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Jance glad you asked that!!
I was going to address that in my last post and forgot.
With the tapered eye and handles the handle will stick out the top of the 'Hawk from about 3/4" to 1 1/4 inches.
And you want to leave it that way because as the wood compresses over time it will keep creeping down into the head.
This is the way many of the very old handled tools were made. I have a "real" miners pick that is made that way that my cuz found in an old abandoned place a few years back, fortunately for me he found 2 of them and so I got one.
(VBG)
He used early models of draw knives to make the handles from seasoned oak and they are very thin and light. (We ike to recycle old tools whenever we can.)
I have been told the newer small picks are made like hammer handles and a wedge is used but I haven't seen any small picks like these before or since to compare.
They would not be nearly as strong or dependable as the old way, just easier for the manufacturer and the handle maker.
( If I can get over my medical problems and we get to come to Florida I will try to remember to bring it along. It is a really nice example of the forgers art of the late 1700's and early 1800's.)
Where you can temporarily tighten a modern tool head by strikeing the butt end of the handle on a hard solid surface the opposite is done with the tapered handle. The head end is struck on a hard solid surface tightening the head.
The original idea is that the tool head keeps getting tighter the more it's used, the same as the new heavy picks and mattaxe or mattocks.(I guess they are still made that way, haven't paid any attention lately.)
But throwing the 'Hawk and hitting on the butt end will cause the handle to loosen unless a tremendous force is used to install the handle like Andy Prisco has talked about in his new forum.
And one of the problems with throwing weapons or tools is that a person realy needs several or at the least a gofer.
You can get a nice afternoon or morning walk in by throwing just one knife or 'Hawk just by retrieveing it all the time.
When I was a lot younger I had several different knives and one hatchet that I could throw from a varying distance of 25 to 30 feet by either moving closer or further away from the target.
The idea that a knife has to be perfectly balanced for throwing is just a bunch of baloney to me. If you "Know" your knife or other weapon and the correct distance for "it" you can stick it.
To be able to stick it wherever you want it to it is what takes the practice.
And the same is true of 'Hawks or hatchets or axes. All you have to do is "know" your piece.
And it has been my experience that the more you practice and the more varied knives,'Hawks or whatever you use, the better you can pick up a new piece and kinda heft it getting "its feel" and throw it where it will stick the 1st time. Again, getting it to stick where you want it too takes practice.
Sorry to get so long again. I told Uncle Bill the other day that it's a genetic thing as ndns do like to talk.
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"VEGETARIAN".............
Indin word for lousy hunter.
