shortwinger
Gold Member
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2010
- Messages
- 1,082
I am sure Cold Steel is aware of the popularity of their Tomahawks here on Blade Forums. The tomahawk forum has a "Mod'ing the CS Trail Hawk" sticky thread with 106 pages, over 2000 posts and some of the most incredible looking hawks you will ever see! After you hang around any forum for a while you begin to get a feel for what people like, what people hate and some of the things that would make products better. In the case of the Tomahawks it is really easy because there are some universal things that 99.9% of the people would like to see changed. And these are not unreasonable or expensive changes or random bitching.
1. Get rid of the set screw. The tomahawk is a friction tool and the ability to quickly take the head off the haft makes it such a versatile tool. Not only does the set screw get in the way of this versatility it also quickly begins to damage and weaken the wood around the head. Since almost everyone that actually uses their hawk and absolutely everyone that modifies their hawk removes the screw it would be a welcome change. Also, when people do remove the screw they have to fill in the hole so it ends up being a bit of work. this is an easy one because it has zero net gain keeping it and tons of benifit geting rid of it.
2. The black finish. This would probably be the most expensive change but even that would not be too much. Again, virtually everyone strips the black off and then either does a forced patina or a cold blue. Anything would be better than the black and once again, this is a universal modification. I can't remember a single post where someone actually preferred the black.
3. The edge. While most Cold Steel blades come scary sharp the hawk's edge isn't even axe sharp and sometimes looks like they completely forgot to sharpen it. For sure it shouldn't be fillet knife sharp but it should at the very least have a good working edge out of the box.
4. Handles. Having the set screw give CS the ability to use handles that, lets just say, don't fit well. That is being generous. They often come with the head rammed on in such a way that it produces a ridge that takes a lot of work to remove. The removal of the set screw and correctly fitting handles would take the CS Tomahawks up a good number of notches in quality and desirability.
The variety of hawks you offer is fantastic and I can only think of one or two additions to your lineup. I think an easy and popular addition would be a slightly larger Trail Hawk. Not as a replacement for the existing one but a big brother for those that like the Trail Hawk shape and hammer pole but want a slightly bigger cutting surface. The most popular complaint from the trail hawk comes from people thinking it is a bit too light. Personally I like it specifically because it is light and easy to carry or pack but, to each his own.
You don't hear too much about steel issues on the hawks and many of the handle complaints are from the set screw damage or breakages from throwing. And if you throw your hawk a lot you are going to break handles, period. So thats it, I think all these issues are easy to address. I hope others chime in with their suggestions.
Edit:
5. I had to add one other thing, the fit and finish on the eye could also some work. Many times there is considerable work to do in order to smooth out the metal inside the eye. For many customers that don't have a workshop or the proper tools this can end up being tons of work, if it ever gets done at all. In a factory setting, even a primitive one with the proper tools, cleaning this up can't take more than a minute or two. OK now I'm done...
1. Get rid of the set screw. The tomahawk is a friction tool and the ability to quickly take the head off the haft makes it such a versatile tool. Not only does the set screw get in the way of this versatility it also quickly begins to damage and weaken the wood around the head. Since almost everyone that actually uses their hawk and absolutely everyone that modifies their hawk removes the screw it would be a welcome change. Also, when people do remove the screw they have to fill in the hole so it ends up being a bit of work. this is an easy one because it has zero net gain keeping it and tons of benifit geting rid of it.
2. The black finish. This would probably be the most expensive change but even that would not be too much. Again, virtually everyone strips the black off and then either does a forced patina or a cold blue. Anything would be better than the black and once again, this is a universal modification. I can't remember a single post where someone actually preferred the black.
3. The edge. While most Cold Steel blades come scary sharp the hawk's edge isn't even axe sharp and sometimes looks like they completely forgot to sharpen it. For sure it shouldn't be fillet knife sharp but it should at the very least have a good working edge out of the box.
4. Handles. Having the set screw give CS the ability to use handles that, lets just say, don't fit well. That is being generous. They often come with the head rammed on in such a way that it produces a ridge that takes a lot of work to remove. The removal of the set screw and correctly fitting handles would take the CS Tomahawks up a good number of notches in quality and desirability.
The variety of hawks you offer is fantastic and I can only think of one or two additions to your lineup. I think an easy and popular addition would be a slightly larger Trail Hawk. Not as a replacement for the existing one but a big brother for those that like the Trail Hawk shape and hammer pole but want a slightly bigger cutting surface. The most popular complaint from the trail hawk comes from people thinking it is a bit too light. Personally I like it specifically because it is light and easy to carry or pack but, to each his own.
You don't hear too much about steel issues on the hawks and many of the handle complaints are from the set screw damage or breakages from throwing. And if you throw your hawk a lot you are going to break handles, period. So thats it, I think all these issues are easy to address. I hope others chime in with their suggestions.
Edit:
5. I had to add one other thing, the fit and finish on the eye could also some work. Many times there is considerable work to do in order to smooth out the metal inside the eye. For many customers that don't have a workshop or the proper tools this can end up being tons of work, if it ever gets done at all. In a factory setting, even a primitive one with the proper tools, cleaning this up can't take more than a minute or two. OK now I'm done...
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