Ideal Hawk Handle Length

B

Brian C

Joined
Jan 22, 1999
Messages
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As we mentioned while petitioning Spark to set up this forum, general interest axe/hawk threads are spread all over BladeForums. As time permits, I'll be posting some links here to make the information easier to access.

Patte Gauche provided some good information on handle length in this thread from the ATC Forum. His points are well taken. From my own experience, I need to be ~17' from the target to get a good 1-rotation spin with an 18-19" hawk handle. By shortening the handle to 16", I can close the distance to ~14" with a significant improvement in accuracy. FWIW, choking-up on a longer handle can also close the distance but I find it both awkward & less accurate to do so.
 
Brian-
Handle lengths depend on whether you're "using" or throwing the hawk.
For "using" (field tool purposes) the handle should match head weight to balance properly (like an expensive carpenter's hammer). It has got to "feel right" and hit the same spot every time. Light hawks (1 Lb. total weight) like about a 13 to 14 inch handle. Medium hawks (1 1/4 to 1 1/2 Lb. total weight) prefer about a 16 inch handle. Heavier hawks (around 1 3/4 Lb. total weight) like a 17 inch handle. All handle lengths above are measured from the bottom of the head to the handle butt.
For throwing the handle has to match head weight and your own size, arm length, and pace length. The "standard" from-the-target distance is 6 steps (YOUR steps, not someone else's) for a 1-turn throw. Since you'll be stepping into the throw, you'll normally make your line at 7 steps. Tune the hawk to make a good stick at one rotation from that distance. If you're under-rotating (bottom of head impacts or the handle butt hits) your handle is too long. Trim a half inch off and try it again. If you're over-rotating, however, the handle was too short to begin with. Turn-and-a-half (thrown with blade edge UP) is 3 steps further back, and 2-turns yet another 3 steps back.
A sort of rule-of-thumb for throwing hawk handles is that with the head in the crook of your elbow, your middle finger should be even with the handle butt. However, that's only very approximate. A lot depends on the weight of the head and many other factors. One "truism" is that the shorter the handle, the more rapid the rate of rotation (and thus the closer you have to be).
And if you're throwing hawk and knife, the ideal is to have a set where the hawk and the knife are matched in weight and length so as to rotate the same to be thrown from the same spot.
Hope this is useful to you.
TWO HAWKS
http://www.2hawks.net
 
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