Recommendation? Looking for my first tomahawk. What to look at?

[DDDYLN]

It all depends on what your priorities are. Full tang, high carbon steel tomahawks are the sturdiest, but also the heaviest and most expensive. The sheath is also important. Do you want to carry it on your belt or strap it to your backpack, or are you okay with a ballistic nylon or leather sheath that merely covers the cutting edges, and you have to figure out your own way to carry the tomahawk? Is a survival tomahawk your primary purpose, do you only want one for combat, or do you only want one for throwing. Inexpensive, stainless steel tomahawks are fine for throwing practice. When it comes to chopping wood, the longer the handle, the easier it gets. However, full tang tomahawks with long handles get very heavy and tiresome to swing. For combat, a rear spike is preferable. The Cold Steel Trench and War Hawks are probably the best pure combat tomahawks for the money. The sheaths are decent, but lack a belt attachment. I'm not sure if trust a polypropylene or hickory handle for a survival tomahawk. The handle might break on you, abc probably will with repeated wood chopping. IMO, the Estwing tomahawk is a great beginners tomahawk. It's full tang 1055 carbon steel, but it's relatively light. It's good for combat, and decent at chopping wood. It's not going to chop wood like a camp axe/hatchet, so there is the tradeoff. The sheath is pretty lackluster. It does have a belt loop, but I would trust it. The Browning Shock'N Awe is shorter with a heavier cutting head, and has by far the best sheath. A lot of people don't like the short handle. I think both the Browning and the Estwing would make the best survival, do-everything tomahawks, unless you're willing to spend over $500 for an RMJ tomahawk. For pure camp tasks, the CRKT Kangee is probably the best tomahawk. It's full tang SK5 steel (1080HC), and it has multiple cutting edges. It's reasonably priced at $130 and it's an RMJ design. That's a decent price for a large chunk of SK5 high carbon steek, although I still think it should be less expensive. The Estwing and Cold Steel Trench and War Hawk are better self defense tomahawks.