Hand Forged Tomahawk, Curly Maple Handle with Hammer Poll
Hand Forged Tomahawk, Curly Maple Handle with Hammer Poll
Please enter the text you want engraved.
- Engraving adds 3 to 5 business days.
- We engrave your text exactly as typed, so double check the spelling.
- We send a proof image before we engrave.
- Engraved blades cannot be returned or exchanged unless the blade itself is defective.
Camp work eats handles. You come in low on a limb and the haft takes the hit under the head. On most axes that ends the tool until somebody with a drill press has a free afternoon. This one comes apart instead. The head is 1095 high carbon, the haft is curly maple, and at 19 inches overall it swings one handed or two.
Specification
| Head length | 6.5 inches |
| Cutting edge | 3.5 inches |
| Overall length | 19 inches |
| Handle length | 19 inches |
| Handle wood | Curly maple |
| Head steel | 1095 high carbon |
| Head finish | Dark forged skin with clear hammer marks, bright polished bevel |
| Eye | Friction fit, tapered haft, no wedge |
| Head cover | Hand stitched leather, stamped basket weave face, snap strap |
| Engraving | Laser engraving, 20 dollars per piece |
| Made in | Forged and finished by hand in High Point, North Carolina. |
| Warranty | Lifetime warranty against defects, free sharpening for life. |
The head
1095 is plain high carbon steel. It takes an edge quickly and comes back on a file. The head runs 6.5 inches with a 3.5 inch cutting edge, so the bit is narrow and goes into wood rather than riding on it. The bevel is taken well back from the edge and polished bright. The rest keeps the dark forge skin and its hammer marks. The poll is a plain hammer shape for balance. It is not hardened, so keep it off nails. Carbon steel darkens with use and rusts if you leave it wet.
The handle
Curly maple is hard and close grained, with the ripple grown in rather than sprayed on. It is stiff and does not go dead in the hand. The eye is a friction fit. The haft is tapered, it goes in from the top with no wedge, and it seats tighter the more you use it. Tap it back the way it went on and the head is off in a minute. At 19 inches you can hold up under the head to carve or drop to the end for reach.
The leather head cover
The cover is vegetable tanned leather, cut to the outline of this head. A welt is sewn into the edge so the hand stitching sits clear of the steel. The face is stamped in a basket weave by hand, so each one lines up differently. A snap strap holds it shut. Put it on dry. Leather holds water against steel, and a cover over a wet bit is how a head pits.
Who it suits
A friction fit turns a broken handle into a ten dollar problem and an evening at the bench, not a dead tool in the shed.
- People who repair tools rather than replace them
- Campers who keep a spare haft in the truck
- Carvers who work with a hand near the head
- Anyone who has binned an axe over a cracked handle
What comes in the box
- The tomahawk, head fitted to the haft
- The stitched leather head cover
- A care card
- Free sharpening for life, no form to fill in
Every piece is different
Every head is forged one at a time, so the hammer marks land where they land and no two dark skins read the same. The figure in curly maple is the tree's doing, not ours. Some hafts ripple the whole way down, others less. Yours will not match the photograph.
Looking after it
Wipe the head dry and oil the steel before it goes away. The cover goes on dry, never over a wet bit. The maple takes boiled linseed oil, three to five coats on a new haft over as many days, then yearly. Never varnish it. Linseed rags can catch fire on their own if left screwed up indoors, so open them out flat. File first, then a stone, then a strop. More on our care and sharpening page.
Put a name on it
Laser engraving is 20 dollars per piece, added on this page. Around 30 characters fits. On a head with this much forge skin it reads as a bright line against the dark. We send a proof image before the laser runs, and it adds 3 to 5 business days. Free on orders of 10 or more. See the engraving page.
Questions buyers ask
What if the handle breaks? Take the head off, taper a new haft, drive it in. Ten dollars of maple, not a dead tool.
How is the head held on? Friction. The haft is tapered and goes into the eye from the top, and the head settles onto the taper as you work. No wedge.
Will it rust? If you leave it wet, yes. It goes grey with use, which is normal, and pits if neglected, which is not.
Can I hammer with the poll? No. It is for balance and it is not hardened.
Does it arrive sharp? It leaves here with a working edge put on by hand.
How long does shipping take? Most US orders arrive in 5 to 7 business days.
For the same eye under a patterned head there is the Damascus tomahawk on an ash handle, and for a wedged eye and a wider bit in green wood, the hand forged bushcraft axe on oak. The rest are in tomahawks, the plain heads sit in carbon steel axes, and the whole shelf is in axes and hatchets.