Hawks

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BuckShott

Joined
Oct 28, 2002
Messages
2
Hello all
i new to this forum and just wanted to say hello. ALso im looking for a good tomahawk to add to my tactical gear and I didnt really know if i could afford one of the "vietnam hawks" though they are cool, i suppose i could use just one of the typical round eye,18th century trade type with the wood handle, or maybe one of the black hawks with the removable, spike and such anyone got any suggestions?
buck
 
ATC just came out with a hawk for 95.00 bucks I think called the Paul Brend Fighting hatchet...It's all one piece and comes with paracord so you can wrap it to your liking...

heres the link...

http://www.americantomahawk.com/catalog/brend.htm

PS: The VT Tac for 180.00 is totally worth it if u can scrape up the extra dough...;)
 
you can also make your own .Just get a good old ""hand fordge ""
hatchet and go to grinding on it I pick these up at flea markets
for a couple of bucks I also use a ""line mens ax "" It has a spike on one end . I just picked up so cool hawks and Bolos in S.E.A.
Good Luck
have fun
Kano
 
I'd highly recommend an H&B forge tomahawk. Their squaw hawk is perfect size for a tactical hawk and you can wrap it with paracord yourself. You really can't find a better deal than H&B forge. Check them out at hbforge.com

Ryan
 
Dear BuckShott,
You don't need a spike on a tactical hawk (and a
hammer poll is a lot more useful in a survival
situation). There's a lot of other edge geometry
to think about if you seriously intend the thing
as primarily a fighting hawk.
If you absolutely have to have a spike the best
engineering today is the excellent all-steel Eagle
Talon by Ryan Johnson (who pioneered the integral
combat hawk). They aren't cheap but they are the
best I have seen, best steel, and best design from
a 1700's fighting hawk.
Personally, I build reinforced-poll and hammer-poll
military finish hawks for those who need them, but
they are more traditional with wood handles.
It's up to you, and the price range runs from about
$19.95 for cheap overseas Vietnam Hawk knock-offs
made from pot metal to the highest quality $375 to
$400 super-tools. Take a close look at all of them
before you make a decision and think a lot about
what you actually need the tool for.
Best regards,
Two Hawks
http://www.2hawks.net
 
I got a few of them and they work fine... they take a good edge and the balance is adequate.

Knifecenter and coldsteel.com carry the vietnam version, while most other places carry the more prominent of the Cold Steel line... the riflemans hawk, Norse Hawk and the Frontier hawk.

Also, there is one more called the trail hawk which is close to the size of the Vietnam Hawk, but with a hammer end as opposed to a spike end.

All these hawks run between 25 and 50 dollars.
 
Get anything by H&B. Cold Steel's hawks are a waste of time and money. Their intended audience is teenage boys IMO. There is another company on line calle Ragnar's Ragweed Forge. He doesn't actually make them himself, but the Allan Foundary and Slazinski Foundary hawks have a good reputation as well.
Go with an H&B.
 
The money already spent, and the testing already scheduled.

They seem to take on a good edge, although the wood handle quality seems a little on the low side. However, wood quality is hit and miss since wood performance is not easy to predict.

For the sake of analysis, what are your observations that lead you to the conclusion about Cold Steel Hawks?
 
Cold Steel normally does not make any mistakes on the metallurgy of their heads. The ones made by overseas contractors are governed by the Cold Steel QC folks and aren't cheap metal. The handles are something else entirely and run to Asian hardwood poorly fitted. Consider the Cold Steel heads as raw materials for making a good hawk.
H&B Forge produces probably the best forged heads you can get on the market. They are solid with good hammer welds and no layer splits between the mild-steel base and the high-carbon edge. Like any forged head they are irregular but their eyes are cleaner than a lot I have seen (though the shape is inconsistent). I quit using forgings quite a while ago as precision investment castings give me metal that is easier to work with.
Am not familiar with Szilanski's castings but have not heard anything bad about them. Allan Foundry does custom pours for me from my proprietary molds in 6150 vanadium spring steel and also does a lot of gun parts etc. for other manufacturers. As far as I know the bulk heads they do for sellers like Track of the Wolf are now poured in 410 stainless steel and won't take a traditional blue or brown finish if you clean off the black spray paint. Their castings are pretty clean and rejects are unusual (have averaged about 2 percent since they started pouring heads for me). The investment castings are a LOT less likely to have rejects than forgings which is why I use them for head material now.
Hope this information helps.
TWO HAWKS
http://www.2hawks.net
 
I got one of the Viking CS hawks several years ago. The edge bevels are not done very well. The edge is too thick to be useful. However if you have a grinder, or a lot of patience and a file, you can fix it up. Ragnar's also sells replacement handles that are top notch.
 
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