[David R. Glier]

I shouldn't toot my own horn, and I know several of you have already seen some of these, but I FINALLY put together a pair of decent montages of three old projects. They cleaned up quite nicely, if I do say so myself. And I'm rather proud of my improvement in the photography department, too!
Of course, it only took me two years to get around to taking these pictures...
So without *further* adiu, (as if it would matter after two years) The Pictures!


The Tomahawks!

The Broadaxe!

[Alina Boyden]

Cool! I love it when people can make things. That always astounds me.

[Steve Grisetti]

Very well done. A more detailed description of the process would be of interest. Not necessarily of help, though, since I can't really craft my way out of a paper bag, much less actually make something.

[Jesse Zinn]

GO KEYDETS!


Nice job, Master Glier. You're an inspiration!

[David R. Glier]

Yay! Somebody else knows about Keydets!


Steve: It's REALLY simple. I put a lot of thought into how axes work, how they were made way back when, and all the possible ways we have of making them today, and I came to the (possibly incorrect) conclusion that axes are dirt simple, and that laboring over how they were historically constructed for anything more than purposes of authenticity is giving them more effort than they deserve. So, gradually, my thoughts turned from "how can a 16-year old make himself a humongous choppy-thingy," into "how to make an axe without a forge?" (because my forge was a flop.)

So I cut out the blade blank in a small piece of high-carbon and a larger piece of mild, using a porta-band, a hacksaw, a torch -whatever. Bevel the edges and weld them together using a specialty rod for bonding mild with high-carbon (it's a type of stainless, iirc).
I cut a length of black iron pipe larger than the size I want for the helve, and cut out a slender triangular slice to make the taper. Then I weld up the seam in the pipe, and weld the pipe to the blade-blank.
Eight or ten filler passes later (to build up the thickness of the body of the blade/ meld the blade into the helve) and I start grinding. Rough at first, to get it into the basic shape of the blade. Then I'll fill in any holes I've uncovered (there's always a few, I'm not good enough/my tools aren't good enough to be free of all porosity in unconventional work like this), and grind to a finer finish.
I now have an axe head that looks and works like an axe. Heat treatment follows, then polishing.

With a power-hammer and a decent forge, and a half-dozen other tools I'm sure I could probably do things traditionally and finish faster than I do now. Of course, I don't *have* those tools, so I'm left with relatively few choices. 3# Hammer, 90# anvil and blow-dryer powered break-drum coal forge, or welder's tools? I picked welder's tools.
Next time through, I'm using heavier, thicker stock in the blade-blank to save myself some welding. Almost anybody who makes armor can make these.

[Mark Eskra]

can i take the little one to battle next time? Looks like you got it right!

[William Goodwin]

Cool looking stuff there!


(Keydets?....as in VMI?.......about 45 mins. up the road from me)


Cheers,

Bill