Dave,
I never could cut a straight line with a hacksaw, even with the blade turned around backwards. I used an angle grinder, the file side of a farrier's rasp and files, then I re-hardened and tempered the whole thing correctly. I took a fair bit of material off to make it lighter. Can't get ash out here within a 3 hour drive, so I cut down and reshaped an old busted hickory sledge handle for it. If I figured out how much my time cost for it, I coulda probably bought a forged one from someone. But times are tough, I had an old limbing ax laying around that I didn't really need, and stuff like that keeps me outta trouble. I have some scrapped leaf spring off an old mower or wagon. It appears to be either 1080 or 5160, and I think I make take a shot at a punched eye, poled hatchet from it.
Sean
David Scott <davmscot@???> wrote: I have tried to re-create some of the square headed looking hatchets from the MFT by re-working modern hatchet heads. The steel is usually pretty easy to saw with a hacksaw. I then make a straight handle out of ash.
Joel Vecchione wrote: On Tue, 18 Mar 2008, Sean Kyle wrote:
> That 'Axes and Tomahawks' article was from the MFTQ 1979:15(1) 7-11 and
> it notes that among other things:
> ...
> 2) Chouteau and Co and AFC ordered 'cast steel axes' from Miles Standish
> in 1 1/2, 1 3/4, 2, 2 1/2, 3, 4, and 5 lb sizes in 1836 and 1839.
I mostly sit way back from the campfire and just listen, but have a
question. I do not have ready access to the article, and I seem to recall
the term "cast steel" being sometimes used synonymously with "fluid
steel", referring to a homogeneous steel as a material being produced by a
new process, but a) I cannot recall the date it was developed, and b) my
memory could be getting as bad as my knees are. Could the term "cast
steel" in the article have referred to the material from which the axes
were made rather than the process by which they were made?
Respectfully,
Joel Vecchione
_______________________________________________
Hist_text mailing list
Hist_text@???
http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hist_text
---------------------------------
Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
_______________________________________________
Hist_text mailing list
Hist_text@???
http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hist_text
---------------------------------
Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
