Forging an AWESOME Japanese Hatchet! 

I love it! ... hatchet - ish, sort of thing...

Hey, I'm a Grizzly guy also! My first Grizzly tool was my 12X36 metal lathe... 30 years ago. Still using it and it's still going strong.

That Nata looked sick! Seriously, epic work, Walter. And with good life advice too. Nice one!

This is a great example of how local conditions influence tool design.

Nicely done, Walter. I don’t have all your equipment, but I realize a lot of this can be done with only a hammer, tongs, and a barbecue drill- plus a lot of patience and skill.

Cool freaking blade man! By the way, I just got a Grizzly sander grinder for both wood and metal work and I just love it! So far it's the best grinder I've ever had...for somebody with limited funds and a very small shop that is.

I'm going to try my hand at one of these today! Haven't forged anything in so long, hopefully I can complete it within the week.

am i the only one who noticed that the blade was banana-ed pre quench and it was all dandy once it was tempered

I am impressed by your ability to intuit the bend ratio between the two steels at quench time!

Is it weird that I want to buy that? It looks like a beautiful functional camping tool. Also a cool campfire conversation piece.

Thanks Walter!

Beautiful work as always!

Beautiful work.

I read the title machete multiple times and never noticed it was hatchet until you said.... I think i will one of these i really like it👍👍

Good job. Enjoyed the class. Take care and God bless.

well i use an electric chisel to make my groves in hidden tangs, however before or after I have grooved one half of the handle i clamp the piece of wood to the tang affix it with masking tape that has been tightly wrapped a few times around the tang to hold blad and tang together, remove the clamp locate my hole with a piece of steel to poke it out then drill my hole on one side go and make the second half then glue up. once its dry i simply pull the tang out and drill the hole. keep up the good work Mr. Sorrells (your one of my teachers and its only good manners to call you by your last name and MR.)... i just realized you can simply clamp it and then use a center punch to mark where the hole is and save your masking tape for grinding.

Looks like a lawnmower blade with a handle. I like it!

Zip, zero, NATA. Looks quite similar to a bamboo splitting knife. Also, looks like a decent blade for battoning kindling for camp fires. Thanks for the share.

I love Japanese woodworking tools. I'm glad to see more of us westerners using them. I think "work smarter not harder" when I seen them.

Beautiful work sir! I want one...

What a sweet piece! Nicely executed

Always look forward to your videos... always learn a lot.

Neat idea I am goin to give it a try

Thank you for teaching me something knew. Never going to make a blade but I'm keeping it sharp. ✌️🦁

my hammer-head friend made a "sax' that looks like your nata, except the end slants backward. He made it out what he called the country blacksmith's favorite steel-OTS. OTS stands for Old Truck Spring.

Very nice...great video

Your still the best teacher around Sir !!!

Nice one Walter, you inspired me to make one already.

Would love to see you make some Japanese scissors.

Nice work!

After you did the quench it looked like the blank had a bit of a warp to it.

Looks like that press could use some stability lol Great looking blade I love how the Japanese conserve materials

Looks like a froe . Nicely done .

When you were boring out the brass stock it looked as though that the Chuck was turning as well as the boring tool was cutting on the opposite side. If so I used to do this when I would get some chatter and cutting that way would take up some play in your Chuck and bearings.Thank You Jake Bissel.

Love it!

Youre awesone Walter!!

Itd be cool to see you chop stuff with the things you make

Wait.... is there a glitch in the matrix? Walter is not wearing his patented light colored shirt.... This may not be the real Walter Sorrells???? Hmmmm, very suspicious...

fresh is good, that is why I watch you.

I would like to see Walter's take on a splitting froe with a straight handle.

Would it have been practical to make the ferrule first, then when the handle was still square chuck it into a wood lathe and turn the ferrule seat?

Quick question: does it matter which side the bevel is on? Thinking left handed or right handed use.

LOVELY!

Can you do a video on how to straighten a slight radial twist? I try not to grind my blank flat after forging. Looking to maintain a forged look.

Hey Walter, what would you think about doing test videos of your knives after you make them?

I made one of these a year ago but having a big problem with that one sided bevel. it bended due hardening rehardend it and freaked me out so i decided to make it western style with both sided bevel grind. But the cutting edge you may ask, no problem wih that its a 1000 layer damascus pretty sharp and still in use .

Way to go Walter. I’d like one.

awesome hatchet

Very nice! Also, the Grizzly sponsorship sounds like a great move :)

I really love the way you do to the blade 5:25 too awesome... 😍😍😍 wanna have one like those.. try using "sonokeling" wood for the handle..

I love it

The blade was pretty warped out of the quench but seemed to be straighter when assembling. Did it straighten during heat treat, was it ground flat or something else?

1086m? Nice! Was it from some of Howard Clark's stash? 😉 Also, just wondering since I didn't notice it in the vid, but did you bother trying to take the warp out? I know that these ni-mai blades are notorious for warping since the high carbon expands when it forms martensite and the mild doesn't convert, but doesn't the mild steel also lend it for being "easier" to straighten (as opposed to mono-steel blades) after heat treating? Great vid, thanks for sharing!

When you drilled for your pins did you drill the tang and the handles together? I’ve noticed that the steel sometimes makes the drill bit walk in the handle. I end up drilling them all separate, but it makes them hard to line up.

Why do we see such a huge curve in the blade when quenching? Did you correct it off camera?

I'll have to make one of these! Would leaf spring be a good metal to make one out of? Thanks for the video! I enjoy watching your videos! They make me want to go out and MAKE SOMETHING!!

So Lemme get this straight. Its Nata hatchet?

Ryuugu Rena approves of this! 'Haaauuuuuu! Omochikaeri!' - Ryuugu Rena

I don't sand rosewood anymore. Did it once and it gave me a rash for a day or two and a bit of laboured breathing for the better part of a fortnight. P.S.: Good call on the gloves for doing the epoxy.

Nice project! I may have to do one but out of a leaf spring, because... I have plenty of leaf spring right now. Cocobolo, yeah I love the looks of it. But if I don't wear a respirator when working it, I have something akin to an allergy attack. Nasty sneezing, runny nose and watery eyes to the point that I have to stop.

How about a Nata chopping demo.. great video as always.

Love the "Glock Store" tee shirt!!

Nice job man, I kinda want to buy it off you

I"m afraid that its handle is not strong enough. Tang length is not too short but blass pin is not thick enough, two-pieces wooden handle is too thin at upper(Mine) side, so I think these points will cause handle cracking with hard chopping. Traditional handle of Nata is made by one-piece wood that is grooved to tighten a tang from both sides, and fullule(口金) is fit to tighten a tang more solidly, and burnt nail is used to fix tang and handle and its penetrated point is bent to prevent loosening.

Awesome, where I can buy one 😀

now that you got that grizzly lathe, maybe you can start chambering your own barrels for long guns and ARs

Thanks Walter. I always enjoy your inspiring videos.

Such a great looking piece! I appreciate your videos keep up the great work.

Ah! Favorite street fighting tool of Taiwanese gangster from older generations!

Mr.Sorrells,I am willing to bet that You would forge an incredible Omi No Yari or Yari Sword.

Love that dime joke.

Question: Would large old file be a suitable starting point for a chopping tool like this? Material-wise it should be a 1086ish steel, but would the material cause problems due to its hardness? How would I have to alter the tempering times/temperatures to make a solid piece of high-carbon steel usable for chopping tools?

Shows Messer; This is a knife. Shows Machete; This is both a knife and a sword. Shows this video; This is a Hatchet.

What press is that sir?

Is there a right handed and left handed style Nata... or have I been fibbed to by a know it all

looks really similar to the Hukari, guess people with similar problems come up with similar solutions

Why not use wood glue when initially joining the handle?

Aaaaah we gotta see a couple swings from this thing man! Pictures are not enough 😅

I noticed the blade itself had a bit of a sideways curve. Is this meant to help it chop better?

17:09 - STORY OF MY LIFE!!!

I didn't catch it... Did he establish the bevel on the mild steel side or the carbon steel side. Can't seem to get it straight in my head. I'm guessing it only works on the mild steel side else you would be grinding away all the hard material but dun got myself confused!!

So it’s a axehete?

I love the glock store t shirt

Make a naginata next

Very nice! My compliments!!! Only a slight minus: it's called naTa, as you wrote it correctly, not naDa, as you pronounce it. A T is a T and not a D.

Where do you buy your steel? What's a recomend US dealer?

it is thicker than i thought it was

Is the blade curved?

I have a chunk of wood so hard and oily/waxy that it will barely cut on a band saw it makes an incredible amount of smoke. Smells nice though.

Is it a mahachet, or a hachete? No matter, it’s awesome.

Pretty sure I just convinced my ole lady to name the next baby walter

In a lot of your videos, you're hammering out the bevel. In this one, you said you could grind it out? Is it true, could you potentially just use a belt sander to grind out the bevel everyone with every blade, and not have to hammer it out?

I Want A FULLTANG JAPANESE HATCHET

A hatchete, as it were.

Walter: Uses appendix level 2 wood in handle construction. Me: really bro. You gonna do that shit?

Clearly machete is the more likely term

He never fixed the warp in the blade

Come on man you couldn’t chop some stuff for us?

More like a Japanese Machete...Hatchet?

i can understand why you used epoxy. but epoxy is only good to glue the metal to the wood. to glue wood to wood, wood glue is pretty good. there are enough articles about that available.