hatchet or hawk

RescueRiley

RescueRiley

Joined
Mar 22, 2006
Messages
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have had a fiskars for a while and I love it..I'd like to move toward something with a more traditional look was thinking of maybe a small axe or a hawk..I'm sort of ona budget though for now so GB's are out of the question...I'd like something I can choke up on for rough carving as well any thoughts> thanks...
 
ugh oh.......


No, just kidding. I love my trail hawk, neat little hawk, good chopper too, and easy to sharpen.

Also, I find the rifleman hawk a little heavy for field carry.
 
Trail hawks are awesome. I have a modded frontier hawk that is a great chopper/ thrower. I like to throw hawks, it relaxes me. For a camp tool id rather have a hatchet.
Estwings are good on a budget, and can be had at home depot or lowes.

Being said, I have carried my frontier hawk into the bush, and it did everything I needed it too., but splitting wood is no contest axe or hatchet hands down.
 
My experiences mirror Fonly's about the trail hawk. It's a good piece of steel. I reprofiled mine a bit and it's improved quite a lot. The penetration is amazing with the hawk, but the draw back to this is it gets stuck in their pretty good; it takes extra work to pull it back out and slows down your chopping. Another drawback is that you've got a pretty thin length of blade to work with, so hits have to be more precise. But they look cool and are fun to throw!
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All in all, I've gone back to my Fiskars as a primary chopper in the woods. It just functions better on most of what I work with. The short length of cutting edge to the hawk was one of the major drawbacks for me, as well as length. But if you want something traditional looking, a Wetterlings seems like the best place to start looking.
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riley, tough question...

so i'm planning on getting one of each soon.

i want to get both a CS trailhawk and a wetterlings 20" axe...

i handled gene's wetterlings at the CT gathering and it was a beautiful chopper, loved the handle contours and the bit was nicely shaped and had a nice bite in wood. i don't have a really quality axe or hatchet, so i want a pure chopper so that i can start abusing the ones i have and not have to worry about sharpening as much...

but i also have read so much good about the trailhawk and at that price i just can't resist getting one to play with...if it doesn't make such a good woods tool i just might pick up the hobby of throwing hawks... but i have always been drawn to a tomahawk for a light woods chopper that is very versatile (all in theory for me so far)

but if i get both, at current prices it will cost around $70...less than a GB hatchet. (WOW the trailhawk went up a bit!)

another choice that looks like it could be fair is the trail boss axe that cold steel started making recently...
 
RescueRiley said:
have had a fiskars for a while and I love it..I'd like to move toward something with a more traditional look was thinking of maybe a small axe or a hawk..I'm sort of ona budget though for now so GB's are out of the question...I'd like something I can choke up on for rough carving as well any thoughts> thanks...
Click to expand...


It's not small, but:
Snow & Neally Penobscot Bay Kindling Axe
cspoutdoors_2007_24156350
 
Trailhawks are pretty cool. Mine works like a champ and it was a lot of fun to modify.

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I have a 15" wetterlings & a20" wetterlings - both are very nice, although the grinds are not as nice as the GBs I have seen. The edges on both of mine were very sharp, although not shaving sharp (but could easily be honed to a finer edge). They were both around $30-35 from smoky mountain knifeworks. I'd take a look there for a more traditional axe at a decent price. For a hawk, I have been sorely tempted by the trailhawk - I may have to pick one up soon.

Sam
 
I think Hawks hit harder than a short hatchet but I like the short hatchet better because of the longer (usually) cutting edge.:thumbup:
 
I have recently used my Fort Turner Hawk in the woods. Worked pretty well, light weight, more cutting edge than the Trail Hawk.
 
I know when I had my wetterlings, if it was between my trailhawk and wetterlings I would take my wetterlings.

Over all it was an awsome axe, If a gransfur was better, it have to be god like, and I dont see it getting much better.

I know the wetterlings sometimes have very nice two tone handles, A few I looked at in a local shop were in just as good shape as the gransfur's, but I suspect they were hand selected for the showcase. but either way, my 19" hunters axe was without a doubt my favorite axe.
 
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