Virtual BBQ Camp Axe/Tomahawk WIP

[Kentucky]

Well its no secret that our bread & butter is Axes and Tomahawks..We sell a lot of them..Here lately we have put out more knives but now Lisa is completely healed up from surgery so its time to get back into axes..This one will be a basic camp axe style tomahawk..The next hawk will be a polled hawk so Ill see if I can do that one too..
The body of this one will be 1045 but we will be adding a highr carbon steel cutting bit..The haft will probably be curly ash stained with Aqua Fortis..
First we will start with a 1" square piece of 1045..You can heat treat the poll just like you would a regular hammer head..
We mark the steel cold with a chisel first..Its very,very important that you get the marked line dead nuts straight and true..Any small error here will be magnified 10x when you start hot slitting..Mark both sides, thats also important..These two pics are actually from another piece used to make a hammer poll but the marks are made the same way..

After its marked its off to a hot fire..

here we go starting the cuts.very carefully with a homemade 1 1/4" hot cut..
One side.....

Then the other....

Here we are a little farther along...One heat later...Remember working from both sides at once..That way we can meet in the middle for a straight cut..

Here we are, right in the middle just like its suppose to be..When you get this close to punching thru make sure you have a cutting plate..Dont want to jack up the face of your anvil or the edge of your slitter..Notice that cup of water..its for cooling the slitter..Three licks then cool down..

Then we go to a simple small drift just to open up the eye..You see here how everything is nice even and straight? You would know if your line wasnt started straight..That hole would be all discombobulated..

A note about drifting before we go any further..You need something sturdy to drift over if your gonna do much of this..A post vice will work but it really needs to be a good sized vise..Better yet some kind of contraption made just for the job..
Here is ours..Its made from heavy walled 8" square tubing with a large heavy base plate and a 2" thick face plate..The holes in the face plate are cut large, then we have several cover plates with different sized holes to accomadate different jobs..

Well here we start with a larger homemade drift, shaped close to final eye size..We drive it thru to about the depth shown in the picture then we take it to the hammer..

Heres the hammer swage used for drawing down the ears..I alwys did this by hand, Lisa started out doing it by hand too..Last year she had enough(which means she finally saw why we needed a hammer) and we bought this #50LG..I thought about getting a #25 but she was insistant on spending the extra $$$ and getting this nice #50..I love my wife by the way

Lisa drawing out some W1 round for strikers..You can always work on something else while your waiting on a piece to cool down etc..Dont waste the fire..

Here we have the ears started..I just think ears look so much better on an axe, instead of a straight body,,

Well more to come later guys..

 

[mgysgthath]

Looking good, I have been wanting to try forging an axe, so I'll be following this one closely

 

[Kentucky]

Thanks, Ill get more up tonight I think..A lot of poeple will like seeing how the aqua fortis is done..Ill get shots of Lisa doing that..Shes a wiz with wood..

 

[GTH11]

Right on Kentucky!! You two kick ass livin the dream, ill be watchin.

 

[Sam Salvati]

Great wip man, you really got these down no doubt. That's a nice hot slit you got there

 

[mgysgthath]

I have no idea what Aqua Fortis is, so I'll be looking for that too lol.

 

[Mountain Wildman]

Very Cool!!
I just received a Hammer Poll Tomahawk from Lisa and it is awesome!!!

 

[Kentucky]

acid based stain used by old time gun makers to bring out curl in fgured wood..Like curly maple,ash and hickory..The acid attacks the curl and the grain differently..making the curl pop and giving more chatoyance(depth)..

I have no idea what Aqua Fortis is, so I'll be looking for that too lol.

 

[Kentucky]

A few more pics before we go to town..Lisa is off work today so we'er gonna take Connor(our little boy) out to eat..
Another shot of the ears being forged down..

Here is the final drift ran thru the eye up to the correct depth..these drifts are manufactured and are very close to most produced tomahawk hafts out there..We use Dunlap woodcrafts fro blanks..I cant recommed them enough..

Here we swage the body down just in front of the eye..It makes controlling the blade are easier..When your forging it that is..It generally ends up straighter it seems..It also moves mass forward away from the eye where the blade needs to be...

Well remember I said it will have a high carbon bit..Here it is started..That happens to be 1086M..Forge down a wedge shape at least 1/4" thick..The wedge needs to be thin, like a knife edge..Too thick and you'll get the dreaded COLD SHUNT

Here we split the body to accept the high carbon cutting bit..I always used this hot cut and homemade anvil vise..Lisa uses the bandsaw This one was split with the bandsaw then opened up with the hot cut..

Well Im off to founder myself on chinese buffet..

 

[tryppyr]

Fascinating WIP. Makes me wish I could forge.

 

[Carl_First_Timer]

I'll take it! Wait...too soon?

Thanks Kentucky, for another entertaining and informative WIP.

 

[unky_gumbi]

I am liking this:thumbup: I just may have to contact you about making me an axe, I know what I want but it doesn't seem to be made and I can't make my own

 

[unky_gumbi]

Fascinating WIP. Makes me wish I could forge.

Why can't you forge? I know I can't because of my elbows, but I keep trying to get there and buying the things I need just in case I ever can forge.

 

[Mike Davis]

Very cool getting to see the process. You guys do some wonderful work. Thanks for the WIP

 

[mgysgthath]

Do you think 5160 would weld to mild steel? I have a chunk left over from a knife profile I was thinking might make a good cutting edge on a hawk or axe.

 

[Mark Behnke]

Thanks for doing this, I recently tried to forge one out of a ball peen, disaster. I see why now. Tooling up, and will try again.

 

[Kentucky]

It does, Ive done it before...

Do you think 5160 would weld to mild steel? I have a chunk left over from a knife profile I was thinking might make a good cutting edge on a hawk or axe.

 

[mgysgthath]

Thank you !

 

[panch0]

Awesome WIP, thank for putting it together, I am looking forward to seeing more.

 

[Kentucky]

Well here we go...The high carbon bit has been added to the cleft and hammered shut..Brought up to red heat and fluxed..

Two welding heats later and a clean up..This is what we have..A good solid weld..You can also see where we ground some material away from the two lead edges..The softer 1045 will forge at a faster rate than the harder 1086m enveloping the bit and metting together causing a cold shunt..now it can be ground away but you loose a lot of material..This way its gone from the start and you done have to worry about the dofter steel rolling over the edge..Just the way I do it, Ive also used a hot cut and just cut it all away but this way is simpler in the end..

Back to the LG to get the blade started..

Ive learned the hard way dont try to do too much with the power hammer..Slow down about here and start moving letal with your hand hammer..Lots more control..

Now that we have the basic profile, you can refine it a bit more and get ready to anneal it for grinding..Right here check your blade straightness..Horizontally and vertically..This is the time to do major corrections to the head straigtness..

Right about here is where I taught Lisa the importance of forging as close to shape as possible...I let her for a fe pieces "close enough" (her words, not mine)..then I handled her a file and said "Make it right" Thats why they say "10 minutes at the forge will save you an hour at the vise"..its very,very true..