Punching an axe eye straight?

[webradbury]

Is there a way to insure the eye is initially punched straight when forging or just being careful to hold the tool straight? I have been struggling with holes that start straight but end up....not straight.

[B.Barker]

I drill two holes one at the front and one at the back all the way through. Then I start to punch from the top then flip it over and punch from the bottom. Or you can do it without drilling the holes for ten hours a day six days a week for a year or two. By that time you will have it down pat.

[Nordnecker]

What kind of axe are you making? The cheeks of the eye are fullered before the eye is welded shut. Then a drift, shaped like the handle is inserted from both sides to finish the eye, after welding in the bit. If you are making a tomahawk type of thing, you can punch the hole through a square bar first, then forge the rest of it around your hole. A tapered drift will then finish the eye. Make sure your metal is hot and your drift is cold. There is a big difference between punching a hole and drifting it to shape.

[Canute Rex]

B.Barker has the right idea.

Aside from that, get a squirt bottle of water. Work slowly, only a few hammer blows at a time. As you hammer the punch through, watch which way the punch is going. Right after you pull the steel out of the fire, squirt the thin side with water so the steel cools down and the punch will move towards the hotter/thicker side as you hammer.

As my master smith used to say, "Water is a tool, not a convenience."

[David R. Pennington]

It is hard to get them perfectly straight consistently. First off start straight. Mark both sides well. Drilling might not be a bad idea. Make a correctly sized and shaped slot punch and keep it well dressed. Punch from both sides initially. The good news is you can often fix a punched eye that is off a might by heating the thicker side more when you drift and move the hole some. “The Skills of a Blacksmith “ (3 volumes) has some good info on this. I can’t remember which volume, don’t have them with me rat now. If you need more radical hole shift you can hold the thing at an angle coming out the fire and pour a little water down the hole to quench just the thin side. Your punch ought to be near the length you want you finished eye to be as it is harder to stretch it longer as it is wider when you drift.
Hope that makes some sense.
Folded and welded are easier sometimes if you got good wrought iron and steel to work with.

[webradbury]

Some good info, thanks guys. I’ve been using a slitting chisel and this is probably where I have gone wrong. I’ll be making a slotting punch soon.

[David R. Pennington]

One of my friends keeps a large tin cup handy when he wants to selectively quench and gets a big mouth full of water just before coming out the fire. He is pretty accurate with it and it leaves his hands free. Works good when trying to keep a twist even.