Securing the head of the tomahawk

A

A.K.

Joined
Feb 2, 2007
Messages
35
Hi all,

Need some advice here: I have some stock tomahawks I picked up from American Tomahawk Company and Cold Steel. Problem is, when I use them for anything other than throwing or form-training (for those in the know, off of Colonel McLemore's system; for those not in the know, don't ask... :) ), the heads slip down the neck. Anyone have any good ideas for how to get the heads to stay on more firmly?

Thanks all.
 
I've had problems with my CS hawks and hammer as well. I just finished this CS Plainsman Hawk.

After making the handle I drove it on with a 3lb drilling hammer then drilled it and inserted a 1/4" roll pin. I've not done alot with it but so far no issues. The head was easy to drill and the roll pin was .41 cents from the local hardware store.


HPIM0856.jpg
 
Thanks! Glad it's not just me. Not to belabour the point, what did you use to drill through the steel of the head?
 
A.K. said:
Thanks! Glad it's not just me. Not to belabour the point, what did you use to drill through the steel of the head?
Click to expand...


I used a standard (reasonably sharp) HSS twist drill in a table top drill press. The same drill in a handdrill will work fine just keep the speed low so as not to overheat the bit. Watch your metal chips if they start to darken your going to fast. The eye of the hawk is not hardened however, it is made from alloy steel which makes it a little tougher than cold roll.


For setting the handle I opened up a vice just far enough to allow the handle to pass and stop at the head. A half a dozen or so stought wacks with the hammer so do the job. This compresses the wood while driving it in. During the dry season the handle shouldn't shrink enough to loosen up. If the handle just fits snug when you pin it the head might loosen up when the wood shrinks.

Loose axe/hawk heads that are fixed (pinned or wedged) can be snugged up by soaking for a few hours in a bucket of water. Oil the head first to avoid rusting.

:)
 
A.K. said:
Anyone have any good ideas for how to get the heads to stay on more firmly?
Click to expand...

Are you fitting the handle to the head? Out of the box, they usually need a little work before they are ready to use. Carefully shaping the handle to match the eye is time well spent, a well-fit head locks onto the handle tightly, they can be very hard to remove. Pinning the head really isn't necessary on this type of handle IMO.

Bors said:
Loose axe/hawk heads that are fixed (pinned or wedged) can be snugged up by soaking for a few hours in a bucket of water. Oil the head first to avoid rusting.
Click to expand...

When the water dries out, the head will loosen up again. Better to soak in linseed oil, it will swell and tighten the handle and won't evaporate.
 
also don't forget to DeBur the eye of the head with a dremmal tool....that alone makes fitting the head to handle easier....
 
I agree that no "pinning" or anything other than a good pressure fitting is required.
More often than not, when the handle does give up on a "pinned" setup, you will get splitting from the head, to the haft. Also, this will not stop the head from loosening up.
You will still have a wobbly head, it will just be fixed.

Check the tacked thread at the top of the forum. A lot of guys, including myself, have written some good ways to secure the head with nothing more than a little time and paitence.


Check the top of pg22.

http://bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=483042&page=22
 
Blue Sky said:
Are you fitting the handle to the head? Out of the box, they usually need a little work before they are ready to use. Carefully shaping the handle to match the eye is time well spent, a well-fit head locks onto the handle tightly, they can be very hard to remove. Pinning the head really isn't necessary on this type of handle IMO.
Click to expand...

Close attention to fitting always helps and yes even with it the head can come loose. Even well fitted handles come loose/break with throwing and hard use. The pin just helps to keep things in place much the same way our ancestors did by wraping the head and handle in rawhide or sinew.

When the water dries out, the head will loosen up again. Better to soak in linseed oil, it will swell and tighten the handle and won't evaporate.
Click to expand...


You can do that, and it will help to water proof the wood as well but, you will still need to apply it from time to time as maintenance.

The rule of thumb with linseed oil is:

Once a day for a week
Once a week for a month
Once a month for a year
Once a year for life.

Soaking the head in water is an old woodcutters trick that dates way way back. The trick is not to soak it to long which can damage the wood.

If you fit and "press" the head on well enough you shouldn't have to worry about it loosing do to srinkage. Adding a pin mearly helps.
 
If you are saying water is a better choice than Linseed oil. I will disagree. Water is field expedient, but not better, not at all.
 
Blue Sky said:
If you are saying water is a better choice than Linseed oil. I will disagree. Water is field expedient, but not better, not at all.
Click to expand...



:confused: Not saying that at all.


For centuries it was a common practice to drop your wood cutting axes in a bucket of water to tighten them up. If you have access to linseed oil then use it if not a few hours in some water will do however, as I said if you compress the handle into the head well enough shrinking won't be an issue.
 
Thanks to all for the expanded info; just to clarify, this is for axes "out of the box", as it were.
 
I have had a problem with this for 20 years as well. I have often thought of using a set screw like the CS Trailhawk in some of my others but have never gotten around to it. This is one of the reasons why I always use a hatchet outdoors instead of a hawk. I will have to look into the sticky someone mentioned.
 
i had this problem as well so i fitted the head to the handle as tightly as possible then bound the neck of the handle tightly with some braided cord .Gives some over strike protection and stops the head starting to come loose which only gets worse
 
i tried the water technique after reading about it on the atc forum

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=322939&highlight=loose

my roger's rangers handle developed a little play in it and i run it under the faucet for a couple of seconds. it fixed it pretty good. i wouldn't recommend soaking your handle in water though as i heard it will dry out and crack your handle.

i just apply linseed oil now and have not had a problem for a long time.
 
When the old boys down here go to fix a loose axe/hatchet head they whack the handle with a hammer then leave the head end standing in a tray with about 1/2" of burnt motor oil. They aren't knife collectors though, they're pulpwooders.
 
i am jsut starting to use hawks but i had the same problem and i tried linseed oil but it wasn't enough to i got some wedges of wood, very thin but strogn and rammed them in and added extra strong hold wood glue in as a safety net and then to make the most difference i put a screw in as close to the head as possibly once i'd knocked the head on tighter so that it prevented it slipping. i put the screw in the the the opposite side of the where the blade is so the screws in at the back.
 
in all honesty...ive only had to use linseed oil on one hawk so far to insure that the head was completely secure. a good rapping with a rubber mallet usually does the trick. recently...ive began to use 2 ton strength epoxy...and those heads are completely secured. Only issue there is its permanent; some people prefer to remove heads to fix or sharpen them :(
 
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