Ball peen hammer hawks Questions

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PitchyPine

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Question for someone that has made a ball peen hammer hawk or knows how to, do ya have to make the eye bigger or are there ball peen hammers that have a large eye already. I`m starting my search for the right one but so far the eye on most are only about the size of a nickel.
Help :hmm:
 
Even with a large hammer-head, I've found that they need to be drifted out. My drift I made from a cheap wood-splitting wedge from Harbor Freight. Did a lot of forging, filing and some grinding to get it to the right shape.
 
Was afraid of that :hmm: might as well get busy on the drift. :grin:
Thanks for the info. :thumbsup:
 
The main reason some people use a ballpeen hammer head to forge into a spike hawk is because it already has the handle eye hole already in it. Punching/drifting the handle hole is the hard part that gets most people.

If you look at original ***** hawks, you can find a few that have a center section that looks like it started out as a ballpeen hammer. But most don't.

The other thing you will note on spike hawks is the full size of the head. They generally are VERY SMALL. They were designed to use as a weapon, not as a wood cutting/chopping tool. So they tended to be SMALL. The smaller the head, the easier it is to swing it around when fighting. And the LONGER you can swing it around before you get tired.

As an example, compare how long you can swing a blacksmithing hammer and a claw hammer around like a weapon. Now imagine doing the same thing with the handle twice as long!

A quick look at medieval war hammers will show you the same thing. They had a small/light head on a long handle. The traditional spike hawk was the same way.

The other thing you will notice on the original spike hawks is how small/thin the handles were - besides being longer than on regular hawks. Again, they were designed for war - to be swung around fighting and chopping people, not logs and firewood. So they didn't need thick/tough/strong wood handles to take that shock.

So the current eye size on most ballpeen hammers will be large enough for the expected use of a spike hawk. But if you want to use it to chop firewood, tent poles/stakes, or to throw in competition, then you will need a larger handle and corresponding eye hole.

If you truly want to make a spike hawk and want a bigger handle eye, just start with a modern camping hatchet head. Remove the handle, and then cut it in half - top and bottom halves when looking at it from the flat side. I've used my chopsaw (very carefully) and I've hot-chiseled it. Some have cut it with a torch. Now, take that blob of the original hammer pole and forge that out into your hawk blade. Then forge the old blade portion into your spike. Yes, it sounds reversed, but they actually work better this way - more material for a blade, and it's easier to form that old blade portion into a spike. And you have that LONG handle eye to take a larger wood handle. It's also easier to drift it out a bit to shape. If the original hatchet head is large enough, you could cut it into thirds, and end up with three spike hawk heads much closer in size to so many of the originals.

Just my humble observations to share, and best used in conjunction with your own research.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. Yes, I have made several spike hawks out of ballpeen hammer heads, and gave them all away. I've made several out of old hatchet and small axe heads, and have been "talked out of" them.
 
Thanks for that great info Mike, i`ll have to re- read a few times about cutting the hatchet method.
My most used and heavy forging ball peen has a pretty big eye in it so maybe it would make a fair hawk. Ha just thought of something, if i use my favorite hammer what am i going to forge with :haha: I found a web site that had several pics of the fighting light hawks that you described and i like the looks of those also. Big flea market next Wednesday so i`ll see what i can find, maybe some old ugly hatchets too.
 
Here`s the link too some hawks made from ball peen hammers. Do you think the eyes on those are drifted out bigger.
hawks

PS, hope its alright to post the link, never heard of them and not advertising for them.
 
Yes, one look at the wood handle sticking out on both sides of the eye says they have been drifted out larger, and also teardrop shaped. The original ballpeen handle eyes are usually rectangular with rounded corners. But they specifically mention British ballpeen hammer heads. So I don't know the original shape of them or the eye size/shape either.

One other option to consider would be a "forged" claw hammer head. Just clip off one of the "claws", and forge the other into your spike - blending and centering it to the rest of the head. Then drift the existing eye to the shape you want. Those older claw hammers have larger eyes to begin with than most ballpeen hammers.

I've taken an old claw hammer with that square tapered eye, clipped off both of the claws, and then forged the head into a small bowl adze. That tapered eye is the hard part to make on an adze, so that claw hammer already has it to start with. And the hammer head part makes up into a pretty good small adze. The only tricky part is pushing all the adze blade material up so that the blade blends on into a gentle curve with the top of the handle eye - so your wood carving stroke doesn't hit a sudden stop with the top of the handle sticking up.

Hope this helps.

Mikey - yee ol' grumpy German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands
 
Thanks again for the great advice, i`ll shock ya all soon with some ball peen and hatchet butchering. :haha:
 
I use regular tomahawk drifts. You can get one from the blacksmith supplies reasonable. Saves a whole lot of grinding and the store bought hafts will fit. I have one I made to start the hole larger. On the 16 oz ball peens the regular hawk drifts a little large to start with. Heres a picture. The first from left one is the one I made to start with and open up the hole a little. The second one makes a little more v shape at the bottom. This one is easier to center up in the ball peen conversions. The last one is more egg shaped more round at the bottom. I use it for the scatch made hawks.
hawkdrifts001.jpg
 
Cool, thanks for the pics, they make the drifts for sale. I didn`t know that but then i don`t buy much and don`t have access around here for one.
I`ll probably do it the hard way :shake:
I`m not a full time smith just fiddle around with it and like to try different things.
I bought a 32 ounce ball peen today and the eye seems pretty big in it, so i`ll start hamering away at it one of these days when it cools off a little.
Thanks again to everyone for the advice. :thumbsup:
 
I attempted to build a hawk out of ball peen hammer but I abandonded the process because the material from the peen wasn't getting hard enough to chop wood with. After several attempts to harden the steel I gave the hawk away as a wall hanger.
Is there some type/brand of Peen I should be looking for? or does everyone simply use mild steel for this type of project?

Regards
Loyd Shindelbower
Loveland Colorado
 
That`s a good question, I kinda figured the older ones would have better steel in them but I haven`t worked one yet.
 
The steel in most ballpeen hammers is pretty good. I'm surprised yours didn't harden well. But there are some hammer heads that are just soft.

As long as you have a ... reasonable ... expectation of how sharp it can get and how well it will hold that edge.

Some people expect to sharpen a hawk to a razor's edge today, use it HARD, and have it still be razor sharp a year from next Tuesday! Such fantasy visions belong in the modern world of miracle metal alloys. Ditto their knives.

The steel in most hammer heads is pretty good, and should heat treat to hold an edge well.

Just my thoughts to share.

Mikey - yee ol' grumpy German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands
 
I use the US made ones. Like Mike said you don't want them to hard. It is a chopping tool. You want it to be able to stand the impact but not chip or crack. It is easier to sharpen more often than fix a chip or even worse throw away because of a crack. I made one out of mild steel one time to just to play with. It would get sharp and chop surprisingly well. I did have to sharpen often but it being soft it didn't take but a second to sharpen.
 
I have one friend that made a spike hawk from a ballpeen hammer marked Craftsman. And he left the stamp on the side. Won't that be an ... interesting ... find for collectors in the future!

There is a guy who regularily lists/sells tomahawk eye/handle drifts over on evil-bay. That's where I got mine. LOL he also sometimes lists an eye drift for making your own hammers - including ballpeen hammers - in two sizes!

Simple mild steel - 1018, A36, etc. - works surprisingly well from axes/knives. You just have to sharpen them a little more often as you use them. But re-sharpening is fairly easy. Same thing with wrought iron.

Just a few humble rambling thoughts to share. Take them as such.

Mikey - yee ol' grumpy German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands
 
100_2001.jpg

I made this one from a small ballpeen hammer years ago for my son. used a drift to expand the eye. They tend to make small hawks.
 

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