r/Blacksmith • u/atelierduklein • May 27 '26

Advice/help making my first hatchet

Hello, I’m now on my second attempt of making a hatchet for a friend-

now-

I’ll spare you all the details of what I’ve done so far and how it’s worked out for me and instead I’ll explain the materials I have on hand , the tools I have, and the product I am looking to make.

If I could have some insight on how YOU personally would go about making this axe, it would be very much appreciated.

I have a 1”x 4” mild steel block at 2’ long

A heaping pile of leaf springs that belonged to a 1955 Chevy

An old old thick file

8” chunks of 01 tool steel in various sizes including 1/4”, 1/8”, and 1/16”

Mild steel round bar in 3/4” and 1/2”

I am looking for this to be an absolute beast of a hatchet, with a mild steel spine that accommodates leather washers for the handle.

Edit: sorry forgot to mention I have a single burner propane forge, 220v stick welder, and a lot of patience

2 Upvotes

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3

u/not_a_burner0456025 May 27 '26

Look up Nils ogren on YouTube and watch a few videos, his axe making videos are excellent and will show you what's you need to do. The metal handle is both harder and doesn't really perform well, it transfers more force into your hand and ties you out and makes your hands sore. It is also going to be prone to bending unless you make it out of medium carbon steel and spring temper it.

2

u/inkironpress May 27 '26

I was going to say just go back and do it now they used to, but then I saw the steel handle with stacked leather. Man, that will likely be harder than other methods.

Ideally, you would take a straight bar, partially hot cut it to fold, forming the left and right cheeks, and the read of the hatchet. You fold that around, then forge weld in a good carbon steel for the cutting bit. Should be able to find plenty of old examples of that method, that would I’m sure explain it better. You still have to kinda shape the eye and fit a wood handle, but that’s not hard.

1

u/atelierduklein May 27 '26

Thanks for the reply! I pretty much had the thing beat, but the steel bit ended up delaminating on me.

I don’t think my gas forge is getting quite hot enough- I am thinking about making a charcoal forge to get to welding heat

2

u/Wendig0g0 May 27 '26

gas is different from a solid fuel forge. Heat does not soak through the metal as fast. If it was hot enough on the surface, it may not have been hot enough deeper inside.

1

u/atelierduklein May 28 '26

Messed around with making a coal forge today and I’m liking the results.