# New handle for my Tomahawk



## Flying Crane (Jan 14, 2012)

Hi everyone, I just wanted to share my latest project that I recently completed.  I had purchased a tomahawk online from a blacksmith who smiths them out of ball peen hammers.  The head of the hawk is really nice, and he had fitted a beautiful handle made of curly maple.  I loved the handle.  The problem was, it tapered down a bit too much and wasn't quite comfortable in my grip.

So I took it upon myself to make a new handle.  I got a bit of hickory, cut out a blank and shaped it down on a belt sander.  It was a bit of work but not too onerous, and I kinda liked the challenge of making something new that I'd never done before.  it turned out really nice, comfortable in my grip and a very tight fit in the hawk head.  I gave the handle a light burn with a torch, re-sanded again, and then finished it with linseed oil.  It's not as pretty as the curly maple, but it's still attractive, and is more appropriate for solid use and durability.

I was gonna post some pictures, but the battery pack in my camera died.  I'll try and add some later.

anyway, it was a fun and interesting project, and I thought i'd share with you all.


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## Flying Crane (Jan 14, 2012)

See if this works, pictures...

OK, this is not working.

can someone give me some guidance on adding pictures?  I've got a Macbook Pro, with IPhoto.  I hit the "insert image" icon here, dragged a pic from Iphoto into it, and it's only listing the photo address, not actually posting the image.  Any help?


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## lklawson (Jan 17, 2012)

Try posting the pic on a hosting sight such as flickr, picassa, or photobucket.  Then link to the pic with an image tag.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk


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## Flying Crane (Jan 17, 2012)

lklawson said:


> Try posting the pic on a hosting sight such as flickr, picassa, or photobucket. Then link to the pic with an image tag.
> 
> Peace favor your sword,
> Kirk



yeah, that's the word I've gotten.  I don't have a paid membership at the moment and that's limiting what I can do.
might need to change that...


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## lklawson (Jan 17, 2012)

I've never used photobucket so I don't know about them, but neither picassa nor flickr require paid services.  However, both limit the total space available to you.  I think picassa sets it at 1Gb.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk


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## Flying Crane (Jan 17, 2012)

lklawson said:


> I've never used photobucket so I don't know about them, but neither picassa nor flickr require paid services. However, both limit the total space available to you. I think picassa sets it at 1Gb.
> 
> Peace favor your sword,
> Kirk



Ah, I meant paid membership here on MT.  If I pay up, I think I can post photos.


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## MaxiMe (Jan 17, 2012)

lklawson said:


> I've never used photobucket so I don't know about them, but neither picassa nor flickr require paid services. However, both limit the total space available to you. I think picassa sets it at 1Gb.
> 
> Peace favor your sword,
> Kirk



FYI Photobucket is the same.


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## jks9199 (Jan 17, 2012)

Flying Crane said:


> Ah, I meant paid membership here on MT.  If I pay up, I think I can post photos.



Yep.  Along with some more perks, too...  Supporting Memberships.  It's less than $2 a month...  and the more folks that pay, the more Bob can give us.


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## Flying Crane (Jan 17, 2012)

OK, I paid up my membership, lemme see if I can get some pics here...


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## Flying Crane (Jan 17, 2012)

Yay, it worked!

I went back to the maker's website where i bought it, and discovered that he had been making these from different size ball peen hammers, and I got one of the bigger ones without even realizing it.  Mine was made from a 32 oz. hammer, and most of the others he made were from 24 oz hammers.  Truth be told, I could probably put a longer shaft on this one and it would be big and heavy enough to be a serious battle axe, while the 24 oz might make for a better, quicker, tomahawk.

Unfortunately, I don't think the guy is making anything right now, I believe he had some health issues.  His store on Etsy.com is empty, and I had tried to communicate with him a couple times and he never replied.  Before that, I think he mentioned some health issues.  Hope he's OK, he made some interesting things.


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## jks9199 (Jan 17, 2012)

Nice handle... and thanks for supporting the site!


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## Flying Crane (Jan 17, 2012)

jks9199 said:


> Nice handle... and thanks for supporting the site!



word.


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## Blindside (Jan 17, 2012)

Hey, you look good in red! 

If you are looking for a good tomahawk maker, try H&B Forge, great quality, great prices, though admittedly not the prettiest things in the world.
http://www.hbforge.com/products/tomahawks.php


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## Flying Crane (Jan 17, 2012)

Thanks, they've actually got some nice looking stuff, and the price is very very reasonable.  My hawk was quite a bit more expensive, but it was made by a guy who I believe works by himself and doesn't have a big shop.  Mom-and-Pop craftsman.  I support that kind of thing when I can, but sometimes there's a good deal to be found in a bigger outfit as well.


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## Blindside (Jan 17, 2012)

Actually H&B is is a small family business as well, I seem to remember that there is only one guy acting as their blacksmith, though that info could be out of date.


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## Flying Crane (Jan 17, 2012)

Blindside said:


> Actually H&B is is a small family business as well, I seem to remember that there is only one guy acting as their blacksmith, though that info could be out of date.



oh, wow.  Well, their prices are quite nice.  I couldn't find any solid info on the website on the type of steel that they use.  That would be good info.


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## Blindside (Jan 17, 2012)

A quick search found a mention on BladeForums that they use 1095 for the blade with a softer steel for the handlewrap.  

This is my Shawnee, been a great camp axe for 8 years or so now.  The sinew wrap is mine, the lack of humidity in Wyoming caused the head to loosen, so I wrapped it just in case.


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## Flying Crane (Jan 18, 2012)

nice.  I appreciate the info and the link.  Always good to get a tab on the sources of the goods.


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## lklawson (Jan 18, 2012)

The burn looks good.  It's subtle and gives the (otherwise boring hickory) wood a nice color.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk


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## Samurai (Apr 25, 2013)

I know this thread is over a year old, but I just found it.
I love working with the tomahawk.  Such a practical weapon with many traditional and modern applications.
They are fun to 'smith out of railroad spikes, hammers, and other metals.

I would also put in a plug here.  I make a plastic training tomahawk.  It is stiff plastic much like your hard plastic training knives I would imagine you have in your dojo, dojang, kwoon, etc (think Sharkey).  Check them out at http://www.WoodlandArchery.com  I have had mine for over 8 years and train with it about once a week.
Thanks
Jeremy Bays


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## Flying Crane (Apr 25, 2013)

I did pick up a matching pair of tomohawks.  Since I've got some legitimate training with the CHinese butteryfly swords, I've found that the hawks actually can translate quite nicely into the butterfly sword techniques and material.  So I work with both of them.

In fact, I had asked my sifu (oldschool, he trained as a teenager in Hong Kong in the 1950s) if he had learned double axes in his training.  He said no, but suggested that the Butterfly Swords could make a good translation into the axes.


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## harlan (Apr 25, 2013)

Missed the thread the first time around...thanks for the bump. 

We don't really work bladed weapons in our kobudo, so it's big hole in our training. Probably something most people wouldn't miss, but having manually chopped down trees for pay, and done my share of chopping wood, it feels like a big piece of training that I'm missing. But to explore it is to move out to FMA, CMA, etc. and I'm not certain how to integrate a single weapons study into my Oki kobudo.


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