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Mark on Tarting Up Old ‘Hawks, Edgin’ Right, & a Wee Vacay

 


[First a Personal Note]

Me and the Missus are going to take a celebratory 9 days off [3rd thru 11th] in honor of our Anniversary and clean scans for the year.

RAW 216/Black Box 3 will be released on time [tomorrow] and all orders thru Friday will go out the door asap.

Any order and/or query during the gone time, well, your patience is much appreciated.

‘Old Hawks

Pictured are two recently acquired ‘Hawks/Camp Axes, Woodpile Hatchets [all the same thing.]

The handles and eyes are sound, but you can see the axe-heads show wear and neglect.

BTW-See here for a little primer on how to choose a ‘Hawk.

These two are short-handled [Eastern-use] axes with 1.5 lbs. heads.

1.5 does not sound like much but once we put them through their vicious paces the centrifugal forces will play hell with the unaccustomed wrist, elbow, and shoulder. [Hell, even waist if you’re doing it right and with gusto.]

I use a 16-pounder for “Pirate Eights” to warm-up the system and make these Eastern-Heads hum. [Don’t worry, RAWarriors, Pirate Eights are coming up in a RAW/Black Box Volume. Skip your kettlebell, go weapon functional.]

A Word On Preparing Old ‘Hawks for Use

I buy them to beat, to use, to punish wood, posts, ground, and targets. [BTW-You’ll notice I did say ground. You will “dig dirt” in old frontier style use. And yes, it’ll be on future volumes of RAW/Black Box Project.]

With that in mind, very little is required to prep the old girls.

Courting an Old Girl Checklist

·         Make sure the handle is solid. If it has a single split or crack in it, skip it.

·         Check the eye for tightness. A wee bit of wiggle is legal, you can take it home and shim it tight in 3-minutes.

·         Don’t sweat the rusted old head, you can work with that.

Once she’s home, let’s put an edge on her. Keep in mind we don’t need a knife edge, we are using a tomahawk with the power of weight, centrifugal force, and the wedge.

To “Sharpen Old Hawks”

·         If she’s in seriously bad shape, you can lay her on a grinder, I myself, never pick up one that needs grinding.

·         Grab your whetstone and start “saving the whiskers off the stone” 6 times on one side, then 6 times on the other.

·         Then 5 times on one side, then 5 on the other.

·         On down to 1 and 1.

·         Now hit finishing strokes—Shave the stone 3 more times in an alternating fashion—Shave right, shave left, x’s 3.

·         Then, if you have a leather-strop, wipe that blade, poll-leading, 5 or 6 times per side.

A Note on the Angle of Stone Shaving

·         We want our knives and straight-razors to be, well, razor sharp. They will best be shaved on the stone at an appropriate angle of 20-25 degrees. If we go more acute then that the blade will be sharper but it will not hold its edge in use.

·         For knives shoot for between 20-25 degrees.

·         For ‘hawks where applied weight, wedge, and centrifugal force is key 20-25 degrees is too acute. We can open that up a bit from 25-35 or 40 degrees.

·         Remember we are sharpening for cutting wood, breaking bone, not long drawn slicing.

The old school finds in antique shops may not be the prettiest on the block but they’re often mighty sturdy and the price-tag means you will beat them with gusto.

Drop lightweight alloys and trainers if you want true old school and not poseur toys.

“One should not be overly fond of famous swords and daggers. For even if one has a sword valued at 10,000 cash, he will not over come 100 men [overwhelming force] carrying spears valued at 100 cash.”-Asakura Toshikage, “The 17 Articles of Asakura Toshikage”

For real-deal old school tactical applications, drills and uses of frontier tomahawk see The RAW/Black Box Project, or…keep standing on the sidelines, reading the articles and assuming you know.

For more info.

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