ball peen hammer head hawk

[Rik Palm]

I want to thank,

Larry Harley for mentioning a while back that ball peen hammer heads make nice hawks. I also wanted to thank Rick Eaton for taking time out during the busy Reno Show and showing me how to sharpen a graver! 2 of the nicest guys around!

 

I found an old ball peen hammer head ($3) at a yard sale and wanted to try making a hawk out of it.

The hawk head is 6 inches overall, with a 2 inch cutting edge, 13 inch stained ash handle. I wanted to make it short for hiking and stuff.

 

anyway thanx for looking....

 

I call it "Barr"

 

 

 

[hardtwist]

Well done. I really like this.

 

 

JIM

[Rik Palm]

Thanx Jim! It was kinda fun to make. Drifting out the eye was the tough part for me.

[Patrick Hastings]

Thanx Jim!  It was kinda fun to make.  Drifting out the eye was the tough part for me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I like it. would you mind giving an overview of the process?

[Dean McKay]

That's such a neat idea to carve a beautiful hatchet from a hammer!  Gorgeous work Rik! 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually Kathleen I believe Rik forged that out to shape and then carved it.

But I agree completely, it is phenomenal!

[Rik Palm]

Patrick, I not sure this is the correct way to make a ball peen hawk

 

I first flatten/drew out the hammer end fullering it as close as I dared to its eye on all 4 sides. I figured the flat part was the biggest move so I did it first. I thought it would give me a good area to clamp in the post vise too when I upset the ball some too, Well the flattening/pinching went well but the ball upsetting didn't work as I thought it would, I messed up the eye (twisted and bent). The next thing I worked on was drifting the eye. Since I messed its shape up I had to work hard to drift it and get it straight to the blade (a normal hammer eye is very small I learned I had to move lots of metal). It seemed like I was just chasing my mistakes around and around, but eventually I got it worked out. so that was the hardest part. (as I write this I think I know now that I should have waited on doing the fullering before the upsetting of the ball.... hmmmmm) When I was straighting it up I had my sketch near by guessing the shape some. After I normalized it, I profiled it some for the general shape, the "blade" was much longer then my sketch (I was kinda surprised at how much metal there was in a hammer head) I reforged it again refining the shape more, like pinching the ears up, shaping and tapering the ball some more. HA and straighting it some more, seems just when I thought I had it straight it would be off some where else.

 

next I normalized it again, and filed out the profile closer to the end shape. (like the nose, blade curves, ears, etc... I basically kept that up until I got closer to my sketch and a shape I liked. I went slow. funny how just a slight difference in a curve like the nose gave a huge different feel to it I was having fun. I used a small carbide ball burr 1/8 inch for the texturing. After Rick Eaton showed me how to sharpen a graver then it was really easy to do the other features. Most of the time I mostly used files, I really like using them especially when I get into a rhythm. I took the head to 150 grit before heat treating, the hawk was actually clay harden but afterwards I didn't polish it out. I was instead going to really darken it with a black patina, I did the patina and used semi chrome polish which took off all the patina!! oh well but my wife and son really liked it shiny so I left it as it is now.

 

whew!!! I really normally don't type that much! I probably left something out but ask if you have any questions.

 

Rik

[Janel]

Hi Rik,

 

Thanks for the interesting and descriptive tour for the ball peen hawk. My background is with clay and wood, with very little knowledge of metals . You used some terms that others may also be wondering about. Since this is a list of multiple media using members, (I have a hard time figuring out how to say that ), a further element of education would be welcomed (by me, for starters!). I listed the things below that I must guess at the meaning when read in context with the description. Would you be willing to hint at what each means?

 

Thanks!

 

Janel

 

 

fullering

it would give me a good area to clamp in the post vise too when I upset the ball

drifting the eye

clay harden

[Rik Palm]

Hi Janel,

 

"fullering", is when I indented, pinched, creating the "u" shape depression in the middle.

 

 

"it would give me a good area to clamp in the post vise too when I upset the ball"

 

I used the flatten blade area to tightly clamp it so the "ball peen" was facing upward so I could hammer, squash, make it fatter, swell it up, or "upset" it so I had more nose to work with.

 

"drifting the eye"

A hawks handle has a tear drop cross section that tapers from small to big. The hawks head eye is also tapered so it can slide up on but not all the way up. The 2 tapers work together to secure it. I used a metal "drift" that is the same shape of a real wood handle, so when I hammered it into the hawks eye it would match up with the wood handle later.

 

"clay harden"

I used a layer of clay on the blade (so it would retain the heat) when I edged quenched it. I wanted only the cutting edge to be hardened so the rest of the hawk would be "soft" and tough. The quench line of hard & soft is called the Hamon and when polished it shows the heat treating.

 

thanx for the questions!

 

Rik

[Janel]

You are welcome and thank you! You metal workers have an interesting language!

 

Janel