- Joined
- Nov 29, 2000
- Messages
- 1,926
I've seen recently many posts here asking advice for some cheaper but still reliable user tomahawks.
I was in similar position about 2 years ago, and thought that sharing my limited experience I've gained since then might help others too.
As I said, about 2 years ago I decided to get a hawk, which I could use mainly as a camp hatchet during hiking or camping but also would throw well. Price was also an important consideration for me.
After doing a lot of search on the net, including Bladeforums and other forums too, I purchased a Cold Steel Trail Hawk which was on sale on Smokey Mountain Knife Works at the time.
I went with the Trail Hawk because many people were reporting it to be both a good thrower as well as a decent chopping and hammering tool.
I liked the looks, the narrow bit, the hammer poll, the wide sides of the eye, the light weight, and also the price, which made it the cheapest production hawk which had a lot of positive feedback.
I never handled any hawk in person before, so when it arrived, it was a positive and a negative surprise in the same time.
First the positives:
It turned out to have a nice, thin bit which makes it an excellent wood chopping tool. It is not suited for splitting thicker logs though, however it is excellent for procuring rapidly some firewood, knidlings, branches and small diameter trunks. The thin profile appears to make it suitable for skinning too, as reported by others.
The hardened hammer head looked nicer than it appeared on the photos and was reported to take some serious pounding.
A lot of people reported loose or easily loosening handles. I got probably lucky, because mine stayed on for a long time, and was easy to retighten when finally loosened up.
I also ordered a spare handle, and that one was one of the nicest straight grained hickory handles I've ever seen. The original handle on the hawk however wasn't so nice.
I count among the positives the fact that it was machined in Taiwan too, from a decent alloy steel using machine forging. Taiwan produces a lot of good quality tools nowadays, they are higher quality than the ones made in mainland China e.g. or India.
The negatives:
These are mainly subjective, others might find the very same features desirable.
I found the hawk too handle heavy for my own liking. Due to the large diameter eye it requires a quite large, thick handle. This is good in a way, that a thicker handle is less likely to break, but in the same time this changes the overall balance of the hawk too. Since the whole hawk is relatively light, the heavier handles made it less balanced for me, than I would have preferred it. Guys with larger hands might actually prefer the thicker handle.
Another disturbing for me thing was the long, thin and relatively light bit which required much more precise aim, when swung for chopping.
Combined with the thicker handles, it made me feel like it was more prone to glance. It did not glance easily actually, on the contrary, it would easily bind in softer wood. But the feeling was always there, and this feeling of "something being not right" is not something one would like to have for example in distress.
So even though, the Trail Hawk is a very nice tool for the money, I decided to try something else.
I was considering to try a more expensive, handforged hawk.
The Bear Mountain and Ranger hawks are both very nice looking and reported to be very tough, but I considered them too expensive for my budget.
I was considering the cheaper, but reliable H&B hawks.
Around that time I've read the first positive reports on the Fort Turners.
I ended up ordering the Fort Turner Buck hawk, and I was very much impressed. Even though it does not have a hammer poll, it is overall an excellent, relatively light hawk.
I liked it so much I ordered a larger, heavier custom hawk too. I like it very much too, but I still prefer the original Buck hawk for trail duties or camping, due to its lighter weight. Both have excellent balance, and gave me the sense of stability the CS Trail Hawk lacked.
I reviewed both of these on the forum, and based on my experience with these 2 FT products I highly recommend the Fort Turners to anyone looking for inexpensive but quality handforged hawks.
Recently, for no other reason, than curiosity, I've ordered a H&B Forge Shawnee hawk too.
It turned out to be heavier and thicker bladed than the Fort Turners, with slightly thicker handle too. It came with a blunt edge, more suited for throwing than for woodcraft.
I prefer the lighter weight, the rustic look, the smoother handle treatment and the better quality sheath of the Fort Turners, but the H&B is high quality, very well balanced tool too. Actually, due to the larger weight, the H&B sticks easily too, but is a little bit more tiring to carry around or throw for a long time.
And just last week I received an Allan Foundry cast carbon steel tomahawk from Ragnar at Ragweed Forge:
http://www.ragweedforge.com/ThrowingCatalog.html
I ordered the carbon steel version of the Octagon hawk. Ragnar heat treats these carbon cast hawk heads himself and sharpens them to produce a shaving sharp edge, and finally puts on the handles.:thumbup: :thumbup:
This hawk has very similar handle to the Fort Turner Buck hawk's one.
The balance is excellent. Ragnar's handle treatment produced a silky smooth yet not slippery surface, the best surface treatment on hawk handles I've felt so far. Also, this hawk came with the best edge of all of the above, both as profile and sharpness concerned.:thumbup: :thumbup:
While this hawk was the most expensive (at $54) of the above, I can easily recommend it for the quality. You get a properly heat treated and sharpened quality head and a quality handle which is very securely attached to the head.
In retrospect, if I had to choose only one, I could not do it even with my present experience.
I would pick both a Fort Turner and Ragnar's Allan cast one.
Guys with larger hands might as well choose an H&B.
Judging from the reports on and my own experience with the Cold Steels, those can be a hit or miss, and even the good ones might require additional customizing not necessary with the above 3.
Hope all this was of some help to people new to hawks.
I was in similar position about 2 years ago, and thought that sharing my limited experience I've gained since then might help others too.
As I said, about 2 years ago I decided to get a hawk, which I could use mainly as a camp hatchet during hiking or camping but also would throw well. Price was also an important consideration for me.
After doing a lot of search on the net, including Bladeforums and other forums too, I purchased a Cold Steel Trail Hawk which was on sale on Smokey Mountain Knife Works at the time.
I went with the Trail Hawk because many people were reporting it to be both a good thrower as well as a decent chopping and hammering tool.
I liked the looks, the narrow bit, the hammer poll, the wide sides of the eye, the light weight, and also the price, which made it the cheapest production hawk which had a lot of positive feedback.
I never handled any hawk in person before, so when it arrived, it was a positive and a negative surprise in the same time.
First the positives:
It turned out to have a nice, thin bit which makes it an excellent wood chopping tool. It is not suited for splitting thicker logs though, however it is excellent for procuring rapidly some firewood, knidlings, branches and small diameter trunks. The thin profile appears to make it suitable for skinning too, as reported by others.
The hardened hammer head looked nicer than it appeared on the photos and was reported to take some serious pounding.
A lot of people reported loose or easily loosening handles. I got probably lucky, because mine stayed on for a long time, and was easy to retighten when finally loosened up.
I also ordered a spare handle, and that one was one of the nicest straight grained hickory handles I've ever seen. The original handle on the hawk however wasn't so nice.
I count among the positives the fact that it was machined in Taiwan too, from a decent alloy steel using machine forging. Taiwan produces a lot of good quality tools nowadays, they are higher quality than the ones made in mainland China e.g. or India.
The negatives:
These are mainly subjective, others might find the very same features desirable.
I found the hawk too handle heavy for my own liking. Due to the large diameter eye it requires a quite large, thick handle. This is good in a way, that a thicker handle is less likely to break, but in the same time this changes the overall balance of the hawk too. Since the whole hawk is relatively light, the heavier handles made it less balanced for me, than I would have preferred it. Guys with larger hands might actually prefer the thicker handle.
Another disturbing for me thing was the long, thin and relatively light bit which required much more precise aim, when swung for chopping.
Combined with the thicker handles, it made me feel like it was more prone to glance. It did not glance easily actually, on the contrary, it would easily bind in softer wood. But the feeling was always there, and this feeling of "something being not right" is not something one would like to have for example in distress.
So even though, the Trail Hawk is a very nice tool for the money, I decided to try something else.
I was considering to try a more expensive, handforged hawk.
The Bear Mountain and Ranger hawks are both very nice looking and reported to be very tough, but I considered them too expensive for my budget.
I was considering the cheaper, but reliable H&B hawks.
Around that time I've read the first positive reports on the Fort Turners.
I ended up ordering the Fort Turner Buck hawk, and I was very much impressed. Even though it does not have a hammer poll, it is overall an excellent, relatively light hawk.
I liked it so much I ordered a larger, heavier custom hawk too. I like it very much too, but I still prefer the original Buck hawk for trail duties or camping, due to its lighter weight. Both have excellent balance, and gave me the sense of stability the CS Trail Hawk lacked.
I reviewed both of these on the forum, and based on my experience with these 2 FT products I highly recommend the Fort Turners to anyone looking for inexpensive but quality handforged hawks.
Recently, for no other reason, than curiosity, I've ordered a H&B Forge Shawnee hawk too.
It turned out to be heavier and thicker bladed than the Fort Turners, with slightly thicker handle too. It came with a blunt edge, more suited for throwing than for woodcraft.
I prefer the lighter weight, the rustic look, the smoother handle treatment and the better quality sheath of the Fort Turners, but the H&B is high quality, very well balanced tool too. Actually, due to the larger weight, the H&B sticks easily too, but is a little bit more tiring to carry around or throw for a long time.
And just last week I received an Allan Foundry cast carbon steel tomahawk from Ragnar at Ragweed Forge:
http://www.ragweedforge.com/ThrowingCatalog.html
I ordered the carbon steel version of the Octagon hawk. Ragnar heat treats these carbon cast hawk heads himself and sharpens them to produce a shaving sharp edge, and finally puts on the handles.:thumbup: :thumbup:
This hawk has very similar handle to the Fort Turner Buck hawk's one.
The balance is excellent. Ragnar's handle treatment produced a silky smooth yet not slippery surface, the best surface treatment on hawk handles I've felt so far. Also, this hawk came with the best edge of all of the above, both as profile and sharpness concerned.:thumbup: :thumbup:
While this hawk was the most expensive (at $54) of the above, I can easily recommend it for the quality. You get a properly heat treated and sharpened quality head and a quality handle which is very securely attached to the head.
In retrospect, if I had to choose only one, I could not do it even with my present experience.
I would pick both a Fort Turner and Ragnar's Allan cast one.
Guys with larger hands might as well choose an H&B.
Judging from the reports on and my own experience with the Cold Steels, those can be a hit or miss, and even the good ones might require additional customizing not necessary with the above 3.
Hope all this was of some help to people new to hawks.
