Spike hawk weekend project.

[Joe Yanta]

After a 5 month long hiatus from my forge while I finished my basement I finally got a chance to dust off the forge and have a little fun.

This is a spike hawk forged from O-1 tool steel.

The length of the head is 7 1/2 inches, the length of the haft is 18 from the top sticking out of the head to the bottom. The handle is scraped from ash.

The head was triple heated and tempered to about a Rockwell hardness of 52-54. Being from 0-1 this should be a real fine user although not PC correct.

I made a copper escutcheon that runs through the head.

You comments would be very appreciated.

Thanks

Joe Yanta

 

Very Nice looking Hawk...
You did a nice job on that one!

 

[oldmaster]

I'm making a hawk now and I hope it turns out as pretty as yours. Very professional looking. :front:

 

[musketman]

Ooooooooh, Covet, Covet...

 

[NORD]

I bet that is fun creating something like that from scratch!

Very nice hawk!

 

I'm interested in construction methods. Did you forge all from one piece or is the spike attached separately? That is what it looks like but I can't really tell. Very nice work - I like stuff that looks good but is also meant to be used.

 

[Joe Yanta]

Anvil you have a keen eye. Actually the blade and the spike are one piece. The shackle is another piece of forged O-1 also.

I first forged the spike, using a straight peen hammer, like you would a knife blade tang. Then I swapped ends and forged the taper of the blade working it around the horn of my anvil as I go to get the shape I wanted.

I then punched holes where the spike and escutcheon would go through the strap I was to make the shackle from. I filed finished the center hole to be a tight fit to the spike end of the hawk. I then forged and worked the shackle around to form the eye of the hawk.

I aligned the shackle over the spike and blade to locate the hole for the escutcheon pin in the blade and punched it.

The blade and shackle was then heat treated.

I cut the haft, scraped and planed it to fit the eye. From there I took a nail and heated it to burn through the haft. Then with files I filed out the haft for a snug fit for the spike and blade to pass through.

After staining the haft I placed the shackle down over the top of the haft and then passed the spike end by the front part of the shackle, through the haft and out the back of the shackle until the escutcheon or rivet holes lined up. I then hammered a big copper rivet to hold everything tight.

And I do mean tight, this is the tightest head to handle fit I have seen on anything.

I took a couple of more pictures to show top and bottom views but my picture hosting service wont let me login on to upload the pictures. If anyone could recoment a picture service I would appreciate it.

I have a thing for spike hawks. I feel they would have been very versatile. The spike could have been used to dig tubers and roots for food, like linemans spikes to climb trees or ice, to lift traps from water, pull pots from fires, a small ball peen to peen lead rivets, it could be used like a marlinspike for rope repair, hammer holes in canvas and leather, even a back scratcher. It would have had plenty of uses far beyond as a weapon.

I appeciate your interest.

Joe Yanta

 

[IronMan]

Great looking hawk Joe. I use Photobucket for pic hosting. I have noticed a lot of the guys here use them also.

IronMan

 

[Joe Yanta]

IronMan, thank you. I was getting pretty frustrated with my older hosting service. Lets see how they come out.

Here is a good view showing the shackle around the haft. the blade is 1/4 inch thick where it goes into the shackle.

And here is a view from the bottom and opposite side.

Hope they come out.



Joe

 

Thanks Joe, the second set of pics shows it a bit better. Very nice forging and finishing - there ain't much in life that gives more satisfaction than making a tool from start to finish for your own lifelong use, which you can also pass on to the next generation.