Making a Tomahawk

Some folks will forge these out of a block of steel . I prefer a quicker and cheaper method. To make my hatchet or tomahawk, I draw out a paper shape then transform it to a flat sheet of thick steel. I then cut out the shape in the metal. I use 1055 for the body, but weld in some 1095 for a hardened bit insert. The 1055 is good for absorbing the shock of impacts while chopping with the tool, while the harder carbon steel holds a sharp edge longer.

Drawing a pattern

I flip the pattern over and trace the opposite side to join the first one.

Drawing the entire blade

After cutting the pattern out of the sheet steel, it gets folded over in the forge.

Folding the blade

The blade pattern is wrapped around a mandrel. The edge is left open.

A 1095 insert is fitted in between the two sides of the tomahawk body.

A 1095 insert is fitted

The inside of the weld area is cleaned and degreased before it gets forge welded into one solid piece.

Insert ready to be welded

Forge welded tomahawk head.

After the weld, I check it carefully to make sure there’s no cold shuts. A cold shut is where the weld didn’t stick, and there’s a visible line in the blade. This will cause a weakness in the blade that will come apart with use.

Heat treating the head

Once the final shape is ground out and rough filed, it gets heat treated in the furnace up until the steel is non magnetic. This can be as high as 1,500*F or more. It may not be necessary at this point, but I generally thermocycle the head a few times in the furnace. What this consists of is letting the head “soak” in the heat, then slowly lower the temperature a couple hundred degrees. Then it gets ramped up to operating temperature again to soak, then lowered again. Several times of doing this actually shrinks the grains of the steel into a smaller, tighter lattice. Thermocycling before drawing back the temper makes the blade tougher and it holds up to the shock of impact while chopping.

Drawing back the temper

Once the cycling is finished, the head is quenched in Marquench oil and hardened. In this harder state, the metal is brittle and prone to cracking. So I draw back the temper to give the steel some resilience. This is done by heating the steel to a much lower temperature, then shutting off the heat and letting it cool to room temperature.

Two sizes of tomahawk heads

Once the head is ready, I shape the handle out of ash wood. I sand it slightly to remove splinters and whiskers, then spiral tape up the length. Nitric acid with iron shavings dissolved in it is then brushed onto areas where the tape doesn’t cover the wood.

Striping the wood

Staining the handle

A heat gun blackens the acid and once it’s dry, I apply a nice stain.

Rawhide finished handle

Wet rawhide is secured to the lower part of the handle, and allowed to dry. The rawhide shrinks considerably after drying making it very tight. Brown leather dye is applied and the tomahawk project is finished. The rawhide wrapping makes for a fairly good grip when using the ‘Hawk for splitting camp wood. If the tomahawk is to be used for throwing and target practice, leave off the wrap so the handle can slide out of your hand. This slipping imparts a spin to the blade as you throw it, making it more likely to strike the target edge first.