Question on appearance

[Charlie_K]

I don't know if this is appropriate here or not.

Over in the thread detailing the customization of Cold Steel's tomahawks, I've noticed that while some of them are highly polished, a lot of them are left with the factory pitting and surface flaws. This gives them more of an aged, historical look, despite the fact that they're going to be used hard by their owners.

With knives, however, a lot more attention is given to the blades when they're customized, and they're often highly polished and smoothed until there are no surface defects.

So I can't help but wonder why there's this discrepancy when it comes to the visual presentation with tomahawks? Is it just individual taste, or is the rough appearance more appropriate for tomahawks than knives?

 

[LostViking]

I think the answers vary,

Maybe folks don't invest as much time in the hawks because they are seen more as tools. Many of the knives here border on artwork.

But more than likely, it is related to marketing trends,

My Trail hawk,



And my ML Kephart, that I recently acquired. With the heat treat scale still in place. Many makers seem to be doing this lately. Years ago that would have been frowned upon. But I guess folks got bored with highly polished shiny knives.



I figure it runs along the same lines as buying jeans with holes already worn in them, or presoiled cowboy hats.