Though I do have several tomahawks, I'll take my Estwing hatchet for utility purposes over the tomahawks any day.
Just my worthless opinion.
i don't think your opinion is worthless, brother, but i would like to address some concerns i have with it.
don't let me seem argumentative - that's not my intent, i like those Estwing hatchets too - i even re-handle them for brethren, but respectfully, it sounds like you have
never used a proper tomahawk, which the natives adapted
FROM hatchet designs in the first place.
there's a reason they did that.
sorry to interject like a bunker buster - but this is a subject near and dear to my heart;
caveat:
i put specialty composite handles on hawks, axes, shovels, and hatchets, all of which i love. i have re-configured a lot of famous makers' heads for our Investors, and have probably re-built and tuned more than 200 hundred distinctly-different tomahawk designs in the last two years alone - many more over my 42 years.
i am a bit rushed, but i didn't want this to go unaddressed, so the following is a whole lot of information thrown your way to reflect upon,
please pardon the form.
very respectfully -
in my opinion, i think you can't accurately compare a tomahawk to a hatchet that simply -
"tomahawk" is a gross generality;
does your hawk have a poll?
does it have a spike?
does it have neither one?
how much does it weigh? and how long is it? - that is KEY;
this guy had every kind of tomahawk and hatchet in the book, and not
one mention of
length or weight in his
psuedo-tests.
(slapping self in forehead.)
you'll see me rant about a
"proper hawk" all the time - WTH hell do i mean by that? - experience shows that an ideal
general-use tomahawk has a poll or a spike for reasons which will be explained, and has a long thin
low-mass head; the operative phrase for a tomahawk that will beat a fine hatchet is
"One Ounce per Inch of Length."
ever notice why tomahawk manufacturers seem to forget to post the weight of their hawks so often? not even a weight
range?
Cold Steel
(kind of) does that -
link
Cold Steel Trail Hawk -
19 inches long, 19.1 ounces - that fits the
"One Ounce per Inch" tomahawk maxim. -
the longer the handle gets on a hawk, keeping to this informal rule, the more improvement you will see in performance when compared to chopping tools of similar weight and geometries.
look at this
Estwing Hatchet's Specs;
link
"Product Dimensions: 13 x 5 x 1 inches ; 2.4 pounds "
i doubt that the Estwing Hatchet is really that heavy,
but it is close -
that is 36 ounces in a 13 ounce tool. - that's almost
3 Ounces per Inch - three times the rate of a Proper Hawk, and even beyond Proper Forest Axe standards, which i humbly submit is
1.25 to 1.5 Ounces per Inch - depending on your preferences.
and that's before you consider the longer length on a Proper Hawk will give the Hawk more Impulse than the hatchets of the same weight. - if you don't know the difference between impulse and inertia, check it out - or just take my word for it that you will be a lot less tired.
i just rebuilt a 31 inch Norse Hawk on a Gen 1 Handle
that would be still be lighter than the Estwing demonstrated previously.
it laughs at anything the size of a lodge pole, and it's not even optimum for a tomahawk, due to its lack of a trailing mass
(such as a poll) - the cross section of the
Gen 1 Mk 3 Composite Handles helps it track horizontally very well, but it would be much better with a head like a Trail hawk for most purposes. - it will do better splitting logs on the ground though, due to its larger bit after you tune up the edge, but not by much.
you can't leverage Ballast Effect to any degree in a short tool, like you can a long tool of the same weight either, unless the handle is hollow
(but it is hard to get hatchet and axe users to choke up on a proper long tomahawk handle, to use the bottom third of the handle for more "Snap" and less fatigue over time - they always want to hold it by the end, almost universally - another shame.)
that's huge.
it has to do with
Centers of Mass Placement and
Moment Arm, to name a few elements in making or breaking a tool design. - many here know this already, this is for the folks who are new to axes, hatchets and hawks.
that can't be over-emphasized! - get a
24 inch long, 24 ounce proper tomahawk, and put it next to a stubby
24 ounce hatchet - the hatchet won't have a chance in most utility utilizations, unless you are making twelve inch boxes from the
inside of them -
har! - all other things equal - and that's before you start to improve the ergonomics of the tomahawk handle - it 's a demonstrated fact, brethren -
do a search.
see for yourself.
a
Cold Steel Rifleman's Tomahawk is often called
a tomahawk - nothing could be more inaccurate,
by my reasoning (though it should give the Estwings a run for their money, as is) - it is an
axe, that happens to have a slip handle - way too massive to be a proper hawk.
tomahawks are
GREAT workers - i
cringe when i hear them described only as fighters and throwers
(which they are also great at, of course, but not limited to in the least), when they have a long handle and a long thin head with a
trailing mass (like a hammer poll or spike, which helps it track better the more horizontal your chopping angle is).
i think one reason tomahawks aren't more common is because
folks commonly don't push the limits of outdoor survival practices - car camping or walking into the woods without a pack for a mile or three ain't it.
i started out with Estwings and Gerbers and Plumbs and Gransfors Bruks, and
i still love them.
but they are left behind when i go to the Wilderness
afoote - i can carry a proper long hawk and a short machete for a
similar weight to an Estwing hatchet, which can't match the work a proper Long Hawk can do with a
Gen 1 Composite Handle on it
(or without it probably, i don't know about that as i have always used my composite handles on longer hawks (20 - 30 inches) vice wooden handles, with a few exceptions).
i was in
San Gorgonio Wilderness less than two weeks ago - you guys should check it out if you are unlucky enough to be in SoCal.
lastly, i do not have an investment in whether you buy a tomahawk or not currently (i have to admit in honesty however, we are working on getting custom heads for my all-time favorite woods-tool, the Hawk) - a lot of folks think i make tomahawks, which is not true yet -
i just improve them with a composite handle with a special construction - i can handle anything though,
and do - the point is, i hope you don't limit your expectations like Cliff Stamp does,
and call it science.
- thin your hawk heads down, play with the edge geometries, hack the polls off, or take the sides off of the hammer polls, or modify the spikes to your liking -
you will see what i am sputtering about, and your hatchets will begin to rust.
thanks for your consideration in this matter, and your patience with me..
back to the Hawk Dungeon with me.
hawk-O-maniac vec
....