Polishing a cast tomahawk

[Shreckmeister]

     Could someone share the process of polishing a cast steel hawk.  This is my first and I got a
Davis pipe head hawk.  It is rough cast.  I ground off the casting excess with a grinder and files.
Now I want to smooth up the head to prepare it for engraving and detail.
   What steps do I take to make this smooth and finished?   Thanks in advance.

[ottawa]

files and sand/Emory paper in diffrent grits a few dowels and small hobby sticks and elbow grease

[necchi]

Start with a Die Grinder or Belt sander and 100-150grit, then the power tools down to 320.
Then it's down to the hand work with 400-600 Silicon Carbide, spit an elbow grease.

Several years ago we got Tracks New Reliable for my son's birthday, wanted it special so I started using the die grinders with scotch pads at work then hand polishing. Once I got it bright I took it to a local Trophy outfit to see what they could do.
That shop had just got a Laser etching machine and the guy was as curious as I if it would cut the cast steel. I chose a lettering of his name in a Gothic block and the guy set it up.
It worked, the laser ran for about a minute, and he gave it a second pass. It cut I would guess about .002-.003 into the cast for $15

[Mark Elliott]

I got one of those once and had a devil of a time with it.   I just used sandpaper to clean it up.   If I had it to do over again,  I would treat it like frizzens.   I would anneal it FIRST.   Then I would file and polish, and re-heat treat when I was done.    I have ruined too many files, hones, etc... on metal the was not fully annealed.   Now,  if it is too hard to work,  it gets annealed.   Sure,  it takes a while, but you can do something else while it is cooling.   

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I've done three of Davis' cast 'hawks lately, and here's pics of two of them.  they are soft enough out of the box to file, then polish with abrasive cloth/paper.  I took these two down to about 400 grit IIRC.  The second one is cold blued and then burnished with a fairly soft wire wheel.

[Shreckmeister]

I like that burnished affect Taylor.  That's the same head.  Thanks.

[Shreckmeister]

This is less fun than I thought it would be

[necchi]

This is less fun than I thought it would be

Yup, that's kinda why I used the un-correct power tools 

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I think there is no substitute for the time consuming, laborious and satisfying work that must be first done with files, then file-backed abrasives.  Power tools have little place here, or in polishing locks and cast furniture for longrifles.  In the case of the wire wheel burnished 'hawk, the client was not willing to pay for the long hard process, so a lesser substitute was employed.  As Cody Tetachuck once said to me:  "You can have it fast; you can have it cheap; or you can have it well done.  Pick any two."

[Artificer]

Just to add a little to what Taylor wrote above...

Wrapping various grades of emery cloth around pieces of dowels of different diameters and other scrap wood sticks you can work to any shape needed, also comes in handy and you don't have to worry about the cloth slipping and file teeth biting in where you don't want it. 

Cratex sticks and blocks also work well on really fine hand polishing.
http://www.cratex.com/rubblock.htm

Gus

[Shreckmeister]

It kinda reminds of of shop class where I would sand and sand, then take it up to the teacher and
he would point out what I missed and send me back to sanding.  Then the process repeated several
times until I got it right.  This is bringing back bad memories.  One thing is for sure.  I need some
additional fine files.

[Dphariss]

I think there is no substitute for the time consuming, laborious and satisfying work that must be first done with files, then file-backed abrasives.  Power tools have little place here, or in polishing locks and cast furniture for longrifles.  In the case of the wire wheel burnished 'hawk, the client was not willing to pay for the long hard process, so a lesser substitute was employed.  As Cody Tetachuck once said to me:  "You can have it fast; you can have it cheap; or you can have it well done.  Pick any two."

As Taylor said.

Dan