Mod'ing The CS Trail Hawk

I got a cs trail hawk for fun and it does not want to take a useful edge at all no matter what I try. Is there some trick to sharpening a hawk?

I hope it's not a heat treatment problem. I also got an 18in barong machete (same steel, same company) in the same purchase that I easily got razor sharp.

I haven't yet figured out how to fit the head to the handle without wiggle room. When I do I'll try something colorful. Maybe I'll paint the whole thing white and then using stencils put dozens of different snowflakes all over in light blue.
 
AfterTFD said:
I got a cs trail hawk for fun and it does not want to take a useful edge at all no matter what I try. Is there some trick to sharpening a hawk?
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I usually just free-hand my hawks using a file. This includes when I sharpen my Trail Hawk, which BTW takes a good edge.
 
AfterTFD said:
I got a cs trail hawk for fun and it does not want to take a useful edge at all no matter what I try. Is there some trick to sharpening a hawk?

I hope it's not a heat treatment problem. I also got an 18in barong machete (same steel, same company) in the same purchase that I easily got razor sharp.
Click to expand...

they are made in different places, i think. - i love that machete BTW.

for my personal hawks, i like to make a really sharp secondary bevel angle, almost down to a zero primary edge, then i make the narrow primary edge a little on the wide side, in angle.

it has really been a good edge for combination wood types for me, and is easy to touch-up.



I haven't yet figured out how to fit the head to the handle without wiggle room. When I do I'll try something colorful. Maybe I'll paint the whole thing white and then using stencils put dozens of different snowflakes all over in light blue.
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that sounds OUTSTANDING.

i have been wanting to do some snazzy finishes like that too.

go for it - and take pictures of that beautiful beasty, por favor!


vec
 
Is there some way to make a handle break-proof? Like coat the whole thing in epoxy and then sand it smooth or something? It's looking like the only way I can get a secure fit is if I attach the head permanently and I don't want to do that unless I know the handle will last forever.

I don't own a belt sander. I don't currently have a place where I could put and use one. Fortunately I do have a good file. I've been able to get the head sharp enough to cut paper now which is a huge improvement over how it was last night. I'll probably put on a movie sometime tonight and gently file away the whole time I'm watching it.

I have nothing but love for the machete. I've been thinking of ways I could mod it but I haven't had any great ideas yet. Maybe I'll take all the paint off and mirror finish the entire blade.
 
CaptInsano said:
That certainly didn't make the tower I built in engineering tech class "break-proof."
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right.

brother 'TFD there are some ways to seriously harden a handle from breakage, our handle could be LITERALLY twenty times stronger than it is, for example - but at the expense of WEIGHT.

before you chew down your good wood handle, smooth the inside of the eye out with that file or some sand paper - the little spurs on the inside of the eye are what start a lot of the breaks on the best handles.

the handle will fit better as well.

vec
 
FWIW, the handle is probably a lot stronger and more durable than you think it is. I beat the piss out of mine, including lots of hard strikes on the end I sawed off, and it never showed any sign of decreased integrity until I put a half inch gash in the side with a throwing knife. That finally started a rather large splinter, but you'd never know it was there functionally.
 
Okay, so here's my trail hawk with a couple of mods.


Here it is with a quick wrap I did. I threw in some alternating clove hitches for gripping.

Picture439.jpg


Picture440.jpg


Then I decided to deburr the eye.
Picture441.jpg


Picture443.jpg



Then I had to sand the new handle and a spare I had on hand.
Picture442.jpg




I also put a pretty good edge on the new guy, because it had an edge like a screwdriver (odd considering every other CS hawk I've touched). It needs more work (so does my photography) but I just reshaped it with a rough belt and finished it real quick with a 20 micron belt. VERY toothy edge, but it slices paper.
Picture444.jpg





Then I stuck it on an old short handle while the two new ones were drying. I cut one of the new ones shorter and stained one cherry and the other colonial maple. It throws well and sinks much deeper than my norse hawk, although it is slightly more difficult to stick.
 
Sanding out the inside of the eye resulted in a far better fit. :thumbup: The hawk is in good enough of shape now that it's actually a useful tool as opposed to a dangerous toy.

This head forms a burr very easy and it's always a stubborn sob that wants to flop from side to side instead of coming off.
 
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I spent a couple of hours modding my trail hawk - pics here:
http://s185.photobucket.com/albums/x208/dknapp1/tomahawk/

I figured out that the set screw is 3mm, followed the path of someone else as far as using the torch to burn the wood, sanded a couple of times - just down to 320, and put about 6 coats of watco danish natural oil on.

Still need to wrap with paracord and paint the head.

Some of the pics show the different colors that I might use, though now I'm leaning towards black for the handle and orange for the head.

I managed to strip my stupid hex key, so I need to get another one, cuz I can't get the head off - tightened it before I really needed to.

Also, I thought that the tape might make it easier to burn, but that turned out to be a really bad idea. Looks much better freehand, though the tape did help to space out the burn marks, and didn't seem to hamper the danish oil any.


dbk
 
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I have been a blade fan since forever and always carry a folder. I found religion when a few months back I read a Tomahawk article in a tactical gun mag. It makes total sense in a big 'duh' way. I had planned to buy just one SOG Fusion or SC VN hawk when I came across this thread. I just finished reading the whole thing thru several hours later.

I now plan to order 3 CS hawks (Rifle/VN/Trail - variety pack :) ), so I can keep a zombie killer in each car and the bug-out-bag. I am also into Airsoft and this will make everyone drool. I will post pics. Thanks for sharing the love and information.

For blades I have a SOG Seal 2000, CS UWK, Kabar TDI, Gerber LMF, SOG Suba/Demo (its so sexy I don't want to use it), SOG Pentagon, Ontario Randall's RAT, and several folders SOG/CS/Strider/Spyderco.
 
Has anyone tried attaching a LANGETTE SET? On the page for the trail hawk on the cold steel website they are showing the set, ~$10, as an accessory. They are discontinuing the pole axe and looks like they have some extras.

I understand that some of the fitting of the head to the hart is done by a friction fit that changes over time, moves the head, so I do not know if these would be counter-productive.
 
Here's one I did over the holidays.
The head was stripped and polished then rust browned.
The handle is sanded, stained dark oak and oiled.
A brass lined lanyard hole and leather wrap complete the list of modifications.

lh.jpg
 
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What is the approximate diameter of the eye on the standard train hawk? What size handle will fit it if I want to order something different then the replacements available at cold steel.
 
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