I have a cast tomahawk head I got from Jim Chambers and started on many years ago, and set aside for a couple reasons. One reason why was because I started filing the bowl down I didn't work in flats and the bowl is now slightly lopsided. More seriously, when I started working it down to size, a fair bit of oil (or something) bubbled up out of the shank of the blade, which I suspect indicates that there is a cavity somewhere in the shank of the blade. I can continue filing and see if it shows up and can be filed out, but if that doesn't work the potential weakness kind of relegates the blade to being only a costume/display piece.
However, the eye, the troublesome bit one every other tomahawk I've acquired so far, is excellent, being rather larger than the R.E. Davis hawks, and I've been wondering if it would be possible to just cut the blade off and get someone to weld a piece of tool steel on from which to make the blade. If the weld is good I hope it would be as strong as a single piece (or close enough as to make no difference), but I know nothing about modern welding methods or how I would prepare the joint - butt, lap, v-notch? Anyone ever tried something like this?
