Help with Trail hawk

[cfourie]

Good day Gents

Please help i bought a Trail Hawk from Cs the one with the screw.What is the best angle to sharpen the blade for general camp use. (main use Chopping game carcass).
I understand that some people have a problem with the handle taht is to long.What would a better lenght be for me. I am 5.9 Feet and 200 pounds, i think shorter might be better but might be wrong.
How can i strenghten the handle so that it doesn,t split?
Please add some pics that would be very helpful.If somebody have pics how to decorate it nicely to make it look better please post them aswell.

Tahk you
Carl

 

[hatchetjack]

The Trail Hawk is best at light duty chopping: kindling, small branches and although I haven't tried it, it seems like it would be good at splitting a game carcass.

I would keep the blade working sharp. They usually come usable but not always the case. Remember, you're dealing with a 20 dollar hawk here. No need to shave with it as it will make the edge too thin and more prone to chipping.

I'm a bit taller than you but I find that cutting the handles to 14" - 15" suits me for handling and mainly throwing.

BTW, don't mess with the set screw. It will just gouge your handle. Better to spend some time fitting the head and handle and get used to tapping it back now and then.

Cold steel hawks are a good base for customizing as I had stated in other posts. These 2 are set screw models I personalized.

 

[Blue Sky]

Please help i bought a Trail Hawk from Cs the one with the screw.What is the best angle to sharpen the blade for general camp use. (main use Chopping game carcass).
I understand that some people have a problem with the handle taht is to long.What would a better lenght be for me. I am 5.9 Feet and 200 pounds, i think shorter might be better but might be wrong.
How can i strenghten the handle so that it doesn,t split?

I cut down my Frontier Hawk to about 15" and like it much better. I suggest you take yours out and chop a little with it while choking up on the handle different distances as you go. After a while the sweet spot for your grip will be obvious and you'll know what length is best for you. You may not want to cut it at all, who knows?

As long as the handle has a good vertical grain, a tight handle/head fit and you're not throwing it, it should be plenty strong and last a while. If you're going to be throwing, I'd buy 1 or 2 extra handles and pre-fit them because they will get broken, it just comes with the territory. They're not very expensive. I don't know if there's too much you could do to really strengthen it anyway, other than a real tight wire wrap under the head, but that's not easy to do correctly and I don't think it's necessary.

I can't help much with the angle. I reprofiled mine with a file and stone until the bevel was about 0.25" wide and it seems to working out so far. Cuts well and doesn't roll too easily. That's almost twice as wide as it was when I first got it. What the angle actually is I have no real idea.

Here's a thread that might interest you:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=366373&highlight=mods