Hawks anyone ? Let's se em......

Discussion in 'Knives, Gear, Guns And Other Tools' started by Mack, Feb 1, 2017.

  1. Stone

    Stone Member

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    I just noticed something. I've often abbreviated tomahawk as t'hawk.

    If you leave out the apostrophe -- what good are they anyway? -- it becomes thawk.

    Kinda like the sound the blade makes when it lands home.

    Thawk!
     
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  2. Stone

    Stone Member

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    The attachment in post 1 -- the OP -- reports as missing.

    Can you repost?
     
  3. Stone

    Stone Member

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    As a student of vikings, I've noticed that some thawks are larger than others.

    I want to know more about the history of the thawk.
    Native Americans made them famous, but I've read they got them from the French, especially up this way.

    If so, I wonder where the French -- or what ever other European tribe traded to the natives -- got them.

    They're remarkably similar in their simplicity to the Viking axes,
    somewhat represented by this mythical, Hollywood portrayal.

    [​IMG]
     
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  4. daizee

    daizee Member

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    I want a 'hawk or two badly. The H&B Medium camp hawk and the ship builder's axe both appeal. Affordable, too. But then I ended up with a BK-9 and a BK-21, and really don't see a need for the hawks in my life at all. I already have too much stuff. If I were carrying a pack and wanted a chopping too, the BK-9 would be darn efficient and safer. And I don't even need to carry a blade like that ever, nor can I legally.

    So. Convince me I need a hawk. Because if I can rationalize it, I'll enjoy it more. :)

    Oh, and recall that I have 7 axe-like tools already, including a couple hatchets and two lovely 1.5lb heads hung on boy's axe handles. (sweet limbing tools, when you need them)
     
  5. satori

    satori Member

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    Just picked up a 2hawks longhunter have yet to try it out but it feels awesome in the hand.
     
  6. Stone

    Stone Member

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    OK, for a serious post about my hawk intentions.

    I'm planning to add a Rinaldi Carpenter's Hawk or a Cold Steel Pipe Hawk to my kit from @FortyTwoBlades at Baryonyx. The latter is a slightly smaller edge (3" v 4"+) and a slightly longer handle (that I may cut down an inch or two), but the former is no doubt better quality.

    Why one of these? Several reasons. It'll fill a useful niche for me for camp carpentry. It'll mostly be a base camp tool. At 1.5 lb, I don't see packing a hawk around to outlier camps. I hardly ever lug my Gransfors Bruks Hatchet out of base camp any more. I've learned that: 1) it's easier to saw firewood with a much lighter saw, and make much less noise in the process; 2) if I need to split some kindling, I can do that easily using batoning. (If I was in the true north woods, far up north in taiga, I'd want a Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe. But down here, I just don't need it, even to build a large long fire for overnight.) I've got a Mora Bushcraft Black to baton with now, but probably going to add a HM6 to do it better. (I honor ESEE's admonition to not baton with my beloved RB3; it's a cutter and carver only, and an exceptional one.) In fact, batoning is probably about the only task an HM6 will be used for in my kit. For general camp use, the RB3 will get the call.

    I think a carpenter's hawk will be useful in building larger shelters in base camps, like leanto's and a few other designs I'm dreaming about trying out that have no names that I'm aware of, like a camouflage 'wall' and a small, minimalist shelter -- like this one by Survival Lily -- and also some camp furniture: bench, table, etc. For base camp, I often carry a small supply of nails, and a hammer poll will be useful for those. (I'm allured by spike hawks, but going to resist the urge -- I just don't think it would be useful for me; I think a spike would even be in my way.)

    And the main reason to replace my GBH with a hawk: easier to make a new handle for a hawk from saplings in the woods. That's recently become a concern for me because my GBH is developing a nasty split in the handle, and given the shape, it'll be much easier to fashion a new handle for a hawk than for the GBH, because the hawk head slips right over the bottom of the handle and wedges on the larger top of the handle; no wedge needed. That would also allow me to simply pack the head alone and make a new handle in a new camp -- should that option be desirable or necessary.

    And honestly, I'm eager to try producing handles for it. I love sticks and carving. I have about half a dozen stick projects going now with several kinds of wood -- especially beech and ash -- making walking sticks and battle clubs. There's an almost zen meditative effect for me while stripping off bark layers and smoothing up sides. But I've never produced a handle for a tool like this.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2017
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  7. daizee

    daizee Member

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    I saw some dude on the internet convincingly argue that an axe-style field haft is just as easy to fit as carving the long shaft for a hawk. Though I suppose you could mount a hawk head on either haft style, if you really really wanted to.

    I've played with the cold steel hawks, as many have. They were lots of fun to throw, and are cheap enough as dedicated tossers, but I have no desire to own one as an actual tool.

    Totally agree with you on the spike hawk. I don't like swinging sharp pointy things anywhere near the direction of my head, no matter how careful I think I'm being.
     
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  8. Stone

    Stone Member

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    Now that you mention it, I can understand that. Makes intuitive sense when I think through it. I guess I was thinking more about the curved shape of the GBH, it's contours. That would be harder, me thinks. But a straight make-do handle wouldn't be so hard.

    I've not owned anything from Cold Steel, but from what I've read, that seems accurate. The CS one that I posted above has dropped in ranking since I started thinking about this project months -- actually, years ago. And even more during the day. Fortytwoblades speaks so highly of his Rinaldi products, and it's only a few bucks more, that I'm more likely to go that direction. I just wish that same Rinaldi hawk came in a 3" edge model vs 4"+. (As always, this is not a "next week" purchase for me. I'm still trying to crawl out from under a wet blanket of debt and near poverty conditions, ramping the business up in a new town, but that's going to take months -- and numerous other items are much higher on my priority list.)

    My thoughts exactly. :eek:
     
  9. Mack

    Mack Member

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    20170216_185120.jpg DeLerond Forge and Estwig Black Eagle. Made in Il. USA
     
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  10. Mack

    Mack Member

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    Sorry crap cell phone pics..
     
  11. anrkst6973

    anrkst6973 Member

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    There's Condor, 2 styles I believe. A pipe style and a poll less version too. CRKT has a poll less version coming too. The pipe one from Condor has my eye right now.
     
  12. JV3

    JV3 Member

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    big fan of h&b forge tomahawks...sold all my gb in fact except for the scandinavian forest axe.

    shawnee.

    [​IMG]


    lady's. i don't have an in-woods pic of the boy's hawk yet but it's between the shawnee and lady's. tomahawks are very under-rated as woods tools but in the right hands...just ask reuben :)

    [​IMG]
     
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  13. JV3

    JV3 Member

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    reuben taught me this technique...i can featherstick with a tomahawk just as well as any knife - just jam the tomahawk's heel of the bit on a log to hold it steady and drag the wood against it. i'm a lefty so my right hand would be holding the handle right under the head to keep the hawk steady there (my hand is off in this pic because i had to take the pic).

    [​IMG]
     
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  14. JV3

    JV3 Member

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    then there is this rmj shrike...i keep it mainly in the truck but i'll use it in the woods soon too to dispel misconceptions that it's only useful as a breaching/self-defense tool :)

    [​IMG]
     
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  15. artigas

    artigas Member

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    Add another H&B Shawnee to the mix. This thing is very capable.

    [​IMG]

    A sheath I made for it:
    [​IMG]
     
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  16. Stone

    Stone Member

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    I found the Condor page here. The thawks might be great, but I give them low marks for the page design. Terrible information -- dimensions poorly described, no weight info -- and I can't enlarge the image for a close up. :( (I hope they didn't pay the page designer much money.) If you find another page about them, like a review, please post a link.

    I've taken a look a the CRKT's. The one they have now definitely worth a look for thawk enthusiasts (even though didn't make my short list).

    I can understand the designs without a poll. Simple, light, focus on chopping. But I guess I'm too used to axes with a poll, and use my polls for everything from hammering to driving stakes. So will def have one with a poll.

    @JV3, that's a cool feather sticking technique. So noted.
     
  17. Stone

    Stone Member

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    Finally found the CRKT. Krange, it's called (unless there's another one, also).

    I remember now that it didn't appeal to me for my needs, nor aesthetically.

    It's now listed in their discontinued page, with the price drastically slashed, as if by a thawk.

    [​IMG]
     
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  18. anrkst6973

    anrkst6973 Member

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    The CRKT is called the "nobo" I think. Goggle images or their homepage for a look. It's a Chogan without the hammer poll. Blade HQ has decent pics of the Condors, they also come with a decent mask/ sheath, that's a bonus point imho, you can take it out and play with it straight out of the box.
     
  19. Stone

    Stone Member

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    CRKT Nobo.

    Listed as 9 lb. 9 lb. Can't be right. They need a new web master.

    [​IMG]
     
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  20. Theodore

    Theodore Member

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    Lol. You are going to have to use both hands on that one.
     

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