Hand Forged Bearded Axe

[Broch]

I had the pleasure of doing a day's axe forging at the Oldfield Forge near Hereford last summer. It's taken me until now to find the time to heat treat it (ran out of time on the day 'cos I had a dinner date ) so, now it's hafted, I thought I'd tell you about it!

There were a number of forging courses running though the day; everyone else was doing knife forging or similar, I was forging an axe. That meant that I got 1:1 tuition for the day. It's an excellent environment, great facilities, and great staff. The day doesn't finish at a specific time but when you complete your project - it was my fault I ran out of time

I have a lot of axes of varying styles, so I wanted to try something different; I chose to make a Bearded Axe. OK, the result isn't pretty, nor is it perfect, but I made it

It started with a lump of steel about 100mm x 70 x 70mm - through manual hammering with large hammers (a new process to me) and a press forge I turned it into a passable axe.

In process






The press




The completed axe

 

[Mesquite]

Very tidy work Ian, very tidy indeed

 

[FerlasDave]

Very nice. How far did you get with it before you had to leave? Was it easy enough to finalise yourself?

A nice long haft too, very versatile.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Very nicely done, looks like a good user.
What's the weight of the head?

 

[CLEM]

Great stuff Mr Broch mate, very nice

 

[Tony]

Mate, that's excellent, brining it to the Moot in the Summer? It would be lovely to see it.

 

[plastic-ninja]

Nicely done!
Much more difficult than forging a knife I’d say. Having now done both, at last.

 

[KieranB96]

Looks solid that! good job

 

[Broch]

Very nice. How far did you get with it before you had to leave? Was it easy enough to finalise yourself?

A nice long haft too, very versatile.

Hi Dave - it was finished apart from heat treating. I have a kiln so I was able to do that easily at home. It's tempered to around 56-58 so, not as hard as a knife - perhaps a little harder than a splitting axe.

 

[FerlasDave]

Hi Dave - it was finished apart from heat treating. I have a kiln so I was able to do that easily at home. It's tempered to around 56-58 so, not as hard as a knife - perhaps a little harder than a splitting axe.

Nice. It’s handy that you had the kiln then really. I presume you have some rockwell files to figure out the hardness, did it all go how you wanted it?

 

[Broch]

Nice. It’s handy that you had the kiln then really. I presume you have some rockwell files to figure out the hardness, did it all go how you wanted it?

No, I've been planning on getting some but not got around to it - I just go by the tempering charts for the steel (200C=62, 250=57, 300=55 approx).

 

[SoldierPalmer]

You’ve done a lovely job there. The haft compliments it. I wouldn’t get hung up on HRC at all as edge retention is mainly down to steel type (carbide types and numbers) and the geometry. When it gets blunt you sharpen it. I’d be happy using that.

 

[British Red]

The completed axe

View attachment 86356

That's outstanding - really professional

 

[TeeDee]

Bump to this for related question.

Ref home made forges - any idea how hot one can get them in backyard garage type set ups? If one uses a crucible.

Asking as I want to make something with poured metal - either brass or alum but I'd prefer Brass which I think melts at 930 C.

 

[Suffolkrafter]

I had the pleasure of doing a day's axe forging at the Oldfield Forge near Hereford last summer. It's taken me until now to find the time to heat treat it (ran out of time on the day 'cos I had a dinner date ) so, now it's hafted, I thought I'd tell you about it!

There were a number of forging courses running though the day; everyone else was doing knife forging or similar, I was forging an axe. That meant that I got 1:1 tuition for the day. It's an excellent environment, great facilities, and great staff. The day doesn't finish at a specific time but when you complete your project - it was my fault I ran out of time

I have a lot of axes of varying styles, so I wanted to try something different; I chose to make a Bearded Axe. OK, the result isn't pretty, nor is it perfect, but I made it

It started with a lump of steel about 100mm x 70 x 70mm - through manual hammering with large hammers (a new process to me) and a press forge I turned it into a passable axe.

In process

View attachment 86353


View attachment 86354

The press

View attachment 86355


The completed axe

View attachment 86356

View attachment 86358

That's a great looking axe!

 

[Tantalus]

Very nice work.

How well does it shave ??

 

[Broch]

Bump to this for related question.

Ref home made forges - any idea how hot one can get them in backyard garage type set ups? If one uses a crucible.

Asking as I want to make something with poured metal - either brass or alum but I'd prefer Brass which I think melts at 930 C.

For 930C it's not necessarily a forge you need but a kiln - mine can go up to 1100C. Brass MP is between 900-940C so within its capability. However, if you want a forge, a home made one with electric bellows can reach well over that.

 

[FerlasDave]

@Broch Just on the back of TeeDee’s post, I’m surprised you haven’t got an induction forge, be interested to hear your thoughts on those?

 

[Broch]

LOL, the only thing holding me back building a forge of some kind is I haven't been able to find a decent sized anvil at a sensible price

 

[dwardo]

Stunner is that, lovely work.