Seeing if I still can

[Raymond Richard]

Its been several years since I made a tomahawk and I used a tomahawk drift to establish the eye. Tomahawks and small axes are something that really bothers my old bones but I thought I'd give it a try and at the sametime set no time limits. I'd just forge when I felt like it. 4 days ago I started this project using simple hand held hammer's and my old stand by Godzilla. Later I did use my drill press to make a slot for the eye and I also used it to drill out the bowl since I'm making a spontone pipe tomahawk. I've taken a bunch of photo's and thought I would make a "WIP" out of it if there is any interest. Here's a few photo's I took along the way.

Several years ago I picked up an old octagon digging bar at a local military surplus store that turned out to be 1050 that was 1 1/4" in diameter. I wasn't sure about what I would need for a length so I cut it at 5 1/2" which turned out to be a good guess.

The first heat I used Godzilla to segregate a 2 1/2" piece of steel that I would later forged into the bit or blade of this hawk.

Just some banging going on in this photo.

These next two photo's are what I came up with. I'd just established the eye.

I went ahead and added a little corn with me holding my Dollar Store find of Old Man Cream.

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

Are Godzilla's jaws rounded or flat?

 

[Deweyknives]

That's a realy cool hawk so far, Ray!

Been thinking about making one and would like to watch the progress if you're up to it!

I had always assumed the eye would just be oval. Is there a reason for the 'point' at the front?

Thanks for adding to the 'urge'!! :thumbup:

 

[butchesforge]

Looking good Ray,can't wait to see more pics,I think I need some of that old man cream myself,feet hurt,elbow misc. aches and pains and upcoming surgery to boot---Regards Butch

 

[Brian Ayres]

Beautiful work. I love how well finished your forge work is.
like all you need is to hand sand from the forge.

 

[Raymond Richard]

Are Godzilla's jaws rounded or flat?

Zaph, Godzilla's jaws are rounded.

I'm going to start showing what I ended up with after I used Godzilla the first time. What I end up doing is once I have the first notch established is to start spinning the steel as I'm hammering it. I now have segregated this piece of steel and this will end up being the blade eventually.

I went back into Godzilla and added a couple more notches but this time I did not spin the steel, I just kept it flat.

The next step I do is to hammer these notches on the face of the anvil. The hammer I use for most the heaver forging is a 6 pound sledge.

Here's a picture of what I ended up with.

 

[Raymond Richard]

After repeating the steps of my previous post 3 or 4 times I end up with the bar looking like this.

From this rectangular shape I'll start shaping it to a spear shape without any bevels for now.

I went and used Godzilla and put in another notch to segregate the bowl from the pole.

Here's a vertical view of what I have done to this point.

Next step will be making the slot for the eye and drilling out the bowl.

 

[JCaswell]

I love your work!
Always superb proportions!:thumbup:

BTW...

Are you actually forging in sweat pants???
I did that once and noticed they had caught on fire---no biggie as I just brushed it out, but my wife never lets me live down that I actually "caught myself on fire..."

 

[Raymond Richard]

I love your work!
Always superb proportions!:thumbup:

BTW...

Are you actually forging in sweat pants???
I did that once and noticed they had caught on fire---no biggie as I just brushed it out, but my wife never lets me live down that I actually "caught myself on fire..."

Yes, sweat pants. The last time I worked on damascus the flux caught my sweat pants on fire. No problems just doing my normal forging.

 

[bluejaunte]

Good stuff buddy. You've still got it.

 

[JCaswell]

Yes, sweat pants. The last time I worked on damascus the flux caught my sweat pants on fire. No problems just doing my normal forging.

Come to think of it, when mine lit up it was from a chunk of fluxy scale that jumped off a damascus billet.

Nice work Raymond. I alway love seeing what you're doing. :thumbup::thumbup:

 

[Barry Clodfelter]

Those hawk heads look great Raymond!

I would love to know about Godzilla! Is it mild steel or heat treated high carbon? Looks to be 1/2" bar stock? Having a fuller like that would be so much easier than banging on the shoulder of my anvil trying to make both sides even.

 

[Raymond Richard]

Those hawk heads look great Raymond!

I would love to know about Godzilla! Is it mild steel or heat treated high carbon? Looks to be 1/2" bar stock? Having a fuller like that would be so much easier than banging on the shoulder of my anvil trying to make both sides even.

Godzilla is made out of 5/8" X 2" 1065. The twin of this was heat treated, I just did the top piece however I didn't think heat treating made much difference. The one I'm using in the photo was not heat treated and I've been using it for little over a year now and its holding up fine. There a real simple tool to make. I use two 3/8" bolts holding the bottom section and at least a 1/2" bolt to act as a pivot for the top piece. Make it to fit tight in the hardy hole but not so tight that you need to bang it out after use. You should be able to remove it with just your hand. Make it long enough that it reaches a little past the center of your anvil. On my Trenton anvil the hardy hole is some where between 7/8" and 1". To make the 5/8" steel work I riveted a piece of 3/8 X 1" steel and just ground a little off at a time till I had a good fit.

 

[Will Leavitt]

Ray, looking good with that thing.

I've only forged 2 spears in my time, I wound up begging my teacher for advice... 2nd one wasn't too bad. They're interesting to forge that's for sure.

 

[Fiddleback]

Nice to see you Raymond. The hawk is lookin good. Looks like a lot of hammering to me though. I don't think I'd have held up for long swinging a 6lb sledge.

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

I think that will be the first tool I make for my anvil. It's amazing how much tougher it is cutting 1/2" stock than 1/16", hehehe. Mind if I ask a few questions about it?

1. Any washers or anything on top, or does it just hinge in there? Do you want a tight fit or just kinda tight, or really loose?
2. Did you weld the bottom jaw or leave it loose also?
3. How long are the jaws? Would 3" work?
4. Any benefit to using something other than mild steel? I've got some titanium chunks that have no other purpose. Would the light yet hard titanium make a good jaw?

I'm a huge godzilla fan, patiently waiting with my son for the next movie to come out someday.

 

[Raymond Richard]

I think that will be the first tool I make for my anvil. It's amazing how much tougher it is cutting 1/2" stock than 1/16", hehehe. Mind if I ask a few questions about it?

1. Any washers or anything on top, or does it just hinge in there? Do you want a tight fit or just kinda tight, or really loose?
2. Did you weld the bottom jaw or leave it loose also?
3. How long are the jaws? Would 3" work?
4. Any benefit to using something other than mild steel? I've got some titanium chunks that have no other purpose. Would the light yet hard titanium make a good jaw?

I'm a huge godzilla fan, patiently waiting with my son for the next movie to come out someday.

zaph1, The answers to your questions can be found on post #13 of this thread. The only things I know about titanium is its to darn expensive and it is hard on grinding belts.

After I get to this stage of the forging I'll stop and do the machining work. I could also do it before the forging but I've found out over time that things like this get accidentally hit or moved when I'm doing the first amount of forging so I usually want before I do it. I'm using a floor mount $300.00 drill press I got from Lowes. Not the best but it feels my needs. I'm also using a cross vise I purchased from Harbor Freight. Again not the best but they do work for what I need them for. I'm basically using this set up now like you would use a milling machine even though you've probably heard not to do this. I'll talk more about that later. Its also the same procedure I use to rough slot my guards except I'm using smaller burrs.

I start out by drilling a series of 1/4" holes in line down the center of the steel. Don't forget to slow the drill press down to about half speed. In this case slower is better. After these holes are drilled I'll set the drill press to fast, chuck up a 1/4" solid carbide burr and start cleaning out the web that was left from drilling. While I'm doing that I'm adding very little pressure either forward or backwards and at the same time I'm working the burr up and down. With the shortness of the first bit I'll do one side and then turn it over and do the other side.

Once I have the slot nice and clean I'll switch to a larger carbide bit and do pretty much the same thing until the sides are nice and even. I had mentioned earlier that I had wished I had made the slot longer. Pretty much the ideal slot size should be around 5/16" X 1 1/2" long.

The main reason I didn't forge the bevels on the blade was I wanted it flat for when I start drilling out the bowl. I'll first drill a smoke and pilot hole. Now this hole has to end up in the slot I just made.

Once I have the pilot hole drilled in this case I chucked up a 7/8" drill bit and set the speed to slow. This drill bit can be what ever size you want depending on the size of your steel. This will be a pretty good size bowl. A manly smoke.

Once I have the machine work done I'll start forging in the bevels.

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

Neat hawk WIP. I'm really enjoying this thread. Sorry, I read #13 then posted anyway. You are correct, most of my questions are answered there.

 

[Raymond Richard]

I'm going to start forging in the bevels now. What I will be doing is the same thing that you would for a dagger or a double beveled sword. To achieve a pronounced spine you forge only on half the blade at a time. In this first picture I am using the cross peen part of the hammer. Its going to produce a bunch of deep marks that will later be forged out with the flat part of the hammer in latter heats. I'll go ahead and do this half of the blade and when I'm done with that half I'll roll the blade over 180 degrees and do the same thing on the other half.

In this photo I'm using the flat part of the hammer to smooth out the dents from the cross peen. Once that half is done I'll roll the blade over again and do the other side. I'll repeat this sequence several times.

In this photo I'm standing on the other side of the anvil and I'm now hammering on the opposite side of the two halves that I started out hammering. Hope that makes sense to you.

Here's what it looks like once I got done and the blade cooled off.

The next step I do will be drifting the eye.

 

[Dan Pierson]

I'm really enjoying this Ray!