They can be hard to cut through with just a chizle! and I have done that, but I dont do it that way any more, I mark out a line in the center of the spike and punch some marks for my....dare I say it...drill press, I know cheeting :redface: but it gives me a centered line of holes that I then connect with a chain saw file, then smooth out the sides with a flat file, that way I'm not scwooshing the sides down cutting into it. I can then forge out and drift for the handle.
Darrel