I got an urge to forge a hawk the other day.
The high carbon bit is laying to the side of the hawk preform. The bit is beveled to help make the weld flow better and the preform is thinned in eye area to about 3/16 with the outer ends 1/4 inch. That area thinned is right at 4-1/8 long. This is pretty critical and has to be determined somewhat by your hawk drift.
I welded up the bit and brought the weld up tight against the eye. After drifting and aligning I thermo cycled it.
[url= https://flic.kr/p/QMAeD7 ]
I did a little clean up to check my welds and hogged the bottom notch between the thermo cycles.
I heat treated it and put an edge on it and got a hickory haft in it.
Lin
Thanks for showing. I love axes and hawks, and have it on my to do list. Your eye drift, is that a standard hawk drift or is it of your style/size ?
Thanks
Anthony
Anthony, I bought a cheap drift made of ductile iron and made my own from 4140 in imitation of the cheap one. It works great. I use a scraper to dial it in but that is very minimal. The pre turned hafts will take minutes to fit.
Of course it is up to the smith to fit the eye to the drift. Not perfect but close. This is the top.
Very nice Lin! Thanks for sharing the in progress shots. I have yet to do a hawk, but I would like to give it a try. I enjoyed the axes I have done.
Chris
