Matched pair of 18" Wreckers

These were commissioned by a fellow for himself and his buddy.  Everyone needs a friend like that.  :)

Unless this is a dueling set.  Hmmmm...      

18" Wrecker models, in black, unsharpened inner beards.  

And the Kydex to go with them.  Double-adjustable, quick-detach shoulder slings for carry.

I feel like I need something like this on a T-shirt.  :D

Handful of tomahawks

This is part of the previous batch that went out to customers.

The 12" Wrecker with sharpened inner beard in olive drab has been popular so far, but some of the future batches will lean more on some of the other options.

 

18" desert Wrecker, sharpened inner beard, bare sheath.

 

 

18" Woodsman with sharpened inner beard.  Black with olive drab Micarta, double retention straps on the sheath.

 

 

And a naked 18" War Chief with sharpened inner beard, in black.  Naked, you ask?  Ain't got no pants!  :D

Avast! Wrecker "boarding 'hawk"

This one was ordered up by a fellow in the Australian Navy who is about to go on pirate patrol off the African coast.  He's thinking of it as a "boarding ax", which I've often read was the precursor to spiked tomahawks.

These aren't my best photos, but it's a 12" Wrecker (pry spike) model with sharpened inner beard, in olive drab.

Kydex sheath with quick-detachable double-adjustable shoulder sling and IWB bands.

 

 

Hope it serves him well!

SEAL's Wrecker 'hawk rig

This is the one that actually started me on the path to making full tang tomahawks.  I'd been working on forged prototypes with nylon handles for a while, but still had questions in my mind, particularly about the handles.  Then the SEAL who has become my best customer asked about me making him a full-tang 'hawk, and it solved the issues I was having but meant that I'd need to do a major shift in my approach and work out the logistics for building it.

He asked about it late last winter, and I finally got his 'hawk to him in December.  Part of that wait was making sure I had it right, part of it was having one that would match his order being bought off my table at the Blade Show in June, part of it was waiting until I could have a sheath with it, and part of it was his work keeping him busy and away from e-mail.

But, I just heard back from him and he is happy with his tomahawk.  So, here it is.  :)

12" Wrecker (pry spike) model in olive drab with sharpened inner beard.  His was the first sheath I made for them, before I got the tooling together for the other two models.  He got it with the shoulder sling and IWB bands.

This shows the 'hawk better, but is taken before I moved the IWB bands to their final position.

Here's me using it to demonstrate the shoulder carry.  Note that there's a lot of adjustment to pull it up tighter, and that I moved the IWB bands from being on the corners to the inside of the shoulder sling later on.

 

Not one to sit still on his time off, he told me he's been wearing it by the shoulder sling on a few hikes and barely notices it's there.

He also sent me a picture of a display case that his future brother-in-law made for him for some (not all) of the blades he's gotten from me.  I joke with him about charging into battle wearing a kilt made of my blades.  :D

Marine's Woodsman 'hawk

It took a while to get there, but the Marine stationed in Okinawa who ordered it finally got in the Woodsman 'hawk I shipped before Christmas.  :)

12", desert, sharpened inner beard.  1/4" 4140 steel, canvas Micarta, and flared stainless steel tube rivets.

He also got a bare Kydex sheath with it.

Here's hoping it serves him well!

Woodsman 'hawk with sheath

This is the first piece of mine to make it up to Alaska.  12" Woodsman (hammer poll) model, unsharpened inner beard, black Durabake and natural tan canvas Micarta.  1/4" 4140 steel, flared stainless steel tube rivets.

The customer ordered a sheath with the shoulder sling, double adjustable and quick-detachable.

Wrecker 'hawk with bare sheath

This one went out to the customer a few days ago.  18" Wrecker model with pry spike, sharpened inner beard, black Durabake and Micarta.  1/4" 4140 steel.

He plans to have a buddy build a leather sheath for it, but went ahead and got a Kydex one without carry options for the meantime.

War Chief tactical tomahawk with sheath-making video

I had a customer who lives nearby come to the shop today and watch as his tomahawk's sheath was made.  He ordered a 12" War Chief (combat spike) in black, with a sheath.  He also brought tasty breakfast tacos!  :)

 

 1/4" 4140 steel, canvas Micarta handles, flared stainless tube rivets.

The sheath is Kydex, bottom-eject, ambidextrous, MOLLE-compatible, jump-ready with multiple carry options.

He chose to add a quick-detach double adjustable shoulder strap and IWB bands.

 

And here's how I built the sheath.  I had templates waterjet cut to build the Kydex molding forms, lay out holes and slots, and trim the overall outline.  Still takes time, but the results are consistent and work well.  I'll do another video in the future showing the sheath's various carry options.



 

 

Four more 'hawks waiting on sheaths and sharpening, then on to the next batch!

More work on trainers

Got further progress on the trainers today.  I started by lining up the pattern with a blank, C-clamping it, then drilling the holes.

Then I swapped for a countersink, set the depth stop on the drill press, and countersunk the holes, both sides.

After that, off to the router table.  This is the same 45 degree bevel bit I use on the handle slabs on the real tomahawks, and the thickness of the ABS is the same as the handle (tang and slabs together) on the finished 'hawks.

 It gets rather messy.  I usually use a shop vac to try to control the mess, but opted out for the pictures.

After the first side, I decided to go ahead and use the vacuum.

And there you go, one 18" hammer poll training tomahawk with padding anchor holes.

Get a shave and lose some weight, man!  :D

Shop update

We're setting record temperatures for August in south Texas right now (day after day above 100), which makes putting in a good working day in the shop somewhat challenging.  However, I'm trying to make progress on getting forged inventory ready for the Denver Custom Knife Show, as well as upgrading equipment to be able to more efficiently build tomahawks and the upcoming stock removal knives.

So here are a few pictures of what's going on.

First off we have my buddy Luke Swenson (www.swensonknives.com) helping me wire up a digital controller to a kiln that I will be using for the normalizing and hardening portion of the tomahawk heat treatment process.  By "helping me", I mean that I stand by and hand him things, as all I know about electricity is that you shouldn't touch it.  :)

This isn't quite completed yet, but once we have everything sorted out I'll be ready to roll on building tomahawks.  They will be suspended inside through this slit I cut in the lid as they heat up, which should minimize the amount of singed nostril hairs and allow me to more easily control the temperature of the 'hawks.

They'll be quenched in the commercial quench oil in the black barrel.  After cleanup, they'll be tempered in the kiln on the left, which is also used to cure the Durabake finish.

Also, I got a batch of trainers waterjetted.  These are made from 3/4" ABS, and should be very tough.  I'll be doing some demonstration videos with them after they're completed.  They are the same thickness as the handles of the real tomahawks and will be beveled the same way.  The heads are the same pattern as the hammer poll, with more rounded corners and with anchoring holes to allow for padding to be easily added when sparring with a partner.

The entire first batch of these had to be scrapped due to the waterjet spray deflecting for some reason when cutting the holes.  The spray cut through the side of the holes, sometimes completely through one side.  These were cut without holes.  In the lower left you can see a pattern that I had cut from 1/4" mild steel that I will use when drilling the holes with my drill press.

I added three additional holes to the head of the trainer from my original batch to allow for padding to be anchored all the way around the head for safety when practicing blocking and hooking techniques.

Here's a couple of the original trainers that I went ahead and finished out to be able to show folks at the Blade Show what I would have available.  These will not be for sale as it is also compromised by the deflected waterjet spray, just less so than some of the others.  As you can see, they are the same lengths as the available tomahawks.  They are only made in hammer poll form as adding a spike would be too dangerous on a trainer; even a rounded one could easily penetrate a temple or an eye.  The hammer polls are still long enough to train with hooking and limb deflection techniques that you might use with a spike 'hawk.

I also had some 'hawk blanks cut from the 1/4" mild steel to make blockers with, so that Kydex sheaths can be built around them.  I hope to have those available soon.