Well, the way they made them was at least reasonably economical. The bit/hook are one piece and the eye is formed from sheet steel wrapped around and forge-welded on. It's actually a very good design in my opinion, but brush hooks in general are just a limited use tool that fits somewhere in between bush scythes, corn hooks, machetes, and full blown axes. You only really use them when you have a mix of targets, half of which are weedy/brambly woody-stemmed stuff and the rest being saplings/branches large enough to be a bit too much for a scythe but not so thick as to require a real dedicated axe.
I have another that's just a somewhat rusted head that I intend on fixing up, hafting, and putting into service. The arc of the hook is just right to give a proper slicing stroke with good entry to the swath while the axe is just heavy enough to chop like a robust hatchet. It's a little different in its positioning on the "flora spectrum" than conventional brush axes.
