tomahawk question.welding a crack.

[bargs]

just a quick question,picked up another nice tomahawk in trade,really like the design of the head,anyway stripped the black coating and it even had a red primer coating;had to strip it twice,but it has some small cracks,bottom of blade under the eye,one in the eye where the handle slides through,can I grind the cracks out and have it welded up,for a user. light choppin.would like to save this one, thanks.cant post pics. just found a hawk in a past post identical to mine,its a wrap/weld, , gonna grind out the cracks and have it mig or tigged,whatever my buddy recommends,he welds a lot.

 

[tirod3]

It would likely need a new heat treat. Welding will puddle the new material in the hot matrix at the crack, but when it cools, the area will have varied hardness. That contributes to it cracking again. It needs to be annealed completely and then reheat treated to get the working hardness back. If left in plain metal, the welds could be hard to hide, as the carbon content could be different.

In a lot of cases, if it's an old hawk, the collector value with it's natural color would make it more valuable than cleaning it up and welding it. You usually lose 50 to 75% on tools that are messed with than just left alone. Those cracks are also telling you something about the metal - for whatever reason, it's just not good enough for how the previous owner used it.

 

[bargs]

I don't think it is an expensive hawk,i had it welded,big blue miller,and flat disked,just finished sanding/filing it last night,looks real good,seems stout,someone used the back as a hammer and it doesn't have a hammer pole,it is all straitened out,it looks real good,wish I could post pics.anyway its just for light use,i delimb with it around the house for mowing.goofin off,camping.if it don't last ill replace it. thanks.