliath, Cotherion, KJ and Nadir talked about a full tang hawk for some times already.
We brainstormed the idea and we came out with few designs base on those existing full tang hawks.
We were thinking about commissioning it to O'Katz.
Anyhow since so far O'Katz only makes knives then it sure takes some motivations for him to start making a hawk.
Times went on and we just waited for O'Katz to start making one.

Suddenly in early March this year I received a picture of an axe from O'Katz.
He said it was made by his sifu and it was given to him as a gift.

It's a good chopping axe I think.
And the surprise that came next is a picture of a hawk head made by O'Katz himself.
The picture was sent to me on the end of March this year.
It seems to me that the gift of a chopping axe from his sifu was the ice breaker for O'Katz to come out with his own hawk.

And then O'Katz TIG welded a piece of steel as the integral haft to it to make it his first full tang hawk.

The finished full tang hawk looks great to me :thumbup:
And it went to JayGoliath as the custodian of it.

mohd

 

[wildmike]

Nice!

 

[mohd]

Nice!

Thanks Mike, it's a nice hawk and Jay is happy with it.
I'll post his review once he'd done it!

The hawk series made by O'Katz is named as T-Hawk by Jay.
That name is derived from Tarantula Hawk which is a spider wasp which hunts tarantulas as food for its larvae.

Here are shots of the T-Hawk from some different angles.

It was made from a 15" OAL 5160 and the haft is a Cengal Batu Wood.

mohd

 

[jwaj]

Nice hawk mohd. I thought the scales were light oak until I read tropical wood/Cengal Batu.

Mean looking wasp as well.

 

[mohd]

.. Nice hawk mohd. I thought the scales were light oak until I read tropical wood/Cengal Batu ..

Thanks for the nice compliment pal!
Cengal batu is one of the hardest tropical wood in Malaysia.

.. Janka Hardness of Pine wood : 870 pounds.
Janka Hardness of Teak: 1100 pounds
Janka Hardness of Pyinkado / Myanmar Ironwood: 1915 pounds
Janka Hardness of Chengal : 2130 pounds
Janka Hardness of Borneo Ironwood: 3010 pounds
Janka Hardness of Okan: 3684 pounds

The Janka Hardness Scale test measures the force required to embed a 11.28 millimeter (0.444 inch) steel ball into wood to half its diameter. This method was chosen so that the result would leave an indention 100 square millimeters in size. It is one of the best measures of the ability of a wood species to withstand denting and wear. It is also a good indicator of how hard a species is to saw or nail ..

O'Katz normally use cengal for chopping and whittling standard test for his handmade knives.
Only those knives that passed the test without chipping, rolling and can hold the sharpness of the cutting edge will go to the customer.
So this T-Hawk also was tested and passed the chengal chopping and whitteling test before handed over to Jay.

The piece of cengal wood that look like a stake at the far end there was already used for the chopping test.
The only problem with our local tropical wood is that we seldom have them stabilized first when used for handle, haft or scabbard.

Now let's proceed on!
In the middle of last month (i.e. June) I received a picture of the second T-Hawk from O'Katz asking for a quick review of the design before the heat treatment.

I replied his email with a suggestion to alter the shape of the hawk head and I told him that it surely will cause him a pain in the butt if he wanted to do it.
IMVHO it really involves a lot of hours work to re-profile the hawk head at that particular stage.
O'Katz agreed with me and so he proceeded on with the heat treatment without making any change to the design.

And last week I received the picture of the finished second T-Hawk.

Aha .. it was made from a 15" OAL piece of 15n20 which is also called as the European L6 known for a hard and a tough performance history.
The hardness and the toughness of 15n20 is one of the reason why it normally is used with another steel such as any of a 10 series or a 5160 to make a good damascus steel.
And this time the haft of the T-Hawk is made from a White Oak scales.

Then O'Katz told me that the T-Hawk will be gone to Kenny!
In a way it saddened me just because I was left without any T-Hawk yet

mohd

 

[jwaj]

Again, very nice. Nice handle shape. I bet it's a good chopper.

 

[mohd]

.. I bet it's a good chopper ..

Jay is a good reviewer and I believed he won't stay still until he uses his T-Hawk for some chopping spree

.. I replied his email with a suggestion to alter the shape of the hawk head and I told him that it surely will cause him a pain in the butt if he wanted to do it.
IMVHO it really involves a lot of hours work to re-profile the hawk head at that particular stage.
O'Katz agreed with me and so he proceeded on with the heat treatment without making any change to the design ..

Below is the picture of Kenny's T-Hawk with a reprofiling suggestion from me.
BTW, I don't even know that it will be Kenny's T-Hawk because O'Katz didn't mention about it at that time.

The bit part of the hawk head was inspired by the Swedish carving axe.

And the spike part of the hawk head was inspired by the Rogers' Rangers Spike Tomahawk.

And what a surprise when I received the picture below with notes from O'Katz asking me .. "How does this look as the third hawk?"

The moment I received the picture I knew that O'Katz made the third T-Hawk especially for me!
What an awesome surprise .. thank you very much O'Katz!

mohd

 

[jwaj]

Nice design mohd. It also reminds me of a Winkler Battle Axe. The bit part at least.

 

[d.weglarz13]

that is just cool. Can't wait to see how they come out!

 

[mohd]

Nice design mohd. It also reminds me of a Winkler Battle Axe. The bit part at least.

Thanks to follow my thread buddy
Oops .. Winkler?
Winkler's Battle Axe is a high end top notch work my friend!
O'Katz's T-Hawk Gen 1 (i.e. Jay's), T-Hawk Gen 2 (i.e. Kenny's) and T-Hawk Gen 3 (i.e. mine) are just humble user class hawks!
IMVHO the similarity of the bit part is just a mere coincident!

that is just cool. Can't wait to see how they come out!

Thanks for the complimentary pal!
I myself am excited to see the finished hawk

It's great to work up a project with O'Katz simply because he's the type of open minded old gen with young creative thinking!
I just need to suggest things to him and he works it out with insight!
The picture of the T-Hawk Gen 3 looks great but I noticed that it can be further enhanced by some alteration.
So I sent him the following message and picture:

.. the haft at the neck part of the hawk has to be narrower than the haft at the butt end.
The width of the haft at the neck part of the hawk should be ~ 1" while the width of the haft at the butt end should be ~ 1 1/4" ..

O'Katz obviously saw the advantage in the minor alteration to the haft of the T-Hawk Gen 3.
It's meant to balance the swing of the T-Hawk as well as to allow a firm grip on that part of the haft while using the bit for delicate tasks.
And the result was a piece of beautiful T-Hawk with the altered haft as per requested.

O'Katz just sent me the picture of The T-Hawk Gen 3 while being heat treated!

You see the spike of the T-Hawk Gen 3 was wrapped in a wet cloth!
O'Katz explain in his sms that he did that to keep the already previously hardened spike from losing hardness.
And he also sent me the picture of the hardened T-Hawk right before it was tempered in the oven prior to the long cooling session in the freezer!

mohd

 

[mohd]

After a long cooling session in a freezer the T-Hawk Gen 3 was fixed with a pair of White Oak scales as the haft!

White Oak scales reminds me of the White Oak fruit in the hand of a sabre-tooth squirrel .. the scene in the "Ice Age" movie

White Oak is a North American wood and I'm not that familiar with it!
I read that Hickory, Osage Orange and Curly Maple are good for hawk haft but never read about White Oak as a hawk haft!
Is White Oak strong and suitable for a hawk haft?
Any help?

mohd

 

[boerboel84]

i think oak would work good. oak can be very hard and the shocks in the handle might be hard when used. but since this is full tang i dont think it would make enny diference
very cool hawk you made there

 

[mohd]

.. i think oak would work good. oak can be very hard and the shocks in the handle might be hard when used. but since this is full tang i dont think it would make enny diference ..

Thanks a lot for the info on Oak.
I myself never experience a full tang hawk and I agree with you that the vibration might be strongly transmitted to one's hand from the hard chopping.
Am I need some wrapping to the haft to negate the shock while using it?

.. very cool hawk you made there ..

Thanks for the nice words pal.
And now the T-Hawk Gen 3 finished already

Anyhow it's still with O'Katz and I'm going to collect it soon.
O'Katz is staying about 170 km north of KL and I need about 3 hours nonstop drive to reach there.
Hope I could do that next week i/A and do some basic test to it as well.

mohd

 

[boerboel84]

Am I need some wrapping to the haft to negate the shock while using it?


mohd

if the shocks are to bad, maybe you could cut a bicykle tube and laminate in betwen the wood and the metal it could work
but hopefully it wont need enny.
good luck with it