Seeing if I still can

Raymond Richard

Raymond Richard

Joined
Jun 17, 2001
Messages
5,705
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.
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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.
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Just some banging going on in this photo.
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These next two photo's are what I came up with. I'd just established the eye.
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I went ahead and added a little corn with me holding my Dollar Store find of Old Man Cream.
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That photo looks like it's of an old man you don't want to mess with. Where's the one of you? :p
 
Ray, Sure looks like you still have the magic touch. I'd say it looks like it is going to
be another piece of Ray Richard's art. Keep the pic's coming.....And Thanks for doing this !
 
Mike Quesenberry said:
Looks great, Ray. Will it be done in time for Eugene?
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Mike, I should have it done unless I run out of gas. :D I plan on heat treating it today and as long as something unforeseen doesn't happen I should have it.

Here's a few more photo's with an explanation to go with.

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.
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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.
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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.
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Here's a picture of what I ended up with.
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Looking Good Ray, :thumbup::thumbup:

Just like riding a bicycle, nothing to it. ;) That hole looks like it came out perfect, thats the hardest part about making them darn hawks. I just made some damascus today for a hawk project I've been thinking about, I guess great mines think alike. :D:D

Bill
 
B . Buxton said:
Looking Good Ray, :thumbup::thumbup:

Just like riding a bicycle, nothing to it. ;) That hole looks like it came out perfect, thats the hardest part about making them darn hawks. I just made some damascus today for a hawk project I've been thinking about, I guess great mines think alike. :D:D

Bill
Click to expand...

Bill, The bad thing about my mind is it tends to be more forgetful now. Your right about the eye. I had forgot how big I needed to make the slot but now I remember after I ended up doing three different times at the forge before I got the eye large enough. It could have been four different times for all I know. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

After repeating the steps of my previous post 3 or 4 times I end up with the bar looking like this.
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From this rectangular shape I'll start shaping it to a spear shape without any bevels for now.
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I went and used Godzilla and put in another notch to segregate the bowl from the pole.
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Here's a vertical view of what I have done to this point.
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Next step will be making the slot for the eye and drilling out the bowl. I'll show that in another post.
 
wow, that's some good stuff!
 
Ray, thanks for taking the time to do this, very informative! Interested in your next step, my wife gave me a drift recently and I'm anxious to put it to use.

Steve
-------
Potomac Forge
 
I'm super excited to watch this one unfold Ray! I love watching you forge, although it makes me pretty frustrated at myself for my own lack of control with the hammer :D

It's already looking spectacular.

Do you plan on leaving the forge finish?
 
Ray,
Looks like I've got something else to look forward to this trip down!
Will see y'all there!
:thumbup:
 
I'm anxious to see how you drift the eye. While I was at Travis's hammer in we tried to forge a hammer head and welded the drift in the eye. We eventually got it out but it wasn't pretty.;)
 
Mike Quesenberry said:
I'm anxious to see how you drift the eye. While I was at Travis's hammer in we tried to forge a hammer head and welded the drift in the eye. We eventually got it out but it wasn't pretty.;)
Click to expand...

What's the saying Forest Gump came up with, sh#t happens. After I had the eye established and the hawk was cold I put the drift in and just lightly tapped it to check to see if the blade was cocked. It wasn't but I had a heck of a time removing the drift. I ended it having to strike pretty hard a few times to remove it. Adding a coat of oil on the drift when your drifting really helps. It will flame up but sure adds to its removal.

Eli, I did a little grinding on the blade but did leave a little of the forge marks. I had wanted to leave it forge finished but it was just a little to thick for my likings.

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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Once I have the machine work done I'll start forging in the bevels.
 
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.
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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.
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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.
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Here's what it looks like once I got done and the blade cooled off.
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The next step I do will be drifting the eye.
 
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