Uploaded January 2017 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
While I've been cutting trees for the Cordwood Challenge, I've produced a lot of tops. I've been wanting a tool that would enable me to efficiently limb the small branches so that they can be easily transported and cut up for more firewood for the wood stove and our rocket stoves. The Japanese nata type billhook/hatchet has caught my attention as being a particularly good design for this specific task, while also being very simple for a beginning blacksmith to be able to forge. I was particularly taken by the beautiful example made by Island Blacksmith/Crossed Heart Forge in this video youtube.com/watch?v=1wLV7zlOZnQ&t=8s. In the description of that video he mentions that many farm-style Japanese nata had "cord wrapped integral handles". I jumped to the conclusion that he meant integral SOCKET handles and decided to put one on my nata. Turns out they don't have the socket typically, they have straight bar handles with a punched hole at the end which the cord is also wrapped around.
I found the forging, shaping, grinding, and heat treating process for this project very educational. It was basically the first time I've created a knife or cutting tool from high carbon steel. I learned a lot, had a lot of fun, and the tool has pretty much met my design criteria and expectations perfectly. The cord handle wrap is still a work in progress, and I may slightly modify the socket handle with a hole or holes to give me additional means to tie the cord off. I don't wish to permanently fix the cord on the handle with epoxy etc, as I like the idea of having a replaceable handle grip, as it give me the option of easily re-forging or heat treating the nata if I find it needs tweaking.
While I've been cutting trees for the Cordwood Challenge, I've produced a lot of tops. I've been wanting a tool that would enable me to efficiently limb the small branches so that they can be easily transported and cut up for more firewood for the wood stove and our rocket stoves. The Japanese nata type billhook/hatchet has caught my attention as being a particularly good design for this specific task, while also being very simple for a beginning blacksmith to be able to forge. I was particularly taken by the beautiful example made by Island Blacksmith/Crossed Heart Forge in this video youtube.com/watch?v=1wLV7zlOZnQ&t=8s. In the description of that video he mentions that many farm-style Japanese nata had "cord wrapped integral handles". I jumped to the conclusion that he meant integral SOCKET handles and decided to put one on my nata. Turns out they don't have the socket typically, they have straight bar handles with a punched hole at the end which the cord is also wrapped around.
I found the forging, shaping, grinding, and heat treating process for this project very educational. It was basically the first time I've created a knife or cutting tool from high carbon steel. I learned a lot, had a lot of fun, and the tool has pretty much met my design criteria and expectations perfectly. The cord handle wrap is still a work in progress, and I may slightly modify the socket handle with a hole or holes to give me additional means to tie the cord off. I don't wish to permanently fix the cord on the handle with epoxy etc, as I like the idea of having a replaceable handle grip, as it give me the option of easily re-forging or heat treating the nata if I find it needs tweaking.
