Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I paid him 50 bucks because he told me what he was studying once a month through a local club and I wanted to give him an incentive besides really wanting a handmade hatchet.
This was what he produced:
Unfortunately, it wasn't uniform on both sides and with the weight:
I can't fault the guy. It was his new hobby and he's a delightful fellow. That was 6 years ago so he's more than likely improved if he has stuck with it.
I still have it though. He put a lot of time and effort into it and the spike was salvaged from a 100+ year old railroad line... a bit of aussie history in my drawer at any rate.
Honestly the history of the object in that case matters more than the function. Even if you never use it, it's a good conversation starter. :-)
That actually sounds like my setup. There's a forge in Chicago with good rates so I'm going (mostly) weekly. I'd like to do an ax at some point, just for variety's sake. It will probably not be well-aligned either. :-)
Having a "thing to model" is helpful for building up your skill as it separates the design aspect from the construction aspect and lets you work on them separately. (Kinda like Code Katas, for the techies reading the thread...) So good on you for giving your friend something to work toward.