Seating a haft

swimmerdude1127

swimmerdude1127

Joined
Mar 26, 2007
Messages
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I apologize if this question has been asked before, but what's the best way to seat a wooden haft on a Cold Steel hawk? I had a different hawk with a wooden handle a year ago, and banging the head on forcefully didn't really achieve the results I was looking for. Any advice or step by step guidance would really be appreciated. I'm trying to make the head to haft fit ultra tight.
 
Hi there Dude. First thing is to clean up the inside of the eye (after throwing away the stupid screw))). They are usually burred so a round file or better yet a dremel sanding barrel works well. Give the haft a good coat of linseed oil under the head where the eye is wrapped.. I haven't tried it but people say soaking the head/eye join in antifreeze will swell the haft into the eye. Don't use water as it will dry out and shrink the haft. They all come off when you throw but it will keep the head on longer. I'm about the grind out the eye on one to an ax shape and wedge it ;-)

Regards

Robin
 
I forgot to mention... I've heard that if you put the hawk head in the oven around 300-400F for a little bit, the head will expand, and after it cools down, will shrink just a little bit, which will give you a really tight haft fit. How valid is that?

I'm also assuming that it won't affect the heat treat because it's at a relatively low temperature compared to heat treat.
 
Do not do that. You will ruin the temper of the head, guaranteed.

We may be able to help you out a little better if you post a picture of the helve, just so we can see what may be keeping you from achieving a tight fit. My pipe hawk came with a ridiculously tight fit to the helve, and it has perfect grain. I guess its just quality control, because my frontier hawk came with terrible gran with a knot, and a very loose fit to the helve.
 
swimmerdude1127 said:
I've heard that if you put the hawk head in the oven around 300-400F for a little bit, the head will expand, and after it cools down, will shrink just a little bit, which will give you a really tight haft fit. How valid is that?

I'm also assuming that it won't affect the heat treat because it's at a relatively low temperature compared to heat treat.
Click to expand...

Wood Splitter said:
Do not do that. You will ruin the temper of the head, guaranteed.
Click to expand...

I'd be surprised to find an axe head tempered at less than 400°F. I think about 450°F is typical.
 
Here are some color charts showing temper colors for various tools. I'd put axes at about 270°C which equates to 518°F.

Color_charts.jpg
 
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I heated the head of a cold steel trail hawk at 200 F and froze the haft for a day. The head was fine and it did seat well. I also cleaned up the eye.

R
 
Let's assume it didn't affect the heat treat... Would this method get a tighter fit between the head and haft?
 
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