I don't think the question is whether or not a hawk will chop as well as an axe, only that it chops well enough that the weight penalty of the heavier axe outweighs it's extra chopping power. Does it in reality? The answer is subjective at best, but the best or only way to tell is test them fairly both side by side.
Momentum = mass x velocity. To maintain equal momentum (hawk vs. axe), velocity must increase in the same proportion as mass decreases. Half the mass + double the velocity = same momentum, at least on paper. Another variable here is akin to ballistics in that a lighter bullet moving at high velocity sheds velocity faster on impact than a heavier, slower bullet. So, on paper with equal momentum they might seem equal on penetration ability in reality they are not, the heavier bullet drives deeper because it maintains it's velocity longer. I think this example applies here, where swinging a lighter hawk faster compensates for it's reduced mass but in reality you would have to swing it faster than M = m x v would indicate in order to achieve equal penetration power. None of this discredits the idea that a hawk might provide enough chopping power, it's just something that needs to be accounted for when talking physics.
pretty good, brother - i think you are missing the factor of
sectional density in the bullet parellel (and the partial equivalent in a hawk,
edge-geometry + others), you also didn't figure arcs of a
longer lighter hawk, conserving momentum over a
shorter axe of the same mass - but like the eskimos say:
good enough!
:thumbup:
i am guilty of much worse....
...........
for brother thechuck, per your question about do i
"think a hawk chops near the efficiency of an axe" - i think that is too broad of a question.
if you go through a USMC obstacle course with a hawk of any length i want, and you do so again,
fresh, with
an axe of any configuration you like for chopping down small forests, ...and then we chop down anything you want immediately after finishing the course each time,
i bet the hawk will be faster.
you will have more energy left, with the hawk.
energy reserves, fellow-babies.
i also think that a
24 inch, 24 ounce hawk (with my handle on it) will beat an axe or hatchet that is
24 ounces, and any length. - because that axe will be shorter, unless it is made of
titanium maybe, and then it will be prohibitively expensive, and thereby irrelevant, at least to non-wookies.
like i said: an axe
will chop better, but a
hawk will catch up to it, the longer the axe has to be static as a tool
(humping and carrying).
your body will get nuked wielding an axe all day too - not so much, when you choose the hawk.
if endurance is involved, hawks should be the go-to over an axe.
i'm not talking about
ten logs.
i am talking about
Life and
Death.
the weight issue of a hawk vs. an axe is relatively unimportant in shelter making too, i reckon - and this is why...;
are you making a lean-to? - a hawk will probably be faster against an experienced axe-man just out of the car, it might not - but run two miles and see what happens, or make TEN shelters.
i am betting on the hawk still.
i am not defending hawks, fellow-babies - i am perfectly willing to put a handle on an axe, and have plans to produce a handle for good axes in the future - i am simply placing hawks ahead of axes
when i am out roughing it.
i think hawks suck at cording wood, but i wouldn't be too upset if it was all i had, with one of my composite handles on it
(i would trust wood, if i could get a decent piece of it at the store consistently - but composites will always be stronger and lighter, if i have any say in how they are constructed).
the
primary issue that i have with an axe over a long hawk is the difference in
Weight and Balance.
the
secondary issue is that axes suck in active combat, next to a proper
long hawk.
i've got scars all over my body from humping
HEAVY weaps and gear in the Beloved Corps - it was stupid, but i had no choice - orders were orders...;
....i want SPEED,
as much speed getting there, as i do
getting it done, once i arrive..
i want a hawk.
lastly,
comparing an axe and a hawk is like comparing a trained Arctic wolf and a domesticated Cheetah.
they just aren't the same thing, even though they are roughly the same outline and mass.
i'd love to have both!
good thread.
vec
