Answer is yes, three so far. All made fairly traditional manner: take a piece of flat stock, cut it to (roughly) a bowtie shape, bend around a mandrel to shape the eye. Weld the body together, leaving the end open. Shape a piece of high-carbon steel, fit it into the split, weld it in place. Grind profile, harden & temper the bit, fit a haft. Here's the two I've got.
One large, one small. The haft is tapered a bit, smaller at the hand end, so it wedges solid into the head. The flat stock I started with is mild steel, a fraction under 1/4" thick, so after the forging, grinding, etc., at thickest the blade is about 6/16" thick. For the big one should probably be a touch thicker and heavier, but it's what was available at the time.
They do a good job of cutting, having been tried out on wood(tree limbs, pruning in the yard). Not as good for wood as a modern design, but get the job done.
4 comments:
Very nice work. I especially like the wrapping job on the smaller one.
Axes kill people.
No one other than a lumberjack or government agent should have an axe. What about the children, eh?
/sarcasm
Ever tried making a tomahawk, just for fun?
Now that you remind me, yes. Made a couple out of railroad spikes. Punch a slot with a chisel and drift it open for the eye, fold the remainder over and weld, then forge that out for the blade. Made a good cutter with a nice hammer head on the back.
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