Forging an Improved Rasp Tomahawk - Mouse Hawk 

Thank you!

+BackyardBowyer make a tanto

+BackyardBowyer or a Bowie knife from a ferriers rasp

Yes some tongs would be a great idea for a video.

Great Idea!

That's I first discovered ur chanel

Thank you!

+Jimbo's Welding Shop Aka: The humble welder Thank you for the kind words!

Good stuff mate, I'm about to give it ago aswell

Thanks for the tips, I appreciate it! I've had my eye on the tomahawk mandrels at blacksmithdepot.com. Do you know if those are any good? Good to know about 1018, I've been wanting to try some hawks and belt axes using mild steel and a high carbon bit but haven't started yet. On a related note, I once did a project that used pieces of A36 mild steel and I etched them in ferric with the idea of giving them that dark matte look. What I ended up getting was like a low layer count damascus with what looked like stainless steel nuts or washers mixed in. I would think that like files knives, rasp hawks are a more modern invention. They may have been made from time to time, but files and rasps were precious things that were often re-worked and re-hardened until nothing was left. I wouldn't be surprised if some old hawks had a rasp or file bit, but I doubt they would use a rasp for the body of the hawk. That said, it's just a guess and it would be cool if somebody has more info on the subject. Thanks for watching!

That's the same mandrel I use. They tell you not to use it to drift with, but I've done a few though I used punches to get close and the mandrel to drift the last little bit, but drifting is hard on them, I wound up getting a spare a while back as well. They come kinda rough, but you can either sand smooth or just use it and it'll slick up. I've done some with A36 with no issue, but the last time I used it I'd put about 3 hours into the piece and found the poor welds. After that I figured it was cheaper and safer to go with 1018 and haven't had an issue since. From what I understand talking with foundry workers, sometimes an electric motor gets mixed in and copper contaminates the melt, plus titanium and aluminum and God know's what else gets mixed in. You might get a truck load of steel that welds great, and you might get a load that doesn't want to, it's a crap shoot, and not worth the aggravation and time and labor for me to find out if it's good or not. I did find one account of a knife factory in the 1880's that was set up next to a large machine and foundry, the knife factory bought all there used files and made knives from them. But this is in the era of machine made files and the industrial revolution. I'd love to find more examples of historical rasp hawks, but haven't seen much. One issue is prior to the industrial revolution even decent wrought iron was a rarity in most areas. Iron and steel were repurposed and used up, one of the apprentice's jobs was to weld up all the little bits of left over iron at the end of the day.

They made their own flux by mixing the forging scale with potash and silversand ( dont know the exact name so i litteraly translated it from dutch but is almost pure silicondioxide) in a certain ratio wich i also dont exactely know but that should be on the internet. By the way how are you gonna call your novel ? I would like to read it when its finished.

It will be called Elarn, which means "The World" in the language of its iteration of the elves.

NeoDragonCount cool ! When do you think it Will be finished ?

Great question. I asked the same question at a local historic smithy, I didn't really get an answer, he said they use borax.

+Adventures in Forging Thanks for the suggestion!