Hawk & blade maybe?

[RokJok]

I'm interested in combining a tomahawk (probably ATC Next Generation Ranger Spike hawk or tactical grade Vietnam hawk) with one of the bigger Busse combat grade knives, most likely a Steel Heart.

It strikes me that these two tools would go a long way as foundation pieces for a versatile kit that would stand you in good stead in a wide range of situations. The knife would cover all the usual cutting chores, food prep, limbing for shelter construction, poking & lighter levering, moderate chopping/hammering/smashing, and H2H combat. The hawk would come into play for more rigorous entry or intrusion work, heavier prying & levering, more serious chopping/hammering/smashing of thicker trees & materials, and H2H combat. Special thanks to Robert Humelbaugh at Survival Sheath Systems for alerting me to the potential that a hawk still offers in today's world.

Do any of you out there currently carry a hawk & blade combination? If so, can you offer any recommendations or tips on what to look for (and look out for) in the hawk, and when/where/how do you find the tools useful (especially non-intuitive uses)?

Thanks in advance,
Greg

 

[DancesWithKnives]

Greg,

There have been some discussions on use of the Vietnam style hawks for wilderness camping, etc. It was mentioned that the hawk spikes are good for busting up logs to look for grubs (for fishing bait) or dry tinder and for digging. In some other threads several of our forumites have described how useful their hawks are for skinning big game. However, I can't think of many non-intuitive uses right now.

I usually carry a Two Hawks Longhunter ( www.2hawks.net ) and a Busse Basic 7, but I have a couple other combinations that I also like. What I'd really love is the Fowler/Szilaski set----but it would probably be in a display case!

What to look for in a hawk depends a lot upon intended applications. If you are going to pound a lot of stakes, the hammer poll on the Two Hawks Longhunter may be more useful than a spike. If you are going to skin with your hawk, the curvature of the Competition model's edge is pretty handy.