Author Topic: Presentation Tomahawk for a friend (Read 1498 times)

Curtis · « **on:** July 26, 2025, 08:02:39 AM »

I made this Pipe Tomahawk for a friend who will be gifting it to his sister, in recognition for her Tribal enrollment in a Native American tribe. My friend supplied the head casting and the Curly English Walnut blank for the haft.

I tried to blend traditional tomahawk inlays and engraving with some contemporary decorations from my imagination, with a bit of period Indian imagery thrown in to round things out. The steel was rust browned, and the haft was stained with ferric nitrate, rubbed back and finished with nine coats of a home brewed alkanet root oil. The words on the banner are her Native American name. Inlays were made from silver, brass, copper and the banner is German silver. Wire inlay is mostly silver with some brass accents. (hard to tell from the poor quality cell phone pics!) The cap on the haft is solid copper. The copper heart an sun on the head were inlaid with the copper left proud of the surface with a hammered finish. I chose to use a fair amount of copper as it was traded, worked and used by American tribes for centuries.

Here is the casting I started with after some major cleanup, and the haft after initial shaping:

And some photos of the finished product...

And last, some sources of inspiration for several of the decorations:

Thanks for looking!
Curtis

The Stumbler · « **Reply #1 on:** July 26, 2025, 01:12:54 PM »

Beautiful ……excellent work.

elk killer · « **Reply #2 on:** July 26, 2025, 01:52:14 PM »

wow..!!

Ky-Flinter · « **Reply #3 on:** July 26, 2025, 05:06:26 PM »

wow is right. Awesome piece.

Ron

JTR · « **Reply #4 on:** July 26, 2025, 05:46:13 PM »

Simply outstanding!
John

P.W.Berkuta · « **Reply #5 on:** July 26, 2025, 07:03:51 PM »

VERY NICE - he MUST be a VERY GOOD friend!!!!!!!!!!!!!

tfornicola · « **Reply #6 on:** July 26, 2025, 07:53:50 PM »

Outstanding craftsmanship!!

snapper · « **Reply #7 on:** July 26, 2025, 08:39:16 PM »

Curtis

You just keep upping your talent. Outstanding.

Hope she does not use it on you.

Fleener

Levi Garrett · « **Reply #8 on:** July 27, 2025, 06:10:04 AM »

Absolutely incredible!!!

Curtis · « **Reply #9 on:** July 27, 2025, 07:15:13 AM »

Thanks for the kind words, fellas!! It's good to hear your positive feedback. My friend seemed pleased, I hope his Sis is as well. I had a lot of fun working on this one.

And good to hear from you too, Snapper! I will keep my hatchet-proof helmet handy just in case of a tomahawk sneak attack!!!

Maybe I shouldn't have sharpened it so much....

Curtis

bama · « **Reply #10 on:** July 28, 2025, 07:17:32 AM »

Very fine work Curtis. Metal inlay into metal is not easy to do but your inlays look great. Good job on the engraving also.

David Rase · « **Reply #11 on:** July 29, 2025, 05:50:15 AM »

Great job Curtis. You always take your projects to the next level.
R/David

Curtis · « **Reply #12 on:** July 30, 2025, 06:31:02 AM »

Thanks, Bama and Dave!

Bama, the banner was the most challenging of the inlays, due to the odd winding shape of it. Though it was interesting figuring out how to make the tiny blood drops so small and make them look like droplets.....

Curtis

Tim Crosby · « **Reply #13 on:** July 31, 2025, 11:05:33 PM »

Wow! Is right. Beautiful work and Great research.

Tim C.

aaronc · « **Reply #14 on:** August 01, 2025, 04:25:15 AM »

Strong work,..enjoyed the pics.

Shreckmeister · « **Reply #15 on:** August 01, 2025, 03:43:37 PM »

Stunning craftsmanship!

coopersdad · « **Reply #16 on:** August 04, 2025, 04:56:37 PM »

An impressive tour de force of skills Curtis, wow!

Curtis · « **Reply #17 on:** August 05, 2025, 07:01:32 AM »

Thanks guys, your comments are greatly appreciated! When I am working on a project like this I always wonder what folks will think of it. It's always good to hear when people like it!!!

Curtis

Daryl · « **Reply #18 on:** August 07, 2025, 12:49:54 AM »

Now THAT'S pretty SPECIAL Curtis. The owner might need more than 3 shots of bourbon to play "handles" with that hawk.
A favourite game of ours up here in the North.
"Caution" though, it does take some liquor to get it going.

Polecat_Tom · « **Reply #19 on:** August 07, 2025, 04:24:22 AM »

That is absolutely beautiful.

lost arrow 801 · « **Reply #20 on:** August 12, 2025, 10:58:31 AM »

Words fall short but I'll try. Phenomenal.

Brian Jordan · « **Reply #21 on:** August 12, 2025, 01:40:25 PM »

Beautiful work! Top level craftsmanship!!

Curtis · « **Reply #22 on:** August 13, 2025, 05:05:41 AM »

Thank you gentlemen!!!!

Curtis

Avlrc · « **Reply #23 on:** September 12, 2025, 02:45:16 AM »

Beautiful piece. Very talented indeed.

Bull Shannon · « **Reply #24 on:** September 12, 2025, 03:20:14 AM »

We should all have such good friends.

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Author Topic: Presentation Tomahawk for a friend (Read 1498 times)