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Tomahawk eyelet enlargement

T

Taraka

Joined
Sep 18, 2011
Messages
18
Alright so hopefully this is the right place for this question. The problem I have is that in my opinion the eyelet on my cold steel Vietnam tomahawk is too small. I feel that it's so small that structurally it's weakened by it only being able to accept such a narrow haft. So the question I had is how would one go about enlarging the eyelet? if it's possible that is....
 
You'd have to re-drift the eye, which would need to be done by a blacksmith. There's no real issue to the structural integrity of the handle IMO. Most people I've talked to have had no issue with ti.
 
It is a close combat weapon from what I read. As such it does sacrifice some strength in the handle. I you want a hawk for use in the woods, ie processing wood, get one designed for it. It will probably cost you less than getting a blacksmith to drift the eye and temper the head.
 
Thanks for the input, and the put down lol.

Though perhaps my take on enlarging the eyelet is not the best thing for it. Though I've had it over a year now and have been trying to make it more suitable towards actual woods work. What I like about it is that it's lighter than all the other hawks pretty much and I like the ability to dig with the spike, also the spike works really well for splitting up kindling and saves my edge.

Sadly I didn't buy the axe myself as I would have gone for something a little more practical as the price for it is greater than all the others I would have picked instead. It was a gift by someone who put a little thought into it but just didn't quite get it there. I don't really wanna have to buy anything else as it's perfectly functional it seems and does it's job well enough.

I suppose the real problem is that I've been using it to noodle around as a thrower for the most part, the original handle only lasting around 90 throws. Then I made 4 other ones, 2 hard wood and 2 softwood branches that lasted around half the life of the first one. I just thought that maybe if the eyelet wasn't so narrow that it might be able to accommodate a haft with more strength that would prolong it's life. Also I wouldn't have to find such narrow sticks when I need to make another handle in the field.

But crap....I kind of knew that getting someone to work on it would already make it not worth it so I dunno....I suppose I'll just have to live with it's short handle life when I throw it.
 
Are the handles straight grain? What wood were you using? Did you wedge it? To begin with, the Vietnam 'hawk isn't really a thrower. More of a fighting tool/field tool.
 
Well the handle it initially comes with is hickory (Or so it says) The others were not anything special really as I had just made them on the fly while I was still out because I wanted to keep throwing. I made the handles out of Birch, elm, willow and cottonwood. They all ended up lasting about the same amount of time and all suffered the same snapping point right below from it's entrance to the eyelet. I usually left it a little more beefy in the handle and only roughed the part attaching to the head itself. The fit held up but it just snapped off each time, and yes I wedged it. If I didn't the head would have most likely flown off on a throw.
 
Your problem is, You are using the wrong tool for the job you desire. the proper tool will yield proper results...

It was a great gift. Go buy yourself something that is made for what you like. No point in not starting a collection
 
Throwing is really hard on handles, honestly it's about the roughest thing you can do with an axe/hatchet/hawk that still technically falls under "normal use". The summer camp I used to work for had a hawk throwing range and we were replacing the hickory handles at least once per six week season; and these were hawks designed to be thrown.
 
I've been fortunate enough to not have handles break, but with me, either I hit the target, or miss completely. I rarely throw them anymore, as I've discovered the pain of making your own handles, a fun pain. But still pain.
 
Yeah it's mighty fun....I don't know if cold steel's Vietnam tomahawk is really designed for throwing though....Well since it's handle broke after one evening of throwing I might say that it's perhaps not meant to be. More so because of the fact that it's hafting method requires it to be wedged in from the top while the handle is inserted from the bottom. So unlike mostly all their other hawks it's handle takes a little more time. Plus I can't just remove my good handle and put on a crappy one for just messing around.
 
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