here is our experience, with Cold Steel in the last three years or so, handling hundreds of hawks. - take it for what it is worth
to you.
we used to get the Cold Steel hawks of various makes in bulk and send back the ones that were imperfect. Lynn Thompson and Cold Steel were, and remain, great about that practice.
- for a while there,
we had a lot of perfect heads - then late in 2007
(i think it was) they became markedly distorted. - the heat treat was still superb IMHO though, so after about a year of picking through the
10% that were perfect, we decided a new tack, and set the heads on our handles aligning to the bit as much as was possible, instead of the eye.
by that time in the handle development, it didn't really matter to us if the heads were slightly canted,
as long as the heads were within pretty stringent parameters, and we had the capabiliy to put custom heads on our handles long before then anyhow; so we were covered - we just did more custom head work at that time.
as things like this turn out, we learned that sometimes there was actually an advantage to a bit that was slightly canted - YMMV.
additionally,
in their defense, Cold Steel heads are actually warped
consistently - and the top is usually actually aligned to the eye's COM more often than not, with just the
beard canting down to the right. - this is
readily observable by taking the head off the stock handle and laying it
upside down on a flat surface, then looking with the eye lined up to the head's top surface and top part of the bit
(this is the sweet spot on a hawk bit, when this part of the bit leads, as on the Trail Hawk). - we have a few options as hawkers at that point;
1) if keeping to wooden handles, re-shape the haft so that the eye is averaged with the axis of the haft, as brother 'forge suggested.
2) mate a permanent handle to the head - this is what we do.
sometimes folks say that our hawk heads are off center -
that is usually based on judging the strike point of the bit incorrectly - on a
Trail Hawk with a canted bit that isn't cupped, for instance, i usually align the part of the bit at the top,
which is where the Trail Hawk strikes 95% of the time, so the beard is pretty immaterial IMHO.
when the bits are cupped slightly
(these are actually my favorites, for my own hawks), and they pass inspection, i
"average" the cup in the bit - a lot of times these heads are ugly as sin, but
tests show that they are the best performers - they must be like one of those twisty wood wedges or something, is all i can figure, and they work just as well quartering moose -
we've done it. - so let's be careful of what we wish for. -
let me caveat that last comment a tetch with the observation that these are very-small-bit'd hawks - it would probably be
markedly less favorable to have a cupped bit
(within parameters, again) on an axe or hatchet with a larger edge surface, like a norse or big Collins Axe, but in tests i haven't been able to tell the difference.
....so sometimes Reality trounces on our theories; as a prototyper i get kicked in the butt and poked in the eye almost daily, due to that phenomenon.
i've had just as much luck,
if not more, with a cupped surplus Swedish Army Axe that was way off center, as i have a
much-more-expensive GB Forest Axe of similar build, which was
very-well centered. - folks can talk all about perfect alignment and how things are hung, but when you, the scientists, put your ankles, knees, hips, multi-jointed spine, shoulders, elbows and wrists,
all bent, into the equation, i find it hard to believe that there isn't a little leeway in what is allowed in how the bit is aligned to the haft; particularly when that is a very
small bit, such as on a proper hawk. - in fact, i think there is probably an advantage to a warped bit - that is definitely suggested by what i have seen in hawks,
at least as i use mine.
you decide.
the practical fact is, if you want a straight bit
, more power to you, but anecdotally; i have seen more straight bits chip than i have seen non-straight ones have any sort of issue. - probably because of the stresses in the straight bit, when it is
mechanically straightened. - plus other production factors, including quenchants and other esoteric stuff....
.......
we don't expect everyone to agree with us, that's another reason we have the
Unconditional Happiness Guarantee. - folks risk nothing that way.
.......
on a side note - we have made strides to make
perfectly straight heads - these are all machined though -
the ECO Hawk, the Fast Axe 2, and the Daisy Cutter are all examples of this. - but any machiinist will tell you that
there is no such thing as straight though, and i would agree with him -
you get a really dead-on eye in this business after a while, and sometimes that can be more of a curse than ana advantage - everythign loks crooked to you; all i can do is go out nd test the hawk.
facts don't lie; - when wood starts blowing up to my satisfaction,
that's a good hawk no matter how ugly someone thinks it is, and
i back it with our guarantee.
'can't do more than that.
.........
....so everything is really about being within
limits and tolerance.
so how much can you tolerate, brethren?
to us, you don't have to tolerate anything - just send it back and we will cut you a check or correct the issue -
your choice. no risk.
the humble
Hawk Project is a development process -
we just want better hawks - selling them is how we survive. we have only improved because of
Investor feedback and out own limited experiences. - the effect is like having an
army of genius consultants there for us.
i love it.
i think that's similar to how brother 'forge operates too -
good on him.
Cold Steel does that consistently too IME, backing their wares.
good on them too!
just buy from a
company that backs their product, and don't worry about it.
if you want something that is perfect in every way, be prepared to pay for it - and don't use it,
because then it will not be perfect for long.
that's my advice.
:thumbup:
HTH.
vec
looks awesome, hits like a truck, but dang after awhile... seems like s ton.
