New Axes and Old

My last post was in December of 2015. A lot of things have happened in the last year, some good and some bad. Regardless, I have some new stuff to share with you.

Looking through my drafts of posts, the last post I was composing was about taking my work to more of a shift towards wood working tools. In a sense that statement is still true. However, there has been some interest in my hawks and in a newer style camp ax that I have started forging. This style has some relevance to the wrapped-eye tomahawk that I love to forge as it is folded and welded but utilizes alternating fullers and step-downs to create an eye the shape of an axe, not a teardrop hawk-eye shape.

This is a pattern and style that I have been wanting to try for quite some time. I first saw it demonstrated at John C. Campbell a few years back, but I was foolish enough to watch instead of taking notes about the process. Many call this a "bowtie" style because before the axe is folded and welded it resembles a bowtie. Forging this type of axe produces a tool that is built a little more for the wear and tear around camp than a tomahawk is built for. Here are the main differences between the camp axe and tomahawk patterns that I am forging:

• Camp axes have an axe-shape eye, whereas tomhawks have the more rounded tear-drop shape.
• Camp axes are permanently affixed to their handles via wedge, wood glue, and steel step wedge, whereas tomahawks can be removed from their handles.
• The camp axes are forged from 8.75 x 1.5 x .50 mild with a 2 x 1.5 x .375 carbon insert . The hawks are 10 x 1.5 x .25, with the same size carbon insert. The camp axes have a bit more meat and heft to them and are of a more stout build but do not throw as well.
• Hawks have a straight handle whereas the camp ax has a curved or straight handle. 

Through some wonderful videos by the English blacksmith Rowan Taylor, I took diligent notes and decided to give forging this axe a whirl. The first attempt didn't turn out so well. My step-downs were not clean and I blew out the eye of the axe while drifting it to shape with my axe eye drift. Long story short, or in a bit different wording, I fried the first one in more ways than one.

What does one do when they ruin what they're working on? Start anew, of course, but not before a ceremonial beer is drank. I find this helps sooth the temper a bit after ruining something.

Round two went much better than expected. This style came out as a blend of a hawk and camp axe. They eye was shaped like a small camp ax with round langets, but the blade profile was bearded like a hawk. Nevertheless, it performs well. The langets were not properly flattened to the drift when forging so I had to make sure a nice fat wedge was inserted to close up some gaps. I was moderately pleased with this one.

Round three! This was a customer request. I wanted to try for more of an English wood axe style and less of a Tomahawk look. Per usual, I had just as much shaping the handle from Thrane Axe and Saw as I did forging the hawk!

Of course, I'm still forging hawks. I love my hawks and I love finding ways to improve the builds with each tomahawk that I forge. Over the course of the last year, I have forged close to 30 tomahawks and I fall more and more in love with that style each time. Below are some photos from over the course of the last year.

Lastly, here's two videos. The first is of a hawk that was forged for a client, and the second is a 130 layer damascus blade with 6000 year old bog oak scales and nickel silver pins. 

Thanks for sticking around!

Little Giant #25

Things have been busy around the shop lately. We've been overhauling everything from the shop layout to mounting and making old machinery operational.

Seriously, folks, we've been putting in some time. We have all things for forging on one side now, and all of our equipment like grinders, sanders, and saws along one wall. For the first time in the 6 years we've been at this location we can walk freely through our shop. What a difference it's made already. We don't have to worry about stepping over long sections of stock, squeezing between stuff, or tripping over extension cords.

Let's get to the meat of this post, though. We finally remounted and set our Little Giant #25lb power hammer. I know that throughout my posts I've been a bit of an advocate for doing things manually but... holy COW this thing is a beast. I had used it a bit here and there when I was younger, but was never really big on it. I didn't like the noise. I didn't like the lack of control. I didn't like how sticky the pedal was. I didn't like the thought of not doing it by hand. For each of those dislikes I had when I was younger, I've found some solutions. Allow me to explain:

I didn't like the noise.
They make nifty things called ear muffs.

I didn't like the lack of control.
As I've grown older, I've learned the value of practice.

I didn't like how sticky the pedal was. 
They make grease guns, too!

I didn't like the the thought of not doing it by hand.
I still love doing the work by hand, and by hammering out a hawk or piece on the Little Giant, I'm still doing all of the dressing, tweaking, and final shaping by hand. I'm just doing the most exhausting part on a machine.

Young Benton sure was a persnickety little shit, wasn't he? I still am, very much so. Here's where I stand on this: it's most important to know how to do things by hand if ever need to, whether that's a consumer request or if your machinery breaks. However, making a quality product efficiently and effectively is almost equally important. There was a time when I turned up my nose at the thought of shaping a hawk or knife with a 2x72 belt sander instead of using a file, too. I quickly realized that I could spend hours shaping and draw filing with a file or 30 minutes to an hour on a 2x72 and be finished.

I need so much more practice on our hammer. I remember when we were at John C Campbell, watching Ryan Johnson of RMJ Tactical literally form a hawk on a pneumatic power hammer in two heats. TWO HEATS! He made it look so damn easy. That's my goal, to demonstrate and teach to folks and make it look easy whether or not you're doing it by hand hammer or power hammer, just like Ryan did.

So, folks, whats your viewpoint on traditional vs modern techniques? Where do you as a craftsman personally draw the line?

Cheers!

The middle hawk is my first one done on our power hammer. 

Forging a Japanese Nata

I like to mix up where my forging inspirations come from.

I like to pull inspiration from a memory, interest, or request.

Sometimes, I like to go a little outside of the box.

I've always been intrigued by Japanese blacksmiths. Not just for their forging of blades and nihonto... but for the very characteristics and ideologies the smiths incorporate into their work. I've seen a Japanese Nata before. I was intrigued even then by its design and use. Here in the US, I think most folks think of a camping or firewood tool to be an ax, not an ax that looks like a cleaver.

I've seen a few posts on Axe Junkies lately concerning nata and such, a few new, small places marketing them. I really wanted to forge one, and it seemed like my kind of gig. I sketched up some ideas, thought about the materials I had in stock, and came up with the conclusion "...I think I can forge one of these beasts". 

My take was on a larger, heftier sized nata. I wanted something I could pack, but something that would conquer most limbs and small firewood tasks. In other words, I wanted something the every day person could use camping or in the yard. I started out with 12 inches of 2.5in x 3/8 in 5160 truck spring. I started showering down on the edge of the stock hanging over the edge of the anvil to start drawing out the tang. After about 2 heats... I realized the 4.5lb hammer I was using wasn't going to cut it, so I had Wayne start striking with the 8 lb sledge while I guided the fuller. Within about 4 heats, we had a nice tang formed. I did some final dressing on the tang and curvature of the entire piece and moved to the grinder. I did a short flat grind on this, I wanted a heartier edge than a convex grind. 

The piece ended up with a 7.5 inch cutting edge, and a 9.5 inch handle make of good old American Red Oak. I notched the handle for the tang, drove some steel pins through it, and sealed around it with JB Weld 2 part epoxy. I then slathered some tung oil finish on the handle, cleaned up the edge with some polishing and elbow grease, then finished up with a nice sharpen. It's sharp, eats limbs off trees, and splits wood. 

I'm happy with it. There's always room for improvement, though. 

Cheers. 

Using What You Make

As I know I've stated many times before throughout the rambling lines of this blog, there is no feeling quite like using something you make. Building something from scratch, from raw materials, and then going out and stress testing it to make sure it works is such a good feeling.

That being said, within the last few weeks I've gotten to test a lot of my stuff. I've got to but them through some tests for durability, edge retention, and comfort of use. I was able to do some squirrel hunting (and it was a fruitful hunt!) and some light camping recently. Here's what I found:

5160 Bowie with Green Canvas Micarta Scales and Brass Pins: 
This knife still is not technically finished... but performance wise it is. It's been heat treated and has a handle on it. My dad, brother, and I slipped out to our honey hole for squirrel hunting a few weeks ago. It was a nice day to hunt in the early season, not too hot, humid, nor were there a bazillion mosquitoes. We slipped into the woods shortly before daylight as the woods started to wake up. The particular woods we were hunting was a swath of very tall hickory trees. by 10:30 AM, we had 11 squirrels between the three of us. A decent harvest, we didn't each hit our limit, but my dad did. I was pretty excited to clean all of these squirrels, I brought three knives with me and one of them was my bowie. I asked which knife they wanted to use (they've cleaned far more squirrels than I have) and my dad pointed at my bowie and said "... lets use that pig sticker you made". Jackpot!

It was and still am elated to say that my knife made easy work of the squirrels. Cutting through the legs, bone and all was no problem. Both my dad and my brother were impressed, I think. But the best part was that after it was all said and done, it still shaved. Yet again, Jackpot!

2.5lb 4140 Camp Axe from my axe class with Liam Hoffman... and Bowie round two: 
I was super stoked to camp at Kentucky Lake with my girlfriends family... but I cannot lie and say that I wasn't just as excited to get to put my axe through a long, long overdue stress test. We stayed at a place called The Triangle Fishing Club... and to my luck many of the members were having a work weekend. There was lots of timber laying around just itching to be chopped. It was not long after we arrived on Friday night that I wandered outside and started chopping on some fallen oak. The axe threw chips magnificently. However, when I was finished, I noticed that my edge was not quite as keen as before after only a few minutes of work.

The next day, I decided to start a fire around noon. I mounted up, axe and knife in hand and went to chopping. The club had provided us with plenty of fire wood, but it was fresh, wet red oak. I took my axe and started splitting. The head design and weight performed well. I was able to split some decent sized stuff, even being wet. I was also able to throw some shavings to try make some kindling. I did notice some continual edge wear at a certain part of my blade. I've never worked with 4140 before, I don't like how it hardens.. but I don't have the best supplies to harden it with (need to get some parks 50). I would like to master this steel one day, like many other ax makers have. My handle held up well, I blew a few chunks out of it, but that's what I get for not having a guard on it. I'll fashion one this weekend.

As for round two of my bowie... I used it to shave some sticks, create some small chips for kindling, and for making curls on the firewood for ease of lighting. The edge held up great and the handle was very comfortable in my hand.

I can't wait to make my small changes, and be ready to pump out a superior product. Also, let's be real here. I can't wait to field test more of my stuff!

The Appreciation of an Axe

For some of you, it is no secret that I am very much an Axe Junkie. Not only do I love making hawks and axes, but I love buying and restoring old axes. I've always had an appreciation for axes and their makers... but that appreciation has compounded into something much more now that I've finally finished my first drifted eye, solid construction axe with a carved handle.

I've mentioned this in my previous post. I know I've talked about this a lot with the people around me. I know, I know. The truth of the matter is, though, I'm very excited. Much of my excitement comes from the prospect of using what I make but with this ax I'm far more excited than I have been. You may be wondering why? Simple. This is the biggest thing I've made so far, it's made for heavier work than anything else I've made... and I'll be damned if I'm not going to put it through the works.

After rough forging and grinding back at our shop.

Let's talk about the making of this axe. If you follow many of my posts or activity, some may have seen how I make my tomahawks. I fold a piece of flat bar mild steel around a mandrel, wedge a carbon layer in, forgeweld it, draw it out, grind, etc. This thing was a whole 'nother ballgame. This thing was forged from a solid block of 4140 steel. The eye was marked, it was punched from both ends and the slug knocked out, and then a mandrel pounded in to shape form both sides. Oh, and the fullering of the lips, too. Now, lets set something straight here. I guided the tools for most of it, I didn't swing the sledge. I did swing the sledge on my partners axe for quite a few hours. It was hot work, it was hard work... hell it was a lot of work. I remember how bad my hands hurt after that day of forging these 2.25lb axes... not because the lack of calluses or anything like that, but because of the impact of the sledge on steel. Four hours of forging for each of our axes. Phew!

After forging this beast, I look at folks like Liam Hoffman, John Neeman, Justin Burke, and any of those other folks you see that forge and sell drifted eye axes and think "hat's off to you, folks. You guys do a lot of hard work". It's a whole new level of appreciation for their work. Power hammer, sledge hammer, press, or forging hammer... it ain't easy, folks.

Then, with all of that rabble said previously, we must also look at the handle. I've carved a few handles so far... they weren't really too bad. Go to town with a draw knife, rasp, and sand paper. A hour or so later, you've got yourself a decent handle. Carving the handle for this axe was a bit different. I purchased a nice kiln dried ash board from Nick Thrane of Thrane's Axe and Saw Co, which was hand picked by him for carving axe handles. I wanted something a bit easier to carve than hickory, but something that still got the job done. First, I drew out my template on the board with the grain orientation I desired. Then I took the design to the band saw and cut out my rough shape. At this point, I had a hard time deciding what to do next. I thought "Well, I'm an Axe Junkie... so I could go to town on this with a carving axe or I could start with the draw knife...". Long story short, I'm glad I decided to use the draw knife. The wood is dried and I feel like I would have had a lot of splitting going on if I had used an ax.

The absolute most difficult part of this whole handle was shaping the eye of the axe, which is what I did first. Being my first handle for this kind of axe, I had a bit of trouble. My axe was forged at my mistake with a pretty small darn eye. After 3 or 4 hours total of rasping, scraping, sanding, and carving, I finally got it to fit!

After a few hours with the draw knife, I switched it around to the spokeshave. I ordered a spokeshave for this project, as I've never used one nor did we have one on hand. What an interesting tool. I ordered the Stanley 12-951 Spokeshave with a Flat Base. Pretty nice out of the package, though I quickly became frustrated with this tool because of how quickly it got clogged. I couldn't figure out what the gig was, only to realize it had a lip on the razor blade. I did have to take the blade off and put it on a strop a few times to remove the lip on the razor blade edge. After doing so, it glided down the handle and threw curly strips of ash like confetti. I need to get one with a curved base. That's on my shopping list next.

After sanding it down a bit, drilling a handle hole, cleaning up the end of the handle, I hit it with 6 coats of boiled linseed oil. The handle is nice and smooth, a bit thicker for my bigger hands, and feels great under the weight of the head.

The only remaining thing is the heat treat. According to Liam via messages and at our class in which this axe was forged (see previous post) this head needs a agitated quench and a nice soak at 400 degrees for a few hours. Hopefully using veggie oil doesn't bite me in the butt. We'll see though! I'll post some updates with the field test.

Mock up fit of the axe head on the handle. Pre-heat treat.

Phew! What a busy last few months!

Howdy folks!

I'm well aware that it has been a little quiet around here of late.

Some fun, interesting, and inspiring things have been happening around the shop and away from the shop, too!

A few projects have went out to customers and a few are still awaiting their final touches. Here are a few photos of a folded tomahawk I did for a friend back in February. Folded mild steel, 5160 core and bit, hickory handle, pewter end caps poured.


Something very exciting happened since the last time I was able to post. I got to head over to DRAS Fabrication and Design in St. Louis and take an axe forging class from Liam Hoffman. If you haven't seen any of his work, it's definitely worth checking out. I'm just saving my pennies until I can buy one of his hammers. They're awesome!

Striking for Mr. Fienstein, slitting and drifting the eye for his 2.25lb camp axe.

It was a fun weekend. The first day was full of demonstrations followed by our turn to make a 1.25lb little camp hatchet with a striking partner. I lucked out big time, as I got paired with Mr. Stephen Fienstein. Who is he, you may ask? He's a hell of a guy, that's who he is. He works with casting anvils for companies here in the US and has been forging for a long time. He was a boatload of knowledge, a pleasure to work with, and my stomach hurt from laughter by the end of the weekend.

Our first small hatchet didn't work out well. We salvaged it, but the walls of the lungs were just a little thinner on one side. We decided on the next day that we were going to kill it!

Our first axe... it was a bit rough.

The next day, Liam let us loose on forging two axes for the day, these were bigger at 2.25lb when finished out. We started on Mr. Fienstein's ax and I was striker for the morning. I learned a lot about proper striking technique. I do feel bad, though, seeing as a snapped Mr. Fienstein's sledge handle! If you've never been a striker and smashed a piece of 4140 the size of a small brick before, it's a chore. Your hands start to ache from the impact of hitting the steel, your arms and back start to hurt... but lordy is it cool to see how much metal you can move.

Mr. Fienstein's axe turned out much nicer than mine. Mine turned into a nightmare and I had to bust my butt to salvage it, but I think I salvaged it. I'd like to thank Andy and Liam for the experience. It was an awesome class and I can't wait to go back to DRAS Fabrication for another class!

Here's a video of Liam and his striker, Andrew, showing how it's done. 

You're probably thinking "...that's all you've been up to for the last SIX MONTHS?!"

Well... no, that's not all.

Lots of things have happened in the last six months since I've posted. I've started a lot of projects, but haven't had much shop time (you all probably know the drill; new job, life, moving, home restoration, etc).

I have, however, nearly completed my hand carved handle for my ax I forged at Liam's class.  I lucked out big time by having the contact of Mr. Nick Thrane of Thrane's Axes and Saws. He sent me some b-e-a-utiful ash and hickory for carving handles. I have also nearly completed a bowie that I started on back in January (shown in my last post after the first rough grind). All needed for that blade is a vinegar bath or a Ferric Chloride bath, gluing up the g10 and micarta scales, and some fine shaping.

I also have a 7 inch bowie I'm working on for a friend, as sad as I am to say it's taken me far longer than expected. It'll have a copper bolster and stag handle. It's a hunting knife, 5160 spring steel.

I don't have any photos, but I did forge some cable and did the first initial weld and draw out. I have a lot of work to do with that stuff. It seems to have a mind of its own in terms of where its going to move when being forged.

I hope to improve the quality of my work soon, as any crafts person does. I recently aquired some equipment through the unfortunate passing of my cousin, James Poag, whom I've previously posted about. He was an amazing man and one hell of a craftsman. I purchased his old tempering oven, engraver, chasing tools, and some great material he had that he never used. So if any of you folks have tips on engraving and using chasing tools, I'm open to all tips.

Cheers folks, keep your stick on the ice.

Recent Findings and Realizations

Every piece I make, I learn something new.

Whether it's something to do or not to do. 

Each project is a learning experience that proves to be invaluable. With my last few projects, I have came to a realization about my blades. It's not a flaw, it's not a devaluing characteristic, but it is definitely something that needs to be adjusted. 

Recently I completed a commission for a friend of mine from college. He wanted just a plain knife from me, something to keep around the house. I started conceptualizing this project, and came up with just a plain mill file knife with red oak scales. I thought "this should be perfect for what he wants". 

The best part is, it was exactly what he was wanting. 

I forged the blade, ground it, filed it, hardened, tempered, and started to a rough clean up. The knife had a really great feeling in the hand and a nice shape for all around tasks. I got 'er all put together, the handle sealed up, and set to sharpen.

For the holidays, I was blessed enough to receive a set of Arkansas sharpening stones from a place called "Hall Sharpening Stones". Ironic, right? 

I slapped my oil on the stones and started swiping away, intent on getting this puppy razor sharp. I came to the realization after about 20 minutes that I was really having trouble getting it razor sharp. I just couldn't figure out why it wouldn't get sharp. The other knives that I had laid on the stones had taken a wicked edge fairly quickly. I started to examine the knife, only to realize my problem was with my bevel. It wasn't a flat grind, it wasn't a convex grind, it was a curved grind. 

I've spoken with many knife smiths before, and they all say the same thing for the most part: "You can get any type of grind sharp... some are just more difficult than others."

I ended up getting the knife shaving sharp, it just took longer.

I do believe this won't be a problem any more, as I have recently purchased a 2x72 belt grinder. It's old, but it's a beast. With this, I'll be able to do flat and convex grinds and get a super sharp edge on a knife much quicker. 

On the topic of a belt grinder, I don't know how I lived without one as an amateur bladesmith. It makes all the difference in the world in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. I have gone from being able to profile and rough grind a knife in around an hour to doing the same thing in around 30 minutes. Here are some of the fruits from last weekend's labor.

There's also been some other things happening at Hall Ironworks. While I've been immersed in my blade work, Wayne has been hard at it on some of his projects. He recently completed a pretty impressive boot rack for some family friends. He built it from square stock, some cut out letters, and beautiful maple boards.

A bit more recent than that, Wayne also finished a fireplace panel for some more family friends. It really was a beautiful piece. He cut, riveted, and fit all of the sheet steel. He then forged out two letters, both were a "G". Then, using some smaller mild stock, he forged and textured out some branches of trees to crawl across the front landscape of the panels. I say he knocked it out of the park!