Valkyrie Tomahawks. Build process and some testing.

BenR.T.

Tanto grinder & High performance blade peddler
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Apr 18, 2011
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So I have been building and designing tomahawks of one kind or another since pretty much the beginning. RMJ Tactical tomahawks were one of my first introductions online to high end cutlery and eventually building custom knives. So the fact that I am now offering high performance tomahawks that you can trust when the chips are stacked against you, is kind of a full circle thing for me. I was even fortunate enough to have Ryan give me input in the design process of my most recent design. The "Valkyrie". This is a model I have been building for over year now, but I figured some of you may be interested to see how I build them.

Some of my customers are weekend warriors, and some are trusting these tools with their lives. Either way, it is a tool can count on, no matter what.

Here are some pics of the process. Not all of these are new pics, but I compiled them to show most of the steps I go through in building a high performance hawk.

I had the hawks waterjet cut from a very large sheet of 4140, but they still need quite a bit of work to clean them up. Here I am cleaning the top profile on one of them.

[video=youtube;sEGwJG9Bhdg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEGwJG9Bhdg[/video]

Next I go through and drill all the holes to their final dimensions.



I made a simple little template to mark where I will hard stamp the blades. I use a 12 ton press that I built for the job.



And the results



The axes had quite a warp to them for some reason, so I straightened them out prior to grinding. Here is one on my granite surface plate, nice and flat now.



Here I am scribing the lines that I will grind to.

 
Here I have ground the first bevel.



The compound grind on the spike. I wanted a beefy point that would still penetrate very well.



All ground and ready for HT.



I have a large vertical kiln over at my Dad's place I use for my bigger hawks. Here it is coming up to temp, it takes about 2 hrs to reach 1550.



Opening a vertical kiln is WAY hotter than a horizontal, I need to upgrade my gloves.

[video=youtube;RgOU0V2BzF4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgOU0V2BzF4[/video]

After hardening, they get a full temper. I then blast them and then spring temper the tang for extra toughness. This extra step ensures the tough body and tang as well harder edges and spike. The axes can warp a bit during quench, so I straighten them at the same time. This one is nice and flat again.



Next up finishing!!
 
On my handles, they get attached with Industrial grade adhesive to seal out moisture and also flared tubes for a permanent solid handle.
Here I am flaring the stainless tubes for a rock solid handle.

 
Finally got Photobucket to cooperate. Here is the most recent batch. Just posted these in the exchange. :D





 
Great WIP. I love the long scales as well as the flared tubes. May I ask if the additional holes offer an advantage or are they just meant to be aesthetically pleasing?
 
Great WIP. I love the long scales as well as the flared tubes. May I ask if the additional holes offer an advantage or are they just meant to be aesthetically pleasing?

Thanks. Are you referring to the 4 handle tubes? Or the lightening holes under the scales?
 
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