Mounting the head of a tomahawk

[halbschaf]

Hallo guys

Have been in the woods again to practice a bit throwing my Rifleman’s hawk. When training at longer distances, unfortunately the hawk sometimes hit with the handle first, and the head, fastened with the little screw, got loose and the wood split. So I searched in Bladeforum and found that the reason might be the fact, that the pressure, where the little screw is mounted, is too extreme. Proposal is not to use a screw, only to fasten the head by hammering the end of the handle on a rock. But then, of course, the handle will get loose as well when throwing; positive is, that then the wood wouldn’t split. But what can one do, that the head won’t get loose but to have as well the possibility of taking off the head with ease?
Would be great to get some informations.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Well, you kind of answered your own question. The whole reason why the handle doesn't (or is less likely to) split when the screw is removed is because it is allowed to loosen rather than forced to absorb the shock of the throw. So if you don't want it to loosen and still be able to easily remove the handle, use the screw. But that's going to increase the rate of handle breakage by a lot. Not really any way around that particular issue--throwing delivers a LOT of shock to the tool, which is why dedicated throwing implements typically have soft tempers to prevent outright breakage of the steel elements, let alone wood.

 

[FrankB]

I have three cold steel tomahawks/axes. The first thing I do is throw away the screws. At a blackpowder match with tomahawk throwing as a side event the handles pop loose all the time. So what? Just bang the head back onto the handle, it beats a broken handle.

 

[halbschaf]

Thanks for your help. I think I wouldn't use the screw any longer in case of throwing practice. Another thing may be when using the hawk for woods work or even more when it comes to survival situations and sd. If you then have to think about loosing the head (not yours, that of the hawk), can be critical. Any idea to avoid slipping the head down onto the fingers, eventually a kind of tape or leather strap below the head around the handle to stop sliding?

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

If you have your fit proper and you've used a wooden baton or mallet to drive the handle into the eye, it's not going to loosen in regular use as an actual chopping tool.

 

[cityofthesouth]

Tomahawks which are thrown = loose handle = normal. If we could go back a couple hundred years I'm guessing we would witness everyone who carried a tomahawk giving it a couple taps before/during use to get it tight or keep it tight. But I couldn't imagine it being so loose it just fell down with gravity. I have a CS Pipe Hawk and the factory fit left a LOT to be desired. Fit is everything and a hawk handle is cake to make.