M48 Hawk broken in less thank a day..

A

aquamander

Joined
Dec 27, 2014
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Hello all in the forum! Broken in less than a day...

I needed to ask you good folks because I can't seem to find the answers I need.

My parents bought my son a M48 for Christmas, and he really likes it. So he went out and set up his throwing target next to his archery range.

The handle broke in less than a day. I would guess he's probably thrown it 100 times or so. He's pretty good at it already, he has his distance to tumble range pretty much figured out.

My question is, is anyone manufacturing a upgrade for the handle? I couldn't seem to google one up. I'm sure that United will warranty the hawk, I was just wondering if anyone was making another option...

Looking at the fracture, I can see that it is a manufacturing defect, that should be a concern to people. The handle part went flying off in the other direction when it broke. Looking at the fracture I noticed an air bubble in the molding which is the weak spot that caused it to fail.

I'll post some pics for it soon..
 
If your creative you can come up with a wooden handle alternative. May take a little work though. There was a guy here that did custom composite handles for Hawks but I've not seen him around in some time and forget his name.

These Hawks are notorious for breaking. Very dangerous to the user and anyone close by. Outside of a show piece, I wouldn't use one for anything.
 
Really? Wow thanks Snake!

I had no idea they were so cheap. This was something he wanted his grandparents to get him for Christmas. One of the first questions I asked him was if he had done any research on tomahawks, and did he select this one because it looked cool over functionality/durability.

Of course his answer was no.

Do you have any recommendations for a replacement? I don't want him throwing around something that could break and injure him or another.

The reason this one broke was because the molding is flawed. There was an air bubble in the molding that weakened the handle. Another thing I noticed was the core is hollow (if that isn't a defect also) I couldn't imagine why that wouldn't be solid throughout the handle. Seems they would inject resin around a fiberglass core. Very unlikely that would ever break.
 
Modern hawks I can't help but if he wants a traditional one check out H & B Forge.
 
A similar failure:

Bigfatts said:
So I went to my local pusher's shop today and saw these M48 Tomahawks. I've been looking for something less expensive to use than my 2Hawks and thought it was a nice looking piece. Maybe some light chopping, some throwing maybe. Well it was right at $40 so I took it home. Stopped by my mom's house on the way home and took it out in the woods. Doing some light chopping on a Rain Tree that needed some cutting back and it lasted exactly 3 chops. Chop- chop- SNAP! The handle snapped right below where it attaches to the head tang. Thank God I was only swinging lightly. If I had really been chopping hard, I might have gotten stuck. The head shot past and I was left with a useless little stick. Not even 5 minutes of use. I didn't have a camera with me so I couldn't get pics until I got home. Couldn't get a pic of what I was chopping. Soft light wood though.

I emailed United and told them what happenned. Waiting to see what they say.

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United offered to replace the handle for this one.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/994677-United-M48-Tomahawk-FAIL!
 
Wow. I never looked into that particular hawk because I knew it was el cheapo, but I thought that it had a full length tang. Oh, well.
 
Aquamander, if you like the idea of a composite handle, your not going to do any better than the VTAC. It's built for extremely hard use. I've got numerous threas posted here on that model. Your not going to break the handle. Plan on spending $100 to $120 for one.

I'm not your guy for traditional style Hawks, so I can't give much advice there. I know Wolf and Legion12 has more experience in that department.

Your next step up is going to be full tang (all steel construction) Hawks. I own and have used and abused many of contemporary styled tomahawks.......outside of the VTAC, I would go with something along the lines of a Kill Devil (probably my favorite hawk of all time along with the VTAC), RMJ, Winkler or a Tracker Dan (Grey Matter)

Hardcore Hardware tomahawks have always appealed to me, but I've never had a chance to use one. Some may like the idea of Omnivore tomahawks.......but personally I think they are more style over substance. Maybe I'm wrong.....again.....I've never used one, but Ive put enough Hawks through the paces to have a decent idea.

Helms tomahawks also seem to be well proven and have a very solid design.

Plan on spending more for these full tang designs. $150 and up.
 
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Snakebreaker said:
I'm not your guy for traditional style Hawks, so I can't give much advice there. I know Wolf and Legion12 has more experience in that department.
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It's not that I think the modern "tactical" tomahawks are junk. They're just not for me. I like being able to decorate my tomahawks in traditional ways,
and I like the option of being able to change the handle out for something longer if I like. You really can't do either with the modern full tang tomahawks.

The V-Tac is probably the first modern standard for a tomahawk, but it's very, very short. After 30+ years of using traditional tomahawks with handles
in about the 20" to 25" range, that super short length actually is a handicap for me. They throw very well though; probably the best throwers of any
modern style tomahawk I've tried.

Something which has changed for me recently is that H&B forge has changed my preference for handle lengths. It used to be I *had* to have about 22"+ of
haft. I had two customs made for me by H&B - a Viking Mammen Axe and a spike tomahawk, and they balanced out so perfectly with their stock 19.5"
handles that I left them alone and learned to love them even more. But that's about as short as I'm willing to go. I like having some reach, and I just don't
get any reach with the V-Tac. If that short length works better for someone else though, that's groovy.

I recently got to handle one of the longer RMJ's - the longer one in his tac-hawk line-up. Proportionately the size of the head works for the handle length.
But the balance of the full-tang construction feels really weird to me. Seems to be truly built like a tank though. You could probably break it, but that's not
too doggone likely. You could probably dissect a Humvee with that thing.
 
Thanks for all the advice Snake and Wolf.

You guys obviously know much more about hawks than I, (I play guitars and ride bicycles...)

This is what I told my son to do prior to asking for that kind of a gift. I wanted him to do his research so he would know what he was buying and it's quality.

Steve,

In looking at your broken hawk, I see that it has the same manufacturing flaw that my son's m48 did. If you look at the molding where it's broken, you can see an air pocket in the leading edge of the handle. ( the hollow part confuses me because they could have molded around a solid fiberglass core and then you would have a pretty sturdy handle that I doubt you would break....maybe.

That being said, due to the cheapness of the composite it would just fracture at the terminus of the core.

Anyway, the flaw I see is the huge air pocket in the front of the handle. That's one of several chinks in the armor I see.

I work with composites everyday. I have built hundreds of molds for various applications in the DoD aerospace industry. A bubble like that in my line of work would never make it passed QC. If we molded a piece like that, we would cut up the first 5-10 to look just for that kind of defect. It would tell us that 1) the composite in the resin was flowing evenly, and 2) the operating temperature of the mold/material was hot enough to expel any gas that might get trapped.

The resin's impact resistance isn't consistent with the desired application, unless of course you want to have it for a display piece as Snake mentioned before.

Steve, your lucky that thing didn't take out an eye, or split your head at the very least. Based solely on what I have said here, and thirty years of experience...I think these things are unsafe. Regardless of the cost of the hawk, it shouldn't bear the name "Field Tested" on the box and in their marketing if there is any risk of injury due to use.
 
aquamander said:
Steve,

In looking at your broken hawk, I see that it has the same manufacturing flaw that my son's m48 did. If you look at the molding where it's broken, you can see an air pocket in the leading edge of the handle. ( the hollow part confuses me because they could have molded around a solid fiberglass core and then you would have a pretty sturdy handle that I doubt you would break....maybe.

That being said, due to the cheapness of the composite it would just fracture at the terminus of the core.
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Actually, the real flaw is that the tang stops partway down the handle. This creates a stress riser. The plastic handle bends at the point where the tangs ends, fatigue cracks start and the handle fails.
 
You could try and put a cold steel trench hawk replacement handle on it. It may need some mod but, the handles are fairly tough and inexpensive.
 
I believe WalMart still has SOG Fast Hawks for $20-$30 (mine does, others may be sold out). Not a great tool, but passable and mine has stood up to quite a bit of throwing. If that's his primary use, it may be a good choice.


For what it's worth, there are many positive "reviews" online about the M48. Not really a quality based review, more of a "check out how cool this is!!!!!!!1" kind of review.
 
There are a number of top ten lists with the M48 on them. It's important though that these tactcal numbers are supposed to be thrown. Buy a cold steel and throw an extra haft or two in the order.
 
Koonass said:
You could try and put a cold steel trench hawk replacement handle on it. It may need some mod but, the handles are fairly tough and inexpensive.
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I'd be very cautious with the CS trench hawk handles. Having thrown a trench hawk I can assure you that if the handle hits the wood it bounces back very far! I was throwing from 10 feet and it feel about 2 feet away from my right side and roughly 8 feet behind my throwing point.

I don't recommend you throw the Trench Hawk at all!

The SOG fast hawk is a good thrower IMO. It's what got me into hawk and remains my go-to for throwing. It has well over 400 throws and no sign of failure to the handle, but that's also using a weathered piece of solid pine which has some give to it.
 
Meant to say the tactical hawks *aren't meant to be thrown. I saw this tac tomahawk on Amazon for 37 bucks and if I wanted one of them it would be what I'd get. Full tang! For that much money I don't think you'll find another like it. http://www.amazon.com/Schrade-SCAXE...qid=1420042790&sr=1-3&keywords=Schrade+SCAXE4

Whoops looks like that one breaks too, I saw a review of this one being abused, maybe it's better?
http://www.amazon.com/Schrade-SCAXE...&qid=1420043338&sr=1-4&keywords=Schrade+SCAXE

I'll go with my original recommendation and say a Cold Steel wood handled tomahawk. They're dirt cheap on Amazon too.
 
Not a fan of the style but has anyone tried throwing the East wing Hawks. They won't break and are at home depot and don't cost much more than the m48.
 
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