My new (?) tomahawk head

[ameling]

I was out in the shop today, and I had to dump out the water in my quench barrel - to kill off the next generation of skeeters! And when I dumped it out, I found this mixed in with all the forge scale and cut-off bits of iron.

Yes, it kind of surprised me. But then I looked at it close and turned it over.

Ahah! Now I remember it! And also why I tossed it in the quench barrel and forgot about it.

The shape is great - for an early tomahawk head. And it's made of all wrought iron without any steel cutting bit. But the day I worked on this one, things just weren't working out well. So, on closer examination, I see the crack in the eye when I wrapped it around my mandrel. Plus, I messed up the forge weld, and I hammered that wrought iron waaaay too cold - so that it cracked/split a bunch. So with all those cracks/splits, and a messed up weld, I tossed it into the drink - and forgot about it.

Hmmm ... great early shape (1600's to 1700's), all wrought iron, poor "workmanship", hmmm ... must be another artifake! Let's see now, if I go bury it down in the muck in that bog over by the spring, and leave it till next year. I can then "discover" it, and list it over on evil-bay! Hmmm ... sounds like a plan to me. All I'd have to do is get a transplant of some of those modern business "ethics" and I'd be "rich enough" to afford two beers instead of one at the local watering hole!

Yes, the "scrap pile" next to a blacksmith shop can have some pretty interesting objects piled in. I'd better be a little more careful where I throw this one out.

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

 

[paulvallandigham]

Thanks for the pictures, and the true story. Its always great to know that others have " bad days " in the shop, and have to throw away something they spent hours messing up! ( Been there, done that, and will probably repeat it again, many times!) I seem to have to make 3 of anything I want to make that is new, just to MAYBE get one to come out right! But, I am getting better at forging: It used to be I needed to plant to make 10-12 copies to get just one right! :rotf: :hmm: :hatsoff:

 

[ameling]

Francis Whitaker (sp) passed on one pertinent comment he learned when going through the whole apprentice process to learn to be a blacksmith in the early 1900's. He said that when you want to make something new, you should ...

make 35 of them, and throw the first 30 away!

Interesting, and so often true. But that also depends upon the level of pride you wish to have in the quality of your craftsmanship. And Francis was trying to achieve the level of those old world Master Blacksmiths.

Mistakes and bad days? Yeah, they happen. This was just one of the more ... interesting ... failures.

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

 

[LRB]

Mike, here's one a friend gave me last year. He found it with a metal detector on his family's old homestead in PA. Are'nt these pretty much generic in features, or can you give a general date for it? It measures 7 1/4" tall, witha 3 5/8" cutting edge. The eye is teardrop, 1 7/8"x 1 1/8". Got any idea on it?

 

[ameling]

Nice old Axe head - it looks large enough to be a full sized axe. Yes, classic shape. Note the thickness of the metal on the blade right by the eye - were the two sides were welded together, and then tapered out to the cutting edge. It also looks like somebody "chipped" the top corner of the blade in use.

Time period? In my "poorly educated" opinion, it would fit into most any part of the 1700's prior to the Rev War, and actually could also continue through the rest of the 1700's. The "American" or "Kentucky" style of poled axe was really starting to take over in the later 1700's after the F&I War. But it also could be stretched back into the 1600's. But those tended to have more of a downward curve to the whole blade - top and bottom edges.

But, that is just my humble opinion. There are people who have done much more research on old axes who could give a better opinion.

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

 

[LRB]

Thanks Mike. That was better than I hoped to hear. I also have a betty lamp that the guy gave me, found in the same area. The guy said there was a log cabin there once, that his ancestors built in the 17's. Thanks again.

 

[streetsniper]

Nice lookin axe head for a failure. As for business ethics, honest men are harder to find these days than mlr's. From what I can tell Hell's gonna be crowded anyways. My advice, heat it up and bang some more. Billy

 

[ameling]

Actually, I have several friends that could put this to good use in their fur trade talks and demos. They could pull it and another hawk head out of a trade goods bundle, and then "complain" loudly about the "cheap shoddy" goods they had been sent to TRY to trade to the Indians. And then go on to show people the differences.

Add in a couple trade knives, with one being poorly/quickly made from soft iron and the other of good steel, and you have a good start to a talk about trade goods and the progression in the "quality" of those goods as the "customers" got more knowlegable and descriminating in what they would trade for. A thin and a thick blanket or wool clothe would be another great addition to the talk/demo.

Or I could just sell it on evil-bay: "I found this tomahawk head in the bottom of a box of old bolts and wrenches that I bought at a farm sale over in Wisconsin along the Bad Axe river where it enters the Mississippi. There had never been a sale on this farm, and the sheds showed it. But this was buried in the bottom of that box of old wrenches and bolts. You can see the forge weld lines on the top and bottom, but you can also see cracks in the iron on the blade and the eye. It has the right shape/look of those old trade axe heads, but I can't find any touchmark or stamp on it. So who knows how old it really is. Looks like somebody tried to sharpen it years ago. The boys must have played with it a while after they found it. I don't know much about those old axes, so look at the pictures and decide for yourself."

But that would require that "ethics" transplant. (or is that "ethics" removal?) And I just heard that new "term" for evil-bay --> e-prey! Or, as those folks up north call it, the Bay of Evil.

Hmmm ... another possibility. If I intentionally broke it in half splitting it through that crack in the eye and popping that weld apart, I could then ... reshape ... each "half" into a hide scraper! There are existing aritfacts that show this was done to broke hawks/axes. Those "parts" usually got reused for another purpose. Yes, they looked like a broke hawk/axe, but were obviously put to another use. Hmmm ... the possibilities.

Kind of like having the blacksmith out at a frontier fort/post turn a tomahawk head into a hoe. He would heat it up, and then twist the blade 90 degrees, and give the blade a little bit of a gentle curve. And there you would have a hoe to plant the corn and beans with. Two originals were found down at Fort Quiatenon in Indiana, and two more at Fort Robert up in Canada. Plus a few more scattered about. I've done that with a couple cheap tomahawk heads. You can use them with the original tomahawk handle for a short "on-your-knees" hoe, or add a long/thin handle for work when standing. And they actually do work fairly well for busting up ground to plant.

And a few did also get turned into an Adze the same way - for chopping/carving wood.

More projects to ... ponder.

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

 

[Osprey]

Can't comment much on hawk heads, but being in the middle of my 13th season of Mosuito Control work I commend you on your diligent removal of standing water and prevention of Aedes albopictus! Would save us all problems if more people did so. :hatsoff: