Tomahawk drift from The Blacksmith Depot

[12345678910]

I have recently acquired a tomahawk drift from the Blacksmith Depot
(Kayne)

It's cast not machined and has a very rough as cast finish.

For those of you who have used this before, would you recommend polishing it on a slack belt to get the scale and rough texture off before using it?

and

Since it is a cast ductile iron, how much is this going to deform in use?
Is it worth me making a copy of that profile onto a "using drift" and save this one as a pattern or final finish drift?

 

[Les Voorhies]

Send Keith Johnson a PM and ask him, he's been making throwing hawks for ages and so many that he probably couldn't give you a good guess of how many.

BTW, his s/n is K R Johnson

 

[K R Johnson]

I'd try it like it is unless it's so rough you can't use it. Some roughness won't make any difference but if you need to, it won't hurt to polish it on a slack belt.
They last a long time, I've made many thousands of heads with my shop made mild steel one and it's still just fine. If it mushrooms on top just grind it down. I haven't used a cast one, but if this one wears out, for thirty bucks, I'd buy a new one. I've made my own and it's a lot of work.

 

[EdCaffreyMS]

I go through 5 to 8 of those drifts per year...DO NOT smooth it down! The first one I purchased I thought the same thing and polished it down....turns out that by doing that it made the drifted eyes on hawks too small for the standard "Large Hawk" handles that most people purchase. The drift will "smooth up" after a number of uses, and usually by the time it has entirely smoothed out, it's creating eyes that are too small to fit correctly on a large hawk handle.

 

[12345678910]

I go through 5 to 8 of those drifts per year...DO NOT smooth it down! The first one I purchased I thought the same thing and polished it down....turns out that by doing that it made the drifted eyes on hawks too small for the standard "Large Hawk" handles that most people purchase. The drift will "smooth up" after a number of uses, and usually by the time it has entirely smoothed out, it's creating eyes that are too small to fit correctly on a large hawk handle.

Ed I was afraid of that thanks.