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.

Temper, temper

Nine ground and hardened tomahawks hanging in the kiln, ready to temper.  They've gone through the tempering cycle now; this picture was taken before.

 

Done with one batch, on to the next!

This batch has all been finished up and are on their way to their respective customers.  Here's a brief glance as they were waiting for sheaths to be built:

I'll post the finished pics in their own posts.  I don't plan to document all the batches of 'hawks like I did this one, but I wanted to show some of the steps along the way.

Now on to the next batch!

This is a big one as there are two double orders and one of the long Wreckers is going to be a demonstration model for myself.  About half of the grinding is already done.  This pic shows them all post-normalizing.