- Joined
- Nov 29, 2000
- Messages
- 1,926
Today I have received a Fort Turner Buck trowing tomahawk from Mr. Dana (Tomahawk) Turner. I also ordered the sheath and a replacement handle.
I wanted a handforged, solid but not too expensive tomahawk.
I was eyeing the H&B hawks, but partly becuase they don't have internet order system, and partly because I liked the apparently solid handles and the wide hawk eye on the Fort Turner hawks, finally and after a long hesitation I chose the latter one. I also liked that they seem to have a long downward curving part on the blade:
http://www.fortturner.com/store/Buck.JPG
I placed the order last Thursday late night. I got an acknowledgment of receiving my order, but did not get a response to some of my questions until last Sunday.
On Sunday I got a wery friendly E-mail in which Mr. Turner apologized for the late response and explained that he was at a reenacting.
My order was shipped on Monday by USPS priority mail, and I received that morning the tracking number. The items arrived from California to St. Louis yesterday early morning, but it took me another day to receive the package.
All I can say, the service was extremely friendly, professional and fast.
When I opened the package, I had several, mostly pleasant surprises.
First of all, my shipping charges were reduced.
When you order, you have shipping&handling charges added automatically after each item. This would have made total of $16.00 in my case, but instead I was charged only $10.00.
I don't have a digital camera. so you have bear with my description.
First of all, the sheath is beautiful, made of a very strong but still very smothhly worked leather.
The handles are of fire hardened hickory, nicely polished but not slippery.
(I guess, the fire treatment hardens the surface, so it becomes more scratch resistant and easier to clean.)
The treatment causes the grain lines to appear as dark lines. On the replacement handle the grain lines are more widely separated, causing almost like a zebra hide like appearance.
The one, initially disturbing surprise was the shape of the hawk head.
I was expecting something in the lines what is shown on the website.
My hawk has a slightly shorter head measured from the back of the eye to the middle of the edge (1/4-1/2"). The edge is more straight and the blade seems to be slightly wider, both at its base (where it is forge-welded to the eye) and at the edge line (4" in straight line from the top corner of the edge to the bottom one).
While on the pictures on the website the horizontal lenghth of the eye is approximately 0.3 of the total hawk head lenghth (measured in the middle), on my it is more than 0.32, causing a quite visible difference in the appearence.
Before you jump to early conclusions, I have to tell that I specifically requested Mr. Turner to choose me a hawk which will be used both as belt axe and throwing hawk (in that order). Once I remembered that and lokked again at my hawk from a functional point of view, I more than agree with Mr. Turner's choice.
This hawk will make a heck of a chopper, and its blade is more than securely forged to the eye. Also, it seem so to me that the whole head is lighter that way. Or at least the balance is such that it is easier to control the movement when it is used as a hatchet.
The longer head makes the sticking easier during trowing, but also makes the whole tool less balanced (and so more dangerous) during chopping.
So after all, the initial "disappointment" turned out to be another positive surprise.
The finish of the axe is better than that on the pictures on the website.
The forging marks are visible. especially on the eye and on the part where the eye was forged-welded with the blade, but they are very shallow and I personally prefer that to a completely smooth surface. The transition from the eye to the blade is much smoother than on the website pictures.
The blade itself is the smoothest.
What I was secretly worried about was how well the eye will meet the handle.
I was relieved to see that ther were almost no or very little gaps between the inner surface of the eye and the handle. The fit seems to be very solid and secure.
The hawks feels surprisingly light for its size in the hands. This might be partially due to the above mentioned very good balance too.
I have not done any trowing or chopping yet, so I cannot comment on durability yet, but it seems really solid.
But the more I look at it and the more I play with it, the more I like it.
I think I have winner.
If you look for a handforged, but not expensive solid hawk with an exceptional sheath and solid but not too heavy handles, you definitely should consider a Fort Turner hawk.
http://www.fortturner.com
Also, I received a great customer service from Mr. Turner who seems to be a down to earth, honest craftsman.
Thank you, Mr. Turner.
I wanted a handforged, solid but not too expensive tomahawk.
I was eyeing the H&B hawks, but partly becuase they don't have internet order system, and partly because I liked the apparently solid handles and the wide hawk eye on the Fort Turner hawks, finally and after a long hesitation I chose the latter one. I also liked that they seem to have a long downward curving part on the blade:
http://www.fortturner.com/store/Buck.JPG
I placed the order last Thursday late night. I got an acknowledgment of receiving my order, but did not get a response to some of my questions until last Sunday.
On Sunday I got a wery friendly E-mail in which Mr. Turner apologized for the late response and explained that he was at a reenacting.
My order was shipped on Monday by USPS priority mail, and I received that morning the tracking number. The items arrived from California to St. Louis yesterday early morning, but it took me another day to receive the package.
All I can say, the service was extremely friendly, professional and fast.
When I opened the package, I had several, mostly pleasant surprises.
First of all, my shipping charges were reduced.
When you order, you have shipping&handling charges added automatically after each item. This would have made total of $16.00 in my case, but instead I was charged only $10.00.
I don't have a digital camera. so you have bear with my description.
First of all, the sheath is beautiful, made of a very strong but still very smothhly worked leather.
The handles are of fire hardened hickory, nicely polished but not slippery.
(I guess, the fire treatment hardens the surface, so it becomes more scratch resistant and easier to clean.)
The treatment causes the grain lines to appear as dark lines. On the replacement handle the grain lines are more widely separated, causing almost like a zebra hide like appearance.
The one, initially disturbing surprise was the shape of the hawk head.
I was expecting something in the lines what is shown on the website.
My hawk has a slightly shorter head measured from the back of the eye to the middle of the edge (1/4-1/2"). The edge is more straight and the blade seems to be slightly wider, both at its base (where it is forge-welded to the eye) and at the edge line (4" in straight line from the top corner of the edge to the bottom one).
While on the pictures on the website the horizontal lenghth of the eye is approximately 0.3 of the total hawk head lenghth (measured in the middle), on my it is more than 0.32, causing a quite visible difference in the appearence.
Before you jump to early conclusions, I have to tell that I specifically requested Mr. Turner to choose me a hawk which will be used both as belt axe and throwing hawk (in that order). Once I remembered that and lokked again at my hawk from a functional point of view, I more than agree with Mr. Turner's choice.
This hawk will make a heck of a chopper, and its blade is more than securely forged to the eye. Also, it seem so to me that the whole head is lighter that way. Or at least the balance is such that it is easier to control the movement when it is used as a hatchet.
The longer head makes the sticking easier during trowing, but also makes the whole tool less balanced (and so more dangerous) during chopping.
So after all, the initial "disappointment" turned out to be another positive surprise.
The finish of the axe is better than that on the pictures on the website.
The forging marks are visible. especially on the eye and on the part where the eye was forged-welded with the blade, but they are very shallow and I personally prefer that to a completely smooth surface. The transition from the eye to the blade is much smoother than on the website pictures.
The blade itself is the smoothest.
What I was secretly worried about was how well the eye will meet the handle.
I was relieved to see that ther were almost no or very little gaps between the inner surface of the eye and the handle. The fit seems to be very solid and secure.
The hawks feels surprisingly light for its size in the hands. This might be partially due to the above mentioned very good balance too.
I have not done any trowing or chopping yet, so I cannot comment on durability yet, but it seems really solid.
But the more I look at it and the more I play with it, the more I like it.
I think I have winner.
If you look for a handforged, but not expensive solid hawk with an exceptional sheath and solid but not too heavy handles, you definitely should consider a Fort Turner hawk.
http://www.fortturner.com
Also, I received a great customer service from Mr. Turner who seems to be a down to earth, honest craftsman.
Thank you, Mr. Turner.
