Warning norse hawk failed

I had the hawk in a green stump. Again i did not torque it that har at all. And to magnussen. A bend is not as bad as a brake but imo a bend weeken the steel and imo they should harden that part also not just the edge.
 
They dont harden the entire thing to make it more durable. If they had hardened the entire hawk head, you would have a broken blade right now. Instead, you just have a bent blade. Which, you can fix yourself.
 
benchmadebob said:
I had the hawk in a green stump. Again i did not torque it that har at all. And to magnussen. A bend is not as bad as a brake but imo a bend weeken the steel and imo they should harden that part also not just the edge.
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Hey Bob,

For a tool like the Norse hawk, having an unhardened blade with a hardened edge makes sense. The hardened edge does the cutting and can retain its sharpness, while the softer parts provide toughness without being brittle. I would recommend spending an hour or so chopping with your hawk. If you notice any bending or warping, then you may have a defective blade. If not, you're probably good to go.

All the best,

- Mike
 
The main parts of an axe or hawk are....
140px-An_axe_labelled-2edit.svg.png


Only the bit (or cutting edge) should be hardened. A tremendous amount of shock travels through a hawk head. The softer the steel, the tougher it is. That said, I don't think the hardnes should be completely drawn back... It should still retain some "springyness".

That twist would not have weakend the metal.

Rick
 
The hawk you mention looks to me like it is constructed very similar to their Special Forces Shovel. I tried to pry apart some boards with one of those like they show in a video and it bent very easily too. Maybe some are softer than others or maybe they are just not as tough as some claim.
 
The Norse hawk steel and construction is nothing like the SF shovel. I also own a SF shovel and used it in -40C temps prying up frozen ground.... it is tough.

You can take a well made Katana and bend it all to hell in a tree.... is it the Katana or the USE that should be labeled as a fail?

Vector makes some of the toughest Hawks around.... he uses CS heads almost exclusively.

There are alot of CS bashers out there for various reasons, however.... most would not deny the quality of their heat treat.


Rick
 
I once took a CS hawk and blew it up with dynamite. I was surprised at how easily the head fragmented and I never did find the handle. Do you guys think I should call the company and tell them how weak their products are? I would think that it should have held up to the blast and have simply been thrown into the air rather than shattering and disintegrating like it did. Do you think the warranty will cover it?

I'm going to try dynamite on everything I own, just to see what products I have that are defective.
 
Sorry for the confusion, I was thinking of the Bad Axe. And by the way, I am not a Cold Steel basher, I just tell it like it is. We all have different ideas of what tough is,mine was easily bent,it was definately not tough. I am not sure I would consider a shovel digging frozen dirt as tough.
 
m said:
I am not sure I would consider a shovel digging frozen dirt as tough.
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Ohmm, I would. I don't mean to be critical, but have you ever done it. The closest thing I would use to describe frozen ground is cement.
 
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m said:
Sorry for the confusion, I was thinking of the Bad Axe. And by the way, I am not a Cold Steel basher, I just tell it like it is. We all have different ideas of what tough is,mine was easily bent,it was definately not tough. I am not sure I would consider a shovel digging frozen dirt as tough.
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I broke one of those straight in half once while throwing. No BS. I was going to return it but the shipping cost more than the bad axe at the time.
 
benchmadebob said:
I had the hawk in a green stump. Again i did not torque it that har at all. And to magnussen. A bend is not as bad as a brake but imo a bend weeken the steel and imo they should harden that part also not just the edge.
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Your experience gives me hope. My Norse Hawk has been bent since I got it. The edge is not parallel with the handle. I am going to stick it as deep as I can in a stump tomorrow and try to bend it straight.
 
Horn Dog said:
Your experience gives me hope. My Norse Hawk has been bent since I got it. The edge is not parallel with the handle. I am going to stick it as deep as I can in a stump tomorrow and try to bend it straight.
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Mine was also off center when i recived it.
 
I agree with Rick 110% !

Also, I throw for fun and have been throwing CS hawks for years, and have used them in the bush, and even for splitting wood- including batoning on the hammer poll.

Never a single problem with anything.


handles can be off center, that you do then if you fine fit the HANDLE, not bend the HAWK. also, some fine filing in the socket can sometimes help.
 
When I was an apprentice I dug trenches in frozen ground by hand and I didn't use a super ninja special forces shovel to do it with. I have had shovels break on me before but they weren't advertised as being tougher than any other shovel and I don't remember it being in frozen ground. When a tool is advertised as being tough it should not bend easily.
 
m said:
When a tool is advertised as being tough it should not bend easily.
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Depends. I have some knives that have seen years of serious use, and I consider the to be absolutely reliable - in other words, tough. I would never consider deliberately bending them, though. It isn't a type of stress that I put on them during regular use, so I don't see a reason to test them in this way. Same goes for axes and hawks. I reiterate my original position: if a tool bends or warps during reasonable (even intense) use, there may be cause for concern. Otherwise, it's simply a matter of excessive and undue stress.

Best,

- Mike
 
I am seriously not trying to start anything here but I have kitchen knives that have seen serious use for many years and still work well for their intended purposes but I would definately not consider them "tough". ANY descent tool should be able to stand up to serious use for many years. If you advertize a tool as being "tough" or "hard use" it should stand up to more than what you would expect a normal tool would, otherwise why go to the extra expence? Unless its just to massage our egos, and most here I don't think want to pay extra for that.
 
m said:
... otherwise why go to the extra expence? Unless its just to massage our egos, and most here I don't think want to pay extra for that.
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Depends... does it come with a "happy ending"?



:DRick
 
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