Cold Steel Hammerpole Strength

N

NuclearWinterRat1

Joined
Apr 22, 2005
Messages
238
I was watching the cold steel solid proof video and saw the demonstrations of the tomahawks. They showed the trail hawk hammer punching through a car hood. I was wondering if the rifleman's hawk would be able to withstand the same punishment or if the cut of the hammer on it would decrease it's impact strength?

Thanks for any info guys.
NWR1
 
punching through a car hood is actually pretty easy for most decent tools, brother.

we just had one of our modified Trail Hawks and a modified Norse Hawk beat the crud out of some steel doors and some aged wood over a two day period at a famous maker's plant (- from what i was told - i wasn't there) and field reports are very favorable with the hawks.

the hawks had our composite Gen 1 Mk 3 handles on them, but i figure the original wooden ones would've been fine for at least a while ...and a Rifleman's hawk has a bigger poll (which i am reading into your statement, that you are inferring), but i reckon it would do just as well as the Trail Hawk, from more inertia perhaps, but still do well.

i like to lop the poll on my Rifleman's usually at its neck, because of the increased performance you can get, with less weight to carry.

HTH.

vec
 
Yeah thanks Vector I was more referring to the difference(if any) between the strength between the solid cut of the trail hawks pole and the hexagonal mid taper cut of the rifleman's.

It probably wouldn't really come up in real life but I am a stickler for stuff like that.

I really do like those rifleman's hawks and I have actually been looking at your work with great enthusiasm,Vec.
 
vector001 said:
i like to lop the poll on my Rifleman's usually at its neck, because of the increased performance you can get, with less weight to carry.

HTH.

vec
Click to expand...

+1, They used to make one just like that. I really wish they still made the Plainsman I think they called it, feel stupid for not getting one and have been lookin for one on the secondary for years.
 
NuclearWinterRat1 said:
It probably wouldn't really come up in real life but I am a stickler for stuff like that.
Click to expand...

i agree with that attitude, brother! - i am pretty layed back in some things, but if there is one thing the Marines made me consciously aware of 24/7, it was "Stuff Happens, Always at the Worst Time, Always to YOU - so get it wired."

so i am probably a Life Member when it comes to that belief.

i can't fault it.

:cool:

vec
 
messer454 said:
+1, They used to make one just like that. I really wish they still made the Plainsman I think they called it, feel stupid for not getting one and have been lookin for one on the secondary for years.
Click to expand...

a new friend just sent me a couple of those - they are the originals, which were much more finely made - i am thinking about doing them in my Subdued Desert Marpat Snakeskin - which is a great night and woodland pattern - and it is just a beautiful brown pattern too.

should be fun.

the lopped Rifleman's are much finer though, IMHO - just a lot of work.

when you lop the Rifleman's at that little skinny neck area, the poll seems to stay consistently hard (so far at least IME) and the balance needs to be experienced by everyone IMHO - dee-licious whoop-ass stick that is still great in the woods.

when they take guns away, i expect these types of battle axes will be getting very popular.



vec
 
Vec-sent you an email. Why are the lopped ones better? Pics comparing the two if you can.
 
I bought my Cold Steel Rifleman's 'Hawk back in early 1994.


I agree with the statement about the earlier ones being better made because many of the later CS 'hawks I've seen had warped blades and off-centered eyes. I've heard their QC has improved lately though.


I've used the hammer poll on it to smash everything from ice to concrete. It's held up beautifully. Yes, it will indeed punch through a car hood. I've done it.

14+ years of hard use and still going strong:

HPIM0271.jpg
 
messer454 said:
Vec-sent you an email. Why are the lopped ones better? Pics comparing the two if you can.
Click to expand...

good question, brother messer.

(i just responded to your e-mail BTW.)

- i love the Plainsman hawk, especially as you move the use continuum towards fighting and away from utility - both chartacteristics of which true hawks shine in, IMHO.

- the difference between the Plainsman Hawk and the Lopped Rifleman's Hawks is small, hence my use of the term "finer". - but there is a difference...;

if you lop the Rifleman's at the neck of the poll, you instantly lose a lot of weight of the head, and are approaching what i would consider a "true hawk head" mass (lighter weight) - plus that bit of mass sticking out away and behind the bit on the Modified Rifleman's assists in tracking - a factor not available with the smooth-butt'd Plainsman's Hawk.

shave the chopped Poll down just a tetch more and you have a work-hardened hammer face on the Rifleman's. - my favorite is leaving it cut and polished right at the old neck line - the poll is large enough, plus you have a nice non-snagging hammer-weapon that really knows its job, so to speak.

i just put some in the Gallery section a few days ago.

the Coyote Hawk is the trim job i am speaking of.
axes1%20023.JPG


modified this way, the Rifleman's are like a really agile Forest Axe.

needless to say, i like 'em.

- the CS Trail Hawk for my EDC/SHTF set-up, and the Modified Rifleman for anything long term where a substantial axe might be appreciated.

the Plainsman is somewhere left of the Trail Hawk for me, being geared more towards fair utility and awesome combat characteristics (in my style of combatives at least.) - i absolutely love the Plainsman Hawks, but they don't have the utility that i like in my Trail Hawks. - and as much as i like to fight, i love to rough it, where utiilty is King.

after all that nit-picking, i'd be glad to have any of them at hand.

just my opinion.

vec
 
hello neat thread going here, I haven't posted in axes&hawks lately. forgive me brother VEC.

H ave you thought about shaping thinning out the poll on a rifleman's hawk out to the shape of an arrowhead like spike. it might not be a railroad sized spike but it would be there and have better puncturing capabilities than the blade side.

As far as cutting of the hammer head / the fat part of the head off and leaving the little bump this makes a tool / weapon with multipul uses. yes it still ticks out a tad and has a flat spot for driving pegs and nails,,,,,, but also as a combat tool this " backside of the hatchet er hawk has the same effect as the old native american "ball war club" with that little "peg", "lug", or
"t!t" on the ball. this same bump has a devastating effect in combat a few centuroes ago, when a hit was made in combat with this bump to the skell or even say ribs, anywhere bone is close to the surface of the skin you ger an effect which I compare to today's of a BBgun BB hitting glass and you get the conical blow out effect in t he hole, severe damage, but your combat tool does not get hung up with your dancing partner.

peace brother vec and to everyone else, knowing how to do these things doesn't mean we want to. Pat
 
bro 'viking.

those are good ideas, and yep - we've considered things like that.

we try to make our hawks mostly towards utility purposes more than battle purposes, except when we get specific requests, which we then try to handle case by case.

i think by the time ya got done doing all that shaping on a Rifleman's hawk, you'd have to re-temper the head, or take so much time that it wouldn't be economical, and unfortunately we have to consider that.

when we get our own heads made, which is looking like it will happen sooner than later, we will definitely consider doing something like that - thanks for the suggestion, brother.

vec
 
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