Cold Steel Vietnam Tomohawk

PartialSerrations

PartialSerrations

Joined
Nov 22, 2001
Messages
1,106
Anybody out there care to share an opinion on the Cold Steel Vietnam Tomahawk. Is it worth buying? Is the handle wood or hard aluminum. Thanks!!



IF WAR IS HELL, TAKE A BETTER PITCHFORK THAN THE DEVIL
 
Hey,
I've handled one but don't own one. The handle is wood painted O.D. Originally they were hickory, but now I dunno what they are. The heads are cast. Made in Taiwan.
You may want to try a search in this forum or under the ATC forum. Seems I dug up some info there before.

Good luck
Diablero
 
i own a CS viet hawk and was disapointed when i got it.
it is suppossed to have an edge on the lower bit of the head but they forgot to put it on mine. the paint was chipped and i dont think the handle would last very long at all if it was used.
its cheap but you pay for what you get.

B.C
 
I've been a loyal customer of Cold Steel for many, many years and the only purchase I regret making is the Vietnam tomahawk. It seemed fine at first, but once winter arrived and the heat was activated the drier air caused the wooden handle to shrink slightly, causing the head to loosen and wobble. Granted it never came loose, but still the fact that it was loose at all caused me to lose what confidence I had in it. Visions of the head flying off of the handle during use were simply too much for me to bear and so I put it into the closet where it has been gathering dust for the past two years. I can't bring myself to toss it but then again it's doing me no good. Sigh.... :(

If you want a solid Cold Steel tomahawk, my advice is to buy either the Trail or Rifleman's hawk. (I own both myself) The Trail Hawk is light and handy, whereas the Rifleman's is much heavier due to the larger hammer head. Should the heads on those loosen, the worst they can do is slide down the shaft - they certainly won't fly off the end thanks to the tapering - and you can always cinch them tight again. Handle replacements are easy to obtain and the shafts are thick enough that you don't worry about them snapping in two.

Let us know how you make out.
 
I handled one of these at a gun show this weekend...total junk in my opinion. The head was loose, the handle felt weak, poor grinds and dull.
 
I have three of them, and although the reviews are bad, they have the potential to be very good hawks. They cost about thirty dollars from an internat discounter (the price has gone up a little since) as compared to the ATC which asks over 150 dollars each. The first thing I do is to soak the head in a little mineral oil so that it swells a little and then drive a small box nail into the head to tighten the fit. Then, the real work begins.. The grind lines and the spike need total rebeveling and sharpening... since the steel is soft to begin with, you can do this on a grinder if you have a good enough eye to keep the bevels even... if not, you need to start with a file... the bevels are actually better than commercial axes you buy at hardware stores or Home Depot, but it's still going to take you a few hours of work. I followed up with a DMT med, then Spyderco med, and then fine... I ended up with a flat main edge, sharp enough to shave hair with, a bottom edge that 's sharp enough to cut meat, and a very pointy spike... at a cost of 30 bucks, and 5 hours of sweat and toil.
 
Just get an ATC hawk. You'll save yourself thirty to fifty dollars by getting a good hawk right away.
 
MelancholyMutt said:
I have one, but I can't bring myself to use it...:)
Click to expand...

Why, because it's too nice and you don't want to mess it up? :) What model do you have? I've thought about the Next Generation Ranger myself, but to tell you the truth I'm leery of hawks which have the heads mounted on the end. I can't quite bring myself to believe that they're solid enough to really use hard.
 
I've got the Vietnam version... I like that pattern. It's sturdy enough... as is the Cold Steel one once you hammer a small flat nail into the head part of the handle. I'm just way too afraid of ruining such a perfect edge... But then, after 5 hours of work with the CS, I could shave with it as well, I smacked it hard repeatedly against some pine 2x4's and saw that it held, but I had to retouch the shave-sharp edge very shortly. Many axe heads are cast and the drawbacks are not durability, but the ability to get a good edge. Difficult, yes, but not impossible. The thing is, its primary use is against flesh and bone and not wood. If you must use something against wood as well, I recommend Granfors Bruks or Wetterling...
 
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