Forging an Improved Rasp Tomahawk - Mouse Hawk
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- Опубліковано 20 вер 2024
- Today we'll be forging another small mouse hawk with a few updates and changes. Thank you to everyone who commented on the last tomahawk build! I took some of your tips and suggestions to improve the weld and fit of the axe.
I'm excited to see what other improvements we can come up with for other projects as well. Thanks for watching and enjoy!
Here are some of my books on Amazon. Thanks for the support!
Simple Knifemaking - www.amazon.com/...
Simple PVC Pipe Bows - www.amazon.com/...
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The Impossible Bow - www.amazon.com/...
The Backyard Bowyer - www.amazon.com/...
Darts on Target - www.amazon.com/...
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New P.O. Box!!
Nicholas Tomihama
P.O. Box 354
Camas, WA 98607
Lmao! You guys are so lucky to have access to tool steel on this scale, even a file/rasp. Here in India, mild steel is cheap and plentiful but tool steel is specialised and has to be bought in large quantities. I forged my first tomahawk 6 years ago out of some rebar and a small file for the bit. I envy you guys so much.
throw the axe head in the oven at around 400 deg. f. for at least an hour for tempering. I've had knifes that I've made from railroad spikes that I tried tempering in the same way get tiny chips in them from internal stresses just sitting around months after they were completed. as long as the steel doesn't get hot enough to go past the straw color you're looking for then it won't soften up more than a few rockwell points.
try closing the gap a little more next time before you start the initial tack. as close as possible so it helps to minimize oxidizing when you put the Flux in. along those lines, try getting the steel just a tad hotter. you'll want it to where the steel is just about throwing sparklers off when you start the Forge weld. it will help make a better weld and make the weld line almost disappear completely. good job though, very impressive.
This is one of my favorite videos I've seen on forging weapons a beautiful peace of work
I love the way the file gives it a scale look. Great work!
A most definitely improved tomahawk over the last one. Awesome Job
Beautiful! I've been looking to forge a farrier's rasp hatchet and this video is a perfect trainer! Thanks for making it.
Awesome! Thanks for watching.
Great craftsmanship
Nick.
One more suggestion would be to leave the scale on the body of the ax as it acts as an excellent natural rust prevention.
How about making some basic tongs? I think it would be an awesome build, being that they can be very expensive to purchase. Perhaps using rebar?
Yes some tongs would be a great idea for a video.
Great Idea!
I like the texture the rasp leaves behind...just discovered your channel...love your craft!
Thank you!
very good looking little axe. thanks for sharing.
Wow. I love blacksmithing. I hope to make an ax someday soon.
whether it's about archery, blacksmithing, flint-knapping knapping your videos are always entertaining and usually educational. I'd like to see how you made that copper and silver ring.
That's a terrific result. Your skills are improving with every project. Thanks for taking us along for the ride. Cheers, b.
Thank you!
+BackyardBowyer make a tanto
+BackyardBowyer or a Bowie knife from a ferriers rasp
looks much better,and it's a very nice and clean build
Awesome job. I have been given about 30 farrier files by my friendly farrier. I have been watching your videos from the beginning and I am very impressed with your quality of work and your teaching ability. I am going to try to forge a tomahawk for myself. I'll let you know how it turns out. It looks like a fun project to do with my grandson who is 10 years old. Thanks.
Awesome video! Im getting ready to make one with motorcycle chain!
The weld definitely looked better, I 'm glad you're getting good suggestions. I really like the tomahawk.
hey for a finishing touch you should lightly take a oxy/acetylene torch to the wood grip it brings out the pattern and then coat it in boiled linseed oil to make it shine and water proofed
I enjoy watching your projects. If they give me the solution i am looking for, they always point me in the right direction. Thanks bro.
Outstanding Ben!
Love watching the work that you do. The tomahawk came out great! God bless!
duuuude, taht axe looks just beautiful! It's way better than the last one. Nice job!
Great video. I love your tutorials because theyre detailed without being exhaustive or overly long and you explain things well. Youd be a good teacher. I for one want to buy one of these. I cant speak for anyone else but I have a feeling these would be a hit on your etsy. Thanks again.
I tried making one last week.. its not pretty yet but i just wanted the forgeweld to stick and it worked like a charm
Good stuff mate, I'm about to give it ago aswell
Great to see how much improvement you made. Stay humble and keep learning.
+Jimbo's Welding Shop Aka: The humble welder Thank you for the kind words!
brilliant work Nick
Great build , good changes. Remember people say things about how to build something, but if it holds and performs and doesn’t break then you did it right. Keep it up I like your videos.
Nice work... when u get the welds down pat, u will be on ur way to a great blacksmith...very nice video ....
Verry nice progres in your tomahawk build . I like the way you explain every step good work respect.
Much more solid looking than the other one.
Nice work! I will try a couple of these for christmas presents to my friens that hunt.
Its so satisfying watching metal being moved flattens and bent with heat. Love your videos it's come a long way since 50 thousand subs
That's I first discovered ur chanel
nick ive been a subscriber for a long time and i remember when you used to live in a house where you can see your neighbors backyard and so on. ever since you moved to your new place you never showed us where you live or anything like that. i think that a vlog about your property would be pretty cool. But if you dont want to show us i get it.just an idea
I'm super interested in your forge! Can you make a tutorial for making a forge? It's the only thing I lack before I can start forging and smithing myself. You're truly an inspiration man! Keep it up.
If you haven't yet, try San Mai forging or maybe some railroad spike
Really great. Really enjoyed watching this video. Thanks...
awesome. I have several broom trees in my yard that I can cull for handles.
it looks much better than the last one you did great work
I just destroyed a Farriers rasp trying to do this. One burnt beyond use &the other I couldn't get to stick to it'self. You certainly make this look easier than it is. I ended up forging a Ball peen Hammer into a tomahawk. Even this wasn't very easy.
Great video Nick, I really enjoyed the build along. Love the pvc bow book. Would like to see more wood bow builds.
Thanks TT.
Nice job. You make it look easy. 👍
Even though I could not ever make one of these (or any forging requiring thing you made) I love your videos :) It is so amazing to watch a piece of junk metal transforms into something useful. Keep it up !
All of you naysayers should post your videos to show this Gentleman the WAY YOU DO IT. You did a fine job young
man!
beautiful work man!
Neat! Great looking tomahawk!
Loved watching this video! Great explanations / tutorial!
The first video I've ever seen of your was the pvc bow tutorial you've come a long way man keep up the awesome vids learning a lot
I am not sure if you have heard of this style of bow but it was used by the Haida people of the coast of northern British Columbia (Canada). It's called a paddle now and is similar to the flat bow but I believe the limbs are wider. If you could make one out of pvc that would be a really interesting video
Enjoyed the video, I would like to see more more dimensions used as your doing the videos, Thanks
From my experience from watching Forged in Fire, I think you should grind off the rasp teeth and clean the soon to be welded surfaces right before bending it around and welding it. You should also get it to a bright yellow color. By all means, having an incomplete weld in this case probably doesn't matter, but in other cases your weld could crack open if it's done like this.
Great video! I am going to try my hand at making one of these this winter. Also it's worth mentioning you helped motivate me to try arrowhead knapping. I'm currently working on my 3rd one.
Lovely work
finally... they've enabled comments on the mobile app.
but in anycase i've noticed in your knife/tool making videos
that you have a lot of scale on your pieces after quenching
to elieviate that problem, you can use a japanese smithing
technique that uses water on the anvil and your hammer to
blast away the scale with superheated steam
you do great work..because of you I've made my first tomahawk..thanks for the videos.
This is a work of art
When you're forge welding try to keep the piece to at least a cherry red, preferably hotter. For when you take it in and out of the forge, by keeping it very hot you make it easier to weld and it gives you a chance to tac need welds, if need be. If you let it cool and there's a small pocket of air in there you will never be able to reweld it from my experience.
Hey Nick, look into anhydrous borax. It doesn't fluff up and fall of like borax from the box does.
+Adventures in Forging Thanks for the suggestion!
great video. I'm attempting my first one this weekend. This has helped me out big time.
A couple of suggestions, one, get a hawk drift, it'll help get the proper tear drop shape and lets you use standard hawk handles with only a little fitting. Two, before folding over, use a bottom tool of some sort, I've used a section of dozer sprocket, to get a slight cupping of the material that will be the eye, cupping towards the inside. When it's folded over it prevents the edges from flaring out as bad.
Now you need to try a few like that but with 1018 mild steel and a high carbon bit. I've heard of people using standard mild steel, but A36 is re-run stuff and some will forge weld no problem, some won't, it's a "wonder what'n hell is in it alloy". My experience with A36 mild steel is it's not worth it and I'll pay a few cents more for standard 1018.
I can't find much info on traditional hawks being forged from rasp, I'm sure there were a few done, just not commonly, if anybody has historical info on them I'd love to see more info. Until recently, last 50-100 years, high carbon steel was hard to come by and most axes and hawks were mild or wrought iron with a high carbon bit. Same thing with gun barrel hawks, most gun barrels were re bored and "freshened" to the point that it'd take a generation or two to wear out and were too expensive to just discard.
Thanks for the tips, I appreciate it! I've had my eye on the tomahawk mandrels at blacksmithdepot.com. Do you know if those are any good?
Good to know about 1018, I've been wanting to try some hawks and belt axes using mild steel and a high carbon bit but haven't started yet. On a related note, I once did a project that used pieces of A36 mild steel and I etched them in ferric with the idea of giving them that dark matte look. What I ended up getting was like a low layer count damascus with what looked like stainless steel nuts or washers mixed in.
I would think that like files knives, rasp hawks are a more modern invention. They may have been made from time to time, but files and rasps were precious things that were often re-worked and re-hardened until nothing was left. I wouldn't be surprised if some old hawks had a rasp or file bit, but I doubt they would use a rasp for the body of the hawk. That said, it's just a guess and it would be cool if somebody has more info on the subject.
Thanks for watching!
That's the same mandrel I use. They tell you not to use it to drift with, but I've done a few though I used punches to get close and the mandrel to drift the last little bit, but drifting is hard on them, I wound up getting a spare a while back as well. They come kinda rough, but you can either sand smooth or just use it and it'll slick up.
I've done some with A36 with no issue, but the last time I used it I'd put about 3 hours into the piece and found the poor welds. After that I figured it was cheaper and safer to go with 1018 and haven't had an issue since. From what I understand talking with foundry workers, sometimes an electric motor gets mixed in and copper contaminates the melt, plus titanium and aluminum and God know's what else gets mixed in. You might get a truck load of steel that welds great, and you might get a load that doesn't want to, it's a crap shoot, and not worth the aggravation and time and labor for me to find out if it's good or not.
I did find one account of a knife factory in the 1880's that was set up next to a large machine and foundry, the knife factory bought all there used files and made knives from them. But this is in the era of machine made files and the industrial revolution. I'd love to find more examples of historical rasp hawks, but haven't seen much. One issue is prior to the industrial revolution even decent wrought iron was a rarity in most areas. Iron and steel were repurposed and used up, one of the apprentice's jobs was to weld up all the little bits of left over iron at the end of the day.
Since job thanks for sharing with us ,ant from Wales UK
Hey dude, love the build but I think it would be better if you got the steel hotter when doing the forge weld. It needs to be sparking when you strike it.
Great video, thanks for posting.
He's pretty consistent with his tomahawk throws
Just a thought about the shaft socket. Why not flatten the shaft socket after it is formed to stop the head having the potential to rotate. Nice video, ty :)
wish i had these tools this would be a worthy hobbie/carreer .great video
Excellent channel Nick packed with good info for the budding blacksmith/archer or anyone else, atb.
You have exceptional crafting skills along with a great tutorial presentation. If you don’t mind me asking... What are the dimensions of the horseshoe file you use in the video? There are a lot of straps used where I work and I could easily cart off a few of them without anyone caring or making a fuss.
very nice job nick.
good stuff man that pvc bow looks great
If you soak the handle in boiling water you can use a slightly larger handle. It will soften the wood then put it back in the boiling water it will expand it and when it dries the axe head will never come off.
have you ever thought about making frying pan, bowls or plates ?
Well done man. That looks good. I'm looking to get into some blacksmith work as well as a hobby. Again good stuff!
Really good job !
Dude, you're awesome! I've been a big fan of your Channel for a couple years now and I love your content and the way that you deliver it! Thank you for what you do!
That's awesome. I just want to know how to make the glass forge and tongs. I tryed to make a pair before but was unsuccessful.
Hey Backyard bowyer, great job but I was wondering if you noticed the de lamination spot closer towards the edge on the left side of the tomahawk bit? It doesn't look like it would cause major structural malfunction but it should be worth noting you could have a chip break off one day. Other than that the rest of the forge weld looks great and you did an excellent job.
I enjoy the videos you make man. they're pretty cool. I have a suggestion for the heat treatment of farriers rasps. Chandler Dixon on UA-cam did a video where he tested a farriers rasp with different heat treatments. what he found to be the best was a water quench. it held an edge longer and surprisingly didn't chip. I'd recommend that video if you have some time and want to. keep it up man, your doing good
Great video! How about making a medieval war hammer?
Good job! Have 2 targets 1 at both ends so your not walking back for the throw!
Nice job, mate! Thanks for sharing!
Nicely done mate! Still think your bows are second to none.
dude i love your videos so much. i have recently got into knife making also. your videos are super helpful to learn different methods and designs. Keep up the great work man, you are awesome.
Very satisfying!
I love watching forging videos like this. Reason being that the main character in a novel I'm writing is a blacksmith, so it's useful for learning.
Question: What did people use as flux in the old days?
Also tomahawks are cool! The "scales" around the eye left over from the rasp, I think, give these character.
They made their own flux by mixing the forging scale with potash and silversand ( dont know the exact name so i litteraly translated it from dutch but is almost pure silicondioxide) in a certain ratio wich i also dont exactely know but that should be on the internet. By the way how are you gonna call your novel ? I would like to read it when its finished.
It will be called Elarn, which means "The World" in the language of its iteration of the elves.
NeoDragonCount cool ! When do you think it Will be finished ?
Great question. I asked the same question at a local historic smithy, I didn't really get an answer, he said they use borax.
Great video you have made me interested in this in seeing that it is something that can be done and learned i live in an apartment complex now so i watch to learn but when i move to a house soon i will be starting trying to build and make these items. Just wanted to thank you for the inspiration and drive to start this thanks and great video
That's pretty good small axe
how about a viking spear? or a pair of kunais from old lawnmover blades?
A spear would be great!
You make that look too easy. Great job.
nice man! i agree, it looks a lot better!
Say Heah Nick, I enjoy all your videos, I think your great. But I was looking for a new Trio, Usually I like a large knife/small knife combo plus saw. That's my normal Trio. Recently I started using my BK-4 as my large knife and it shines even when I teamed my BK-2 with it. But my go to Trio is my Ratmandu, 2Hawks Double Bit Hatchet and my Wicked Tough Saw, You see I don't have your talents and I have to buy mine. I also use my Ratweiler as a One Tool Option, I could also team up my 2Hawks Warbeast which is a three edge hawk that when it digs in deep, It's easier to pull out. With a Saw, like Mors Kohanskywhen states, You can live like a King. Usually I team up my Ratweiler with my Rodent Solution, But Regardless what carry I use, I like my Mora 510 as a neck knife. I wear it even at home especially in the kitchen, Nick, seriously, Job well done.
Great work! Very nice wirebrush finish :)
I'm guessing the same basic steps would work if I substituted a mower blade for the rasp?
Very interesting thanks for sharing I want to get into throwing Hawks the video was very informative thank you
Incredible! You Sir are simply incredible!
Hey Nick, I love your videos. Do you think you could make a bushcraft set that includes a hatchet and knife?
Great job!
have you thought of making a ring out of a piece rasp to get the same pattern as the tomahawk
it looked like u had a large fualt on your end result with ur forge weld I seem to have more sucses when instead of tapping to start weld I usually just flux then set forge completely
great work! you should do your own makers mark.
Hope all is well with you my friend! Miss seeing your videos!!