messerist has shown us several really pretty tomahawks, and I PMd him to ask if he'd make one for me. After I got back from Afghanistan, the time was right for both of us, and we talked about it. After being sure he understands what the customer wants, he forges the hawk from a hammer made of 4140.
I am very interested in both history and manual weapons, and I thought this might be a good chance to test a quality tomahawk in a traditional style against large outdoors knives. I asked messerist if he would be willing to take a few pictures of the process, and he sent me A BUNCH.
Here are some. I'm going to post most as links instead of posting them in-thread, for size reasons.
Drifting the eye to fit handle. This drift will accomodate most commercial handles.
In the forge
forged blade...two hours later, whew! Thatsa lotsa pounding!
tempering
I took the tomahawk out and tested it against my never-used 5160 RTAK-II and the original Camp Defender 2. I took RC, my fiance's son with me the first time, and was able to visit Sam the second time. Good times.
The entire review, all 3000+ words and 43 pictures is at Shooting Reviews.
I am very interested in both history and manual weapons, and I thought this might be a good chance to test a quality tomahawk in a traditional style against large outdoors knives. I asked messerist if he would be willing to take a few pictures of the process, and he sent me A BUNCH.
Here are some. I'm going to post most as links instead of posting them in-thread, for size reasons.
Drifting the eye to fit handle. This drift will accomodate most commercial handles.
In the forge
forged blade...two hours later, whew! Thatsa lotsa pounding!
tempering
I took the tomahawk out and tested it against my never-used 5160 RTAK-II and the original Camp Defender 2. I took RC, my fiance's son with me the first time, and was able to visit Sam the second time. Good times.
The entire review, all 3000+ words and 43 pictures is at Shooting Reviews.