Two new forged hawks: Questions

[dsloan]

Here are a couple of hawks I recently completed. They are forged from 7/8" 4140 round bar stock.

They have kind of a Norse/Viking flair.

The questions I have:

One design thoughts?

The second: Is one is as forged and the other is ground to remove hammer marks. Do folks prefer a smooth machined finish blackened with chemicals (such as cold blue or machine black) or the hammer finish blackened by the forge?

Thanks for any and all reply's

Dave from diller

 

[DarthTaco123]

Personally with hawks I like a hammer finish. In terms of design the top for some reason just looks better to me. It does look a bit thick in the transition from eye to blade, but I really can't tell from here. I love the beard, but maybe the top point could flow a bit more gradually as it seems kinda abrupt, but that's personal taste. It also seems like the distance from edge to eye seems a tad long, but that may be be the abruptness of the sweep (not a bad thing). Overall I'd happily buy one in the future, and they look quite cool. I love the Norse theme.

 

[dsloan]

I'll try and post a photo from the top down so you can see the transition. Excellent, post by the way.

I've always felt my hawks were a little to long. (from eye to blade). This I feel has to do with the material I'm using. It's hard to get enough material out on the end for a blade this wide. I'll see what I can to push the blade back a little.

I took the top point from the cold steel hawks, this might be what your seeing.

I will explain why I chose 7/8" round bar it's light in the hand. I have used 1" round and square it just seemed heavy. The stock I use now allows for a fluid flow (the weights right).

Thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions.

Dave from diller

 

[DarthTaco123]

I really don't know if this would work, but could you hammer the round stock back towards the eye to create a shorter distance, but keep the steel?

 

[dsloan]

Darth,

What you are referring to is upsetting. This is how I was going to shorten the distance between the eye and face.

My current method is only driving it back between .5 and .75 of an inch. I might have to push it to an inch or more. This causes a large mass to form on the front. One benefit to this allows for a larger blade width. A friend turned a nine inch piece of steel into a six inch piece. The beard on the hawk was almost six inches long. He ended up turning the 7/8's material into an 1-1/2 piece in front of the eye.

Thanks again.
Dave from Diller

 

[DarthTaco123]

I couldn't remember the name at the time, but yeah that's what I meant. I've been meaning to practice it on some junk railroad spikes before I test it on any known steels. If you're finding your blade to be too broad, could you just not hot cut the extra steel off? That's how I've cut leaf springs etc. with sharpened railroad spikes after I've heated the leaf springs up. Makes working with the steel easier personally.

 

[Wolf_1989]

I prefer the forge finish. It looks more rustic and genuinely "frontier" on a tomahawk.

Likewise on a Viking type axe, it just makes it look more barbaric to me, although historic examples exist of finely wrought Viking axes even with inlays of metals such as gold or silver.

 

[dave9969]

just a question as I prefer the forge scale myself
I have "heard" the forge scale can hold moisture and cause rust
is this so?

 

[Wolf_1989]

just a question as I prefer the forge scale myself
I have "heard" the forge scale can hold moisture and cause rust
is this so?

It's been my experience the forge scale actually protects against corrosion,

 

[dsloan]

Wolf is correct the forged finish will actually prevent rusting better. If you notice the spike on the ground hawk, it has already started to rust. These hawks were forged at the same time.

Also living in a small community the show Vikings is spreading like wild fire. "barbaric" is a comment that I've heard a lot of lately. I'm even thinking of a Seax and hawk combo.

Darth I'm going to have to make some railroad spike hawks. A friend of mine talked me into. He is active with the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. He wants to make some mouse hawks so the kids can actively throw them. The thoughts are to leave the spike head on the back side for a hammer pole. To get a fair size blade I'm going to have to upset RR spike a lot. I'd love to hear your results.

Dave from diller

 

[DarthTaco123]

Yeah, another thing I was thinking is taking some higher carbon steel and forge welding the bit in for a bit more blade face. I figure if I upset the spike to about 3 inches long I'll have enough for a small 'hawk with a hammer poll. The only issue with a RR spikes steel is that it's a fairly low carbon steel, which is why I may try forge welding a bit in there. I guess it'd be good to finally do something with my RR spikes other than use them as makeshift hot cutters.

 

[dsloan]

The carbon content is one issue when making a hawk from one. I feel if it is only going to be used as a throwing hawk. A RR spike would do well.

Forging a high carbon bit would help a lot with the amount of material. Doing that you might have enough to make a decent blade length. I've always felt spike hawks looked out of size.

Dave from diller

 

[DarthTaco123]

Railroad spike anythings are more or less novelty items, but they're fun to practice technique on, and no loss when you burn one up in the fire (which I've done one or seven times).

 

[roadapples]

Got to go with the "old school" forged finish. Two things that I found to keep the rust away is when the metal is still black hot, either hit it with some beeswax, or bury it in coal dust and then apply some elbow power with a wire brush.