Hawk Balance Question

[zzyzzogeton]

I've read through dozens of threads trying to find the answer to this question, with no joy.

What is a "balanced" hawk??? I've seen lots of references along the lines of "this is well balanced", "It's not very balanced." "I like the balance." But nothing on what constitutes "balanced".

Like, should the hawk balance on a pencil where the haft and the poll meet? If you hang it on a wire, does it ride kinda evenly with the blade hanging on one side and the haft on the other? Or what? Trying to figure out what I'm looking for.


ETA: I'n referring to throwing hawks, not plain ole choppers.

 

[Windwhistler]

A lot like a throwing knife, balance is sort of what someone wants it to be and gets used to throwing. For me, if I hang it on my finger at the head in front of the haft, the weight of the head should roughly equal the weight of the haft so it just hangs there. Since it is what I am used to throwing, it is "well balanced" for me and prevents over or under rotation.

 

[Windwhistler]

Everybody selling a throwing hawk says it is "well balanced." Here are three hawks we throw that are each differently balanced. I made the one with the bleeding heart and it throws the worst (it is head/handle neutral).



I prefer the head heavy hawk



while my wife loves to throw the Cold Steel axe which is haft heavy and so does my Grandson.



I think it is all what you get used to throwing. It says something about balance and stability that they sometimes throw the Cold Steel No-spin style. I have tried and can't do that at all with the head heavy ones. They want to rotate!

 

[zzyzzogeton]

Thanks for the explanation WW. Haven't started throwing hawks yet, just knives and wanted to know what to look for. Looks like it basically boils down to::
1) get a hawk
2) throw the hell out of it to see if you like it
3) repeat steps 1 and 2 until you find one you like
4) buy more of them

 

[Windwhistler]

That's about it!

The heavy one I like here is an "Early Fur Trade" Hawk from Crazy Crow Trading. I've been using them over 20 years of my 40 years throwing and have accumulated four as well as having given three away. The handles are cheap too and can be bought for about $4 each in Hickory if you buy 3. So compared to ammo costs, throwing is an awfully cheap hobby. At least that is what I tell my wife

 

[Windwhistler]

The most important thing to me is durability and conservation of momentum. I have had forged axes with thin blades and narrow shanks bend and ruin after a few hundred throws. So I like the ones with cast steel heads like the CS and heavy made thick forged ones like the "early fur trade." The heavy heads conserve momentum so when they get there they hit hard and stick well rather than bounce off. You throw knives, so you know why light ones are pretty useless. The considerably lighter but strong CS axes my wife throws (frontier and Norse axe) still work great because they take a really sharp edge and hold it. So less momentum but sharp edge still sticks and is durable.

 

[zzyzzogeton]

Well, I'm off to get the remains of a sycamore tree that a local church had to remove for expansion. Haven't measured it but it's about 30 inches in diameter and they said I can have all I want. And since sycamore is akissing cousin to cottonwood, which is what I was told by some local knife people is best (of what's available around here), I figure that should give a bunch of targets.

 

[Windwhistler]

Sweet!!