I realised the same thing Chris as soon as Dave said he was making a tomahawk....
Waiting patiently with excitement at the mo hehe
Waiting patiently with excitement at the mo hehe
How to make an axe (pic heavy!)
- Thread starter Dave Budd
- Start date
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Thank you Dave - just had a three hour abuse meeting. Needed something to remind me that there are more important things in life (like axes and hawks).
A genuine thank you for showing us all this. Yon friction fit is a super looking job.....
A genuine thank you for showing us all this. Yon friction fit is a super looking job.....
cheers guys.
I've been putting these heads together over the last few months, gradually forging them out when I've had a bit of surplus frustration to take out on something. I don't know how many I'll make for sale generally due to the shear physical effort involved, but these have been pretty good fun so far.
When it comes to the handles though, I can't guarantee that everything will be 100% straight and in line, but to be honest people who USE axes never complain and wouldn't notice unless it was way off. So if people are expecting machine perfect, well they can go buy a machine made axe! I'm aiming to make something that is a quality working tool with my own brand of natural chaos
Hopefully the next update will be a shot of these two finished and I'll update the previous work in progress thread with pics of the other two axes done with sheaths.
Chris, I'm not sure how to put it without sounding rude, but I'm sure my chopper can fill your hole!
I've been putting these heads together over the last few months, gradually forging them out when I've had a bit of surplus frustration to take out on something. I don't know how many I'll make for sale generally due to the shear physical effort involved, but these have been pretty good fun so far.
When it comes to the handles though, I can't guarantee that everything will be 100% straight and in line, but to be honest people who USE axes never complain and wouldn't notice unless it was way off. So if people are expecting machine perfect, well they can go buy a machine made axe! I'm aiming to make something that is a quality working tool with my own brand of natural chaos
Hopefully the next update will be a shot of these two finished and I'll update the previous work in progress thread with pics of the other two axes done with sheaths.
Chris, I'm not sure how to put it without sounding rude, but I'm sure my chopper can fill your hole!
Handmade (head & shaft) is always better than factory / mass produced....
Thats why i am having one of yours and not GransBruks hehe
Oh and i'd rather give my money to a skilled Englishman any day of the week!
Thats why i am having one of yours and not GransBruks hehe
Oh and i'd rather give my money to a skilled Englishman any day of the week!
And finally...
The abrasives I had been waiting for arrived and I got the axe finished
So after he heat treating I went back over the whole head with the angle grinder to remove any scale and refine the shape a little. the I ground the cutting bevel to a fairly shallow convex (it's easier to sharpen it to a more obtuse convex by the user than the otherway around ). The convex bevel was done with a belt sander and a section of slack belt. Unfortunately I don't have a posh knifemaker's grinder, so my crappy £100 linisher has to do the job
Then I went over the whole head with a flap wheel just to make the scratches line up a bit better and make the surface a little more uniform. For myself I don't mind the angle grinder (flapdisc) finish, but others might find it unsightly, so it's either uniform scratches or wobbly hammer marks
I'm not a big fan of shiny things, especially when they have a sharp edge on them (being blinded by the sun when using a sharp tool is not a good idea in my view), so I dulled the surface a bit with some ferric chloride.
I've not bothered with documenting the shaping/fitting of the handle, sharpening and leatherwork. there are enough tutorials of those around the net, even on here!
so one wonderful choppy thing from a silly whacking thing ...
Final statistics:
Head:
Steel: 1055M hammer head
Weight: total 700g, head 550gish (forgot to weigh it sorry!)
Edge length: 85mm
head length: 155mm
Handle:
Wood: English Ash (from a tree just in front of my workshop)
Length: 355mm to start of head
Sheath: 3.5mm veg tanned leather, snapper fastener
Hope you like
The abrasives I had been waiting for arrived and I got the axe finished
So after he heat treating I went back over the whole head with the angle grinder to remove any scale and refine the shape a little. the I ground the cutting bevel to a fairly shallow convex (it's easier to sharpen it to a more obtuse convex by the user than the otherway around
). The convex bevel was done with a belt sander and a section of slack belt. Unfortunately I don't have a posh knifemaker's grinder, so my crappy £100 linisher has to do the job
Then I went over the whole head with a flap wheel just to make the scratches line up a bit better and make the surface a little more uniform. For myself I don't mind the angle grinder (flapdisc) finish, but others might find it unsightly, so it's either uniform scratches or wobbly hammer marks
I'm not a big fan of shiny things, especially when they have a sharp edge on them (being blinded by the sun when using a sharp tool is not a good idea in my view), so I dulled the surface a bit with some ferric chloride.
I've not bothered with documenting the shaping/fitting of the handle, sharpening and leatherwork. there are enough tutorials of those around the net, even on here!
so one wonderful choppy thing from a silly whacking thing
...
Final statistics:
Head:
Steel: 1055M hammer head
Weight: total 700g, head 550gish (forgot to weigh it sorry!)
Edge length: 85mm
head length: 155mm
Handle:
Wood: English Ash (from a tree just in front of my workshop)
Length: 355mm to start of head
Sheath: 3.5mm veg tanned leather, snapper fastener
Hope you like
here are those other two that I started a while back.
I'm waiting for the hawk handle to finish drying out. I've also got to decide whether I'm going to start it again or try and steam it straight (it's gone banana on me )
I'm waiting for the hawk handle to finish drying out. I've also got to decide whether I'm going to start it again or try and steam it straight (it's gone banana on me
)
Hmmm top one is nice, but I now desire the hawk
Oh...it has to be stright surely - how you gonna throw it otherwise?
Oh...it has to be stright surely - how you gonna throw it otherwise?
cheers
I stuck my own axe head onto a long handle as planned Chris. The head I had is the Hudson bay trade axe (like the walnut one above, but flat sides not rounded at all) and is about the 600g mark. I stuck it on a straight 30" handle and decided that it was actually rather good for general chopping of stuff, but a bit on the long side for anything else So I reckon a 500-600g head on a 20-24" handle might be pretty good 
Red, I'll try and work on some hawks and bits asap. I've had a few enquiries so I really gotta make some now Trouble is I'll also have to get some wood drying out so that I can shape the handles Unless I just sell the roughed out billet as a DIY handle okenest:
I stuck my own axe head onto a long handle as planned Chris. The head I had is the Hudson bay trade axe (like the walnut one above, but flat sides not rounded at all) and is about the 600g mark. I stuck it on a straight 30" handle and decided that it was actually rather good for general chopping of stuff, but a bit on the long side for anything else
So I reckon a 500-600g head on a 20-24" handle might be pretty good Red, I'll try and work on some hawks and bits asap. I've had a few enquiries so I really gotta make some now
Trouble is I'll also have to get some wood drying out so that I can shape the handles Unless I just sell the roughed out billet as a DIY handle okenest:
So a 600g on a 22"?
Curves or flat,what thinks you,for a general purpose HB trade type axe!?
Chris.
Curves or flat,what thinks you,for a general purpose HB trade type axe!?
Chris.
Dave - i have had a think aboiut this and in order for this axe to add to my set up i think of a handle of 24 inches is probably right.
Do you think that i woiuld need a head of aroiund 7-800 grams in order to avoid replicating what i am able to do with my hatchet and carver?
thanks mate - Chris
Do you think that i woiuld need a head of aroiund 7-800 grams in order to avoid replicating what i am able to do with my hatchet and carver?
thanks mate - Chris
Very nice, Dave! Excellent work there!!
I vote for this one to be made a sticky....MODS, are you hearing this?
I vote for this one to be made a sticky....MODS, are you hearing this?
dave thats awsome......wish i had more space to things.........boo hoo......lol
again awsome.............
chris..........
again awsome.............
chris..........
just wanted to say that this axe is now up for sale at a special BCUK members price. I'm only mentioning it here because I know a lot of folk don't look in the dealers market section
