Correct fit for slip-fit?

[Papa JB]

How snug should a slip-fit hawk or axe be (for cutting, not throwing)? Specifically, should you be able to pop the head off?

 

[OnceBitten]

I like the idea of having the ability to drive the head off so that you can use the head for Ulu/knife-type work.

I have an H&B Forge Medium Camp Hawk that I use like that. It is my least expensive and most versatile of all of my tomahawks.

 

[I'mSoSharp]

How snug should a slip-fit hawk or axe be (for cutting, not throwing)? Specifically, should you be able to pop the head off?

Generally the head should be tight enough to need a few firm taps on the handle to get it to come off, that could be banging the axe upright on a solid surface or tapping the end of the handle with a hammer or such.
It doesn't matter which way up the axe is if tapped with a hammer to seat or unseat the head it'll move along the handle/haft/shaft just the same.
A good way to seat a loose head (if there is enough handle thickness left) is to trial fit it with something like pencil graphite smeared in the eye (old days soot from a candle or lamp) so you can see where it contacts the handle, remove a very small amount of material where it touches & repeat, the more times this is done the better the fit.
Lastly, a tapered slip fit handle with not enough thickness left that lets the head move too far isn't necessarily scrap, they can often also be wedged too be it in the normal manner or a fixed glued wedge that means the head is still removable.