I wanted to post a quick "calculator" as to how much cordage you would need to wrap a certain length of tomahawk handle. The cord is standard 550 cord, not gutted, not soaked, stretched as much as my bare hands will allow. The haft is the standard 19" long hickory handle that Cold Steel provides; of course, thicker or thinner handles will require more or less cordage. The length listed refers to the total length of the cordage, including the two long strands underneath that act as anchors (illustration #1 below).
Every inch of wrapped handle you want will require 27" of 550 cord. That's seven coils for those counting.
27" of cordage per inch of wrapped handle, shown with the standard 19" haft...
Here's my Norse Hawk, which is sporting 5-1/2" of wrapping - the right amount of wrapping required for my size XL hands...
So, the formula is 27" of cord per 1" of handle length you want.
Based on this, 5-1/2" of wrapped handle times 27" of cordage for every inch means that I have 148-1/2" (12 feet, 4-1/2 inches) of cord on the Norse Hawk.
Hopefully this comes in handy... "I want to wrap my hawk handle, but don't know how much cord I need..."
27" multiplied by the total wrapped handle length you want.
You can also measure your already-wrapped handle and determine how much cordage you already have on it (like with the Norse Hawk example enough).
Every inch of wrapped handle you want will require 27" of 550 cord. That's seven coils for those counting.
27" of cordage per inch of wrapped handle, shown with the standard 19" haft...
Here's my Norse Hawk, which is sporting 5-1/2" of wrapping - the right amount of wrapping required for my size XL hands...
So, the formula is 27" of cord per 1" of handle length you want.
Based on this, 5-1/2" of wrapped handle times 27" of cordage for every inch means that I have 148-1/2" (12 feet, 4-1/2 inches) of cord on the Norse Hawk.
Hopefully this comes in handy... "I want to wrap my hawk handle, but don't know how much cord I need..."
27" multiplied by the total wrapped handle length you want.
You can also measure your already-wrapped handle and determine how much cordage you already have on it (like with the Norse Hawk example enough).
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