Which should I buy? (recommendations/advice only)

[NO_HaT3rz1122]

Hello, I'm simply looking for perks and/or drawbacks to two tomahawks I am looking at buying. My picks are the Cold Steel Spike Hawk and Rifleman's Hawk. I like them both but only want one right now. If any of you have these please just tell me yur experiences (good/bad/ugly/gritty) and let me decide. I don't like seeing "this one is sh*t" stuff. Just wanna know about these two. No others. Thank you

 

[tirod3]

It doesn't really work that way. What we need to hear is how you plan to use the hawk.

Here's the first issue - one is a spike, the other, a hammer poll. Sure, the hatchet bit will do the chopping, what do you plan to do with the other 50% of the tool? It makes a difference - spikes are more deconstruction and earth working, hammers more construction for inserting fasteners into wood or the ground?

If a spike, then one of the deconstruction uses will be limited - the handle protruding from the head keeps it from being used as a rolling pry bar for leverage. That makes the traditional spike hawk less a tool and more a weapon, but it's a sliding scale, not a black and white situation of being one or the other.

They both have a wooden handle - Pro, you can make one if you are in woodlands, Con, it's breakable, and might be broken just when you don't need it to be. That goes to your level of need - if it's a tool, there are other choices, if a toy, what fun.

Just some opinions, they are, of course, worth nothing. What do you plan to do with the hawk determines which one will fit better for the tasks involved. One isn't best, just better for what you will do with it.

 

[tirod3]

It doesn't really work that way. What we need to hear is how you plan to use the hawk.

Here's the first issue - one is a spike, the other, a hammer poll. Sure, the hatchet bit will do the chopping, what do you plan to do with the other 50% of the tool? It makes a difference - spikes are more deconstruction and earth working, hammers more construction for inserting fasteners into wood or the ground?

If a spike, then one of the deconstruction uses will be limited - the handle protruding from the head keeps it from being used as a rolling pry bar for leverage. That makes the traditional spike hawk less a tool and more a weapon, but it's a sliding scale, not a black and white situation of being one or the other.

They both have a wooden handle - Pro, you can make one if you are in woodlands, Con, it's breakable, and might be broken just when you don't need it to be. That goes to your level of need - if it's a tool, there are other choices, if a toy, what fun.

Just some opinions, they are, of course, worth nothing. What do you plan to do with the hawk determines which one will fit better for the tasks involved. One isn't best, just better for what you will do with it.

 

[NO_HaT3rz1122]

I plan to learn it's ways in combat. Coupling it with knives and other various bladed and blunted weapons. I don't plan in using a tomahawk as a prybar. That's why I have a prybar. After I learn it in the manner I want, it will be my camp tool. Sinple as that.

 

[Wolf_1989]

One thing to consider with a hammer-polled tomahawk is the hammer poll can be just as deadly as a spike. It's essentially a small warhammer. Busting someone upside the head with that thing is really going to ruin his day. Even if it isn't a kill shot, it will probably stun him enough that you can either finish him off with a second blow, or get out of there. The spike however will most certainly be lethal with a head shot.

The spike has uses as a tool for puncturing things, which can be handy to have, but the hammer poll will more than likely be more useful.

Between the two, the Riflemans Hawk is a big heavy beast. It hits REALLY hard, but is not very agile. The Spike Hawk is lighter, faster, and more agile, but the shorter eye makes a tight head-to-haft fit tricky. Mine comes loose all the time. Next handle will be split & wedged instead of a friction fit.