Any thing better than a cold steel pipe hawk for the price?

R

Ratsmax

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Nov 11, 2013
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Hey I'm looking into getting a cold steel pipe hawk. Is there anything better than a pipe hawk for the price point?
 
whats ur objective with the hawk? tactical? surival or like camping etc. for the money the estwing leather handle one piece hatchet is a classic and is legit quality steel and holds a blade after hours of use on logs and trees. its not a tactical setup or a thrower tho. The united cutlery makes a nice tactical hawk in the 30$ range that i would get
 
The estwings are good and its very unlikely they'd break but the option with easily making a handle with the pipe hawk is cool too. I'd go with the CS.
 
yep thats a good point. I was partial to the estwing because im a carpenter and have the finish hammer with the same handle. the CS is definately a more tactical and fancy type of tool IMO. i know the estwing wont ever fail me in a life or death situation. I dont know or have experience with the other brands
 
H & B Forge sells hand forged pipe hawks with drilled curly maple handles and mouthpieces made of antler, bone or wood. I tried to attach some pictures but I think the file size is too large. You can see many of them pictured at the H & B Forge facebook page. They run around 275.00 for a finished one. They also sell cast ones for about a hundred dollars less for a finished one.
 
If your looking for a camping companion this is a little light but OK. I imagine it would be a great fighting hawk since it has great speed. For tactical it lacks a spike for hole making and smashing around door locks. I like that if I break the handle a replacement could be made pretty quick. For the price point it is amazing. Like junglejimmy said, what do you want to use it for?
 
I have the frontier and trail hawk, both chop great, throw great, and can preform fairly as a survival hatchet if need be. They offer a lot of room to modify to your liking as they lack high quAlity fit and finish. The wooden handles are easy to replace if the need arises, and are light so they don't weigh your pack or belt down a lot. If you didn't mind making your own handle you could just carry the head in your pack and make one in the bush.

Short answer: they make good, reliable, axes you can beat on and not feel bad about.
 
I second the H& B forge idea. I've had one for over twenty years that was won during a hawk throwing competition, and have used it for not only throwing competitions but also light and medium chopping, brush clearing and assorted tasks. Another option would be to check out RE Davis or Track of the Wolf. All have options for a very good quality made in the USA hawk. If you care to spend some time on finishing there are kits available also.
 
I love the Estwing Hatchets. Great product for the money.

Matter of fact just picked a new one up today. $35 at Home Depot.
 
I have one of the pipe hawks. It is a great t-hawk, or at least the head. My handle needs more work to get a proper slip fit of the head. But I got tired of trying to get it right, so it hangs in a strategic place, stripped and sharpened enough to shave, but otherwise forgotten. Because of the handle issue, I'm looking forward to the new trad-types CRKT's hitting the market, to see if they have their handle-act together. In the meantime, I use a hatchet that I got from Lowes that swings and cuts just as well for camping, and has more surface area on the poll for hammering. Cold Steel hawks are great for projects. But if you want something to just take out of the package and go use, they leave seething to be desired, IMO.
 
As long as you know and are ok with the fact that they need tuning before you can use them Cold Steel hawks are great. I bought a trail and a riflemans hawk about two weeks ago. Broke them down, stained the handles, fitted the heads and dumped the set screws, now they are great.

I'm buying a pipe and a spike hawk next week.
 
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