Links to Native American / Frontier Tomahawk Decorations

Chris John said:
Hi hawkers .
this site has a few hawks ,
worth a bit of a look.
Chris,http://issuu.com/dreamedia/docs/catalog_142_issuu/1
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This is a great site. I guess it finally hitting me too that there seems to be two groups of what I was considering tomahawks. One group obviously for a weapon, long and seemingly thin handles, light heads, etc, and the other group I guess really more of the belt or trade hatchet meant for use with heavier heads, shorter handles, maybe not the decorations that I was thinking about. I think in my mind I was kind of mixing them all together. Was the burn marking of the handles that a lot of us do for decoration actually from that period? Was it more of a white man thing for trade hatchets or a NAmerican thing for tomahawks or just something that someone came up with later? Why was it started, did it evolved from some sort of process or did someone come up with it strictly for decoration? I think some of the hawk mods that I working on I'm going to quit worry necessarily about the chopping ability because their not really designed for that and think of them as just cool looking tomahawks that are reallyl more of a fighting weapon. I may be off base here.
 
Triquetra said:
This is a great site. I guess it finally hitting me too that there seems to be two groups of what I was considering tomahawks. One group obviously for a weapon, long and seemingly thin handles, light heads, etc, and the other group I guess really more of the belt or trade hatchet meant for use with heavier heads, shorter handles, maybe not the decorations that I was thinking about. I think in my mind I was kind of mixing them all together. Was the burn marking of the handles that a lot of us do for decoration actually from that period? Was it more of a white man thing for trade hatchets or a NAmerican thing for tomahawks or just something that someone came up with later? Why was it started, did it evolved from some sort of process or did someone come up with it strictly for decoration? I think some of the hawk mods that I working on I'm going to quit worry necessarily about the chopping ability because their not really designed for that and think of them as just cool looking tomahawks that are reallyl more of a fighting weapon. I may be off base here.
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Hi there Triquetra
I have seen early hawks that were likely still on the original haft With burnt rings so it's an early decoration. So few hawks exist with original hafts that it's difficult to say how many were decorated with what. I have seen quite a few Sacred Pipes with burnt decoration so It does seem likely it was a thing the people did on more than just hawk handles.When doing research one has to look at what is available from the old days to be able to say exactly what was decorated with what. If one thinks about it from a warriors point of view I think you have to come to the conclusion that they would not likely hang a lot of stuff on a hawks simply because it would impede it's purpose. Although small warriors talisman tied to the handle I have seen and can see them doing, also scalp locks because the scalp gave the holder the fighting Spirit of the Warrior it belonged to.
Unfortunately Native culture is a huge mishmash at this time due to governments pretty much banning First Nations culture over 100 years ago. Movies of the 50s and 60s of course influenced peoples perception of what Native people were like in the 19th century and before. Native culture was very rich with each Tribe doing things slightly differently in areas adjacent, ie: the cree and their neighbours the Ojibwa both did bead work, both were influenced by English patterns for flowers etc that were in fact taken from oriental carpets, a real mishmash. What in fact has happened is, Native artists have to a great extent have been influenced by what white folks think is native art or crafts so produce it. Some do very authentic pieces with close links to what was done traditionally be their tribe some make dream catchers. I think when people think of native art dream catchers come to mind in a great many cases. Dream catchers were not made in antiquety in fact an old friend of mine Manny Two Feathers pretty much started the craze in the early 70s. He sold zillions of the things at Pow wows and then to stores, then every native artist jumped on the bandwagon. The Only reference I have ever seen to anything that looks similar to dream catchers were small rings that heavy Medicine men wore, men like Sitting Bull sometimes carried these but history would tell us that it was likely meant to represent a Spider web. Anyway, after this ramble ;-)) what I would say is, decorate your hawk with what pleases you ;-))))

Best regards

Robin
 
Hi Triquetra.
As we have seen in some pix they did personalize there hawks to
a certain extent to suit themselves and the times and the material they had .
After the great wars so to speak the decoration on hawks
probably became more and more as its use diminished .

I think the time period dictates a lot, but im only guessing,
do as Robin said decorate with what you want .
we would love to see your work thank you.
Chris
 
Robin, Randy, sorry I haven't responded to your in put in the last few days. I have been very busy getting everything in order so I can head back to the "Old North State" on Monday. My mom is not doing to well in a nursing home in Denton and I'm heading back to see her. I will even get to enjoy some frog legs at American Roadhouse while I'm there Randy. Thanks for all the good info and links guys. I'm learning more and more about hawks. Most of the last 30 years I was hunting, fishing, and learning about the Alaskan wilderness and life style. I learned to use an ulu to dress game and fish though. I'll check in on you guys while I'm back east.
 
HandAxeProMan said:
Robin, Randy, sorry I haven't responded to your in put in the last few days. I have been very busy getting everything in order so I can head back to the "Old North State" on Monday. My mom is not doing to well in a nursing home in Denton and I'm heading back to see her. I will even get to enjoy some frog legs at American Roadhouse while I'm there Randy. Thanks for all the good info and links guys. I'm learning more and more about hawks. Most of the last 30 years I was hunting, fishing, and learning about the Alaskan wilderness and life style. I learned to use an ulu to dress game and fish though. I'll check in on you guys while I'm back east.
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Sorry to hear about your Mother Howard, It's good that you're going to spend some time with her. Have a safe trip.

Best regards

Robin
 
Howard, hope you Mom is fine. PM me when you are in town, maybe we can meet. Show season is lasting long this year so I'm traveling a lot but maybe. And I ate frog legs at Roadhouse last nite, AWESOME.....Randy
 
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