Well, you could use it on rope tobacco...

[Alan L]

18th century style spike axe or scalping axe. Mild steel head with high carbon steel edge, all hand forged, with fancy curly maple handle. About the size of a long-handled roofing hammer.





No pipes lately, but the year's not over yet.

[Alden]

Just beautiful ! Thats some of the tightest curl I've seen on maple, excellent stuff.
How do you bind the carbon steel, is it welded in before forging ?

[scotties22]

Amazing....I have one exactly like that that I use for cutting up chickens.....not really, but it'd sure do the job.

Beautiful. And I'm sure she cuts great.

[Alan L]

Just beautiful ! Thats some of the tightest curl I've seen on maple, excellent stuff.
How do you bind the carbon steel, is it welded in before forging ?

Thanks!

The maple is part of a big slab I got years ago. It's much cheaper if you get it as a big hunk of tree, it's the letting it dry thing that takes time.

As for the steel, I forged most of the head out of a piece of 3/8 x 1" structural steel, forge-welding the spike end, then I forged a little wedge of the high carbon stuff to fit in the other end, forge-welded that in place, and finished forgeing to shape. There's an interlude involving angle grinders and belt sanders before using a file, but it ends up in the same place.

This all reminds me, I really need to get another half-pound of black rope...

[billiard]

That's awesome, well done.

[KurtHuhn]

Sweet!

My funky bearded pipe hawk finally got a final edge - trimmed my beard with it one day just because. I like to pull it out when company comes over and smoke some nasty plug - cut with one side, smoke on the other!

[AlfaDog]

Did you Suigi the wood to bring out the grain? It pops.

[Alan L]

Did you Suigi the wood to bring out the grain? It pops.

Dunno what "suigi" means...

I use aquafortis, aka ferric nitrate. Nitric acid diluted x4 with distilled water, then dissolve iron filings/steel wool in it until it can't take any more. Apply, dry it off immediately with a propane torch. It's a reagent reaction with the lignins in the wood, plus it's the traditional way to stain curly maple since at least the 1750s.

Doesn't work well on briar, unfortunately. Too much tannin, it just turns black.