I like the PSI on a hawk too for getting deeper penetration into wood than with my kuks. Maybe I should think about reprofiling my kuks as a lot of you guys seem to be getting better chops with the kuk. We really gotta do some choping comparisons with hawk and kuks of EQUAL weight. Vec, I agree on the PSI thing, that's what really turned me on to the trailhawk when I first started using it. I was amazed at how well it chopped. But, I got a Fort Turner hawk made to my specs and I'm really loving it. The blade is a bit longer which helps me avoid misses on wood, but I still get a lot of PSI due to the slight angle of blade down and in towards the handle (think Francisca, just more utilitarian). I'll try and post pics soon, but I'm liking it so far, and it is as light, if not lighter than the trailhawk. Next one I'll see if FT can use 5160 for it.
they are definitely all good tools - we should never get too heated about which is better IMHO.
i'd really like an industry standard that, when an item was sold,
the weight, balance point, length, and stock thickness (at least) were shown, with at least three perspectives on the tool.
there is also no accepted standard on what a knife or tomahawk
is, or even a khukri - all of which can change drastically in performance with small,
sometimes invisible, design modifications, such as change from carbon steel to stainless, changes in the material on the butt of a handle, etc.
i think if you have no patience and no idea of how to maximize the use of a proper hawk in field tasks
(among other factors), and you tend to get overwhelmed in combatives
(no shame in that BTW IMHO, not everyone is a fighter), the khukri is the better choice
(by a hair) - but a lot of people seem to be good at hurting themselves with a khukri IME, compared to novices with hawks;
this is really key to me in tool selection, because i often teach bushcraft to females and small people -
to me handing them a khukri is like handing a novice shotoer a .50 BMG and saying
go have fun. - they might have fun, but they are potentially going to be injured, and they won't be effective unless they are some sort of chopping
idiot savant. - meanwhile, a light machete and proper long hawk, with a couple minutes of how to hold the hawk especially, turns a novice into something formidable in the woods, as well as in a fight, ...and that what i personally am interested in - a tool or tools that is
very general purpose, and
a little on the light side - plus redundancy doesn't hurt, hence my appreciation for the
"two fister technique" of having a hawk and a machete.
....so going back to
proper classification - when i say
"proper hawks" - that is
a tomahawk that weighs about one ounce per inch of its length - anything ten percent more or less is a differnt animal, often a forest axe or Belt Axe one way, and what i would consider a battle-specific hawk if you went lighter. - people pick just about anything up that is relatively light with a head on it, that has completely different characteristics than a hawk, then they
(commonly) add their ignorance of
hawk techniques - which i find critical to using a hawk to one's satisfaction, and they have a bad go of it and then decide hawks are no good - when they never touched a proper hawk in the first place.
.........
brother 'wolf - i like the field knife and hawk combo too, and i usually have the field knife on my belt gear for when i separate from my larger tools and shelter for just going and getting water, etc. - but the long knife or machete is not replaceable in the combination in most instances outside of combatives IME, because the short machete or long knife is so good for making snow shelters and wind walls, etc.
(for me, at least) - i can't be completely contented without a
long blade. - that's another reason why i don't favor the khukris - i use the stabbing feature a lot on my long blades, particularly
horizontal stabs, when making shelters, and a tip-heavy khukri tuckers my old bones out a little too soon in that regard -
sure, there is always a work-around, but i prefer bowies or machetes for that task, amongst others.
still,
it must be repeated, they are all good tools - they are the best ones, in fact IMHO - i'd be stoked to be stuck with any one of them singly, and pleased as peaches to have a combination of any of them in the field.
we owe it to ourselves to be very familiar with all three, the proper hawk, long knife, and khukris.
vec
:thumbup:
), even my low-PSI Ang Khola with go through in one or two swings, depending on the wood. It's also got the longer edge, so it does machete work as well. I know you carry a machete to cover that option, but what attracted me to kukri was that I could replace the hatchet, machete, and BFK with one tool. The reason I picked such a heavy kukri of such length is that one of my criteria is that it had to chop as well or better than my 19" hatchet. The fact that they can cover all those bases, and the users/makers are smart enough to include a small knife for detail work makes them a "survival system" of their own. Nothing else is really needed for outdoors work, living or survival.
