The cold steel hawk might be all right,I don't have any hawks with a hammer poll on them. I have to sat the quality looks kind of poor,and there are better hawks out there for about the same money. I have several hawks,but the SOG Fusion is a really good one,if you don't mind the spike head.It was designed after the Vietnam special forces hawk.
To begin with, this is what these days is referred to as a tomahawk. There are some slight variations between modern axes and tomahawk, and the Trail Hawk embodies all of the characteristics of a modern hawk. You can see some of my thoughts on the differentiation between axes and tomahawks.As you can see from the specifications, the Trail Hawk has a handle similar in length to the Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe.
The head however is about half the weight of that of the Small Forest Axe. In terms of comparison, for most of the pictures I used the Small Forest Axe to illustrate the features. For the testing however, I also compared the Trail Hawk to the Gransfors Bruks Wildlife Hatchet, which has the exact same overall weight of 1.5 lb. Here you can see the Cold Steel Trail Hawk next to the Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe.
The handle of the Trail Hawk had several disadvantages over a traditional axe handle. As you may know, the head of the Trail Hawk is not placed on the handle from the top, as it would be on an axe, but instead, it is threaded through the bottom of the handle, all the way to the top where it is held by a swelling of the handle.
This necessitates that the handle takes the shape and size of the eye of the head. The result is a straight, very thin handle.
I found it to be incredibly uncomfortable. Not only was it too thin to swing properly, especially with two hands, but it also has no swell on the foot of the handle for a secure grip. The grain on my Trail Hawk was nearly horizontal, but I have seen some other ones with good grain, so it seems to be a quality control issue. The head is placed on the handle as described above, and is held in place by a screw.
The head was loose on mine, even with the screw in place. The head of the Trail Hawk has some interesting features as well.
In order to allow for the hanging process referred to above, the eye of the Trail hawk has to be fairly large and round. This creates a very inefficient design, as there is little chance that the eye will pass through any piece of wood when chopping or splitting. Traditional designs compensated for this problem by elongating the bit of the axe, so that it may penetrate the wood without the eye ever reaching the tree. The Trail Hawk does the same thing. The bit is very long. This creates another problem-the head has an absolutely horrible overall geometry.
Frontier Hawk Cold Steel
There is no transition to speak of between the cheeks and the eye. The bit is narrow the whole length of the cheeks, and binding is a significant problem. In terms of performance, the Cold Steel Trail Hawk is far behind most other tools I have tested. After spending some time putting a good profile on the bit and sharpening it, I took it out for some comparison testing against the Small Forest Axe and the Wildlife Hatchet.
For the test, I removed the screw that was holding the head in place, as that is characteristically what most users of the tool do. To hold the head I relied on friction.The testing was as conclusive as I have seen in a while. As expected, the Small Forest Axe outperformed the Trail Hawk significantly when it came to chopping, splitting and carving. Interestingly however, the Wildlife Hatchet outperformed the Trail Hawk just as soundly in all of the categories. In the picture you can see the results in a log after the same number of swings with each tool.
The very poor head geometry explains a lot of the failures in performance with respect to chopping and splitting. In terms of carving, the deficiency comes from the small bit, which does not offer a lot of cutting surface. This, combined with a rather annoying feature which I will speak about shortly makes it very hard to use as a carving tool when compared to some other hatchets and axes.The practical reason often given for carrying a tool like the Trail Hawk over a hatchet or axe of comparable weight is that it is more “versatile”. By that people usually mean that you can easily remove the head to use either as a small, very uncomfortable and inefficient knife, or to replace the handle if you ever break it somewhere deep in the woods and must do field repairs.I find that the ease of removal of the head on the Trail Hawk is a direct result of the head being inadequately attached. For me, this is a tool with a loose head.
Just because it is held from flying off during a swing, does not make it properly attached, much like a ducttaped loose axe head would be considered problematic.The head continuously comes loose during use, whether it be chopping or carving, sliding up and down the handle. Any kind of precision is made very difficult. Even after spending a significant amount of time trying to create a good friction fit, after several swing the head would come loose again. Now of course, there are ways to secure the head. If the head is pressed onto the wood with sufficient force, similar to what you would see in the eye of an axe, it will probably hold. Some manufacturers have taken to epoxying the head in place, or we could put back the screw (the head would still be loose, but will not slide up and down). Of course if we do that however, we remove the “versatility” from the hawk.In my opinion, carrying this tool in the bush rather than an axe or hatchet of comparable weight just because it may be easier to re-handle in the event you ever have to do that, is the same as using a butter knife to do your carving because you are less likely to cut yourself with it.
While that is true, it kind of misses the point, as it fails to do the tasks ordinarily assigned to the tool. I use axes to do a lot of chopping, splitting and carving.
If a tool fails to do those things well, it does me little good that I can more easily re-handle it. If you are interested in seeing what it takes to re-handle an axe in the woods, see.Overall, if you plan on throwing hawks, or need a possible weapon, then this may be a good choice for you. If on the other hand you need a tool for chopping, splitting or carving of wood, there are many better options out there for the same weight.
Evan M.It's perfectly fair to compare the hawk to a GB if what you're testing is it's effectiveness as an axe. By comparing it to something that is known to work, he's providing a standard for judging the hawk's capabilities. Even better, the author has used GB axes for all the reviews I've read here, so I can not only have an idea of how the reviewed axes compare to a 'good' axe, but how they might compare to one another. It's called a using a control and it's not being a snob so much as it is not being an idiot.Great review by the way.
A little background:I am not a blade smith. I am not even nominally an axe nut. I learned a very long time ago how to care for an axe by my Grandfather (rest his soul) and have always had a good quality hatchet or camp axe when I ventured out of doors.Recently I was turned on to the quality of the Cold Steel tomahawks by a friend of mine, and decided to look into them. After much deliberation and research, I purchased a Cold Steel Trail Hawk. This is what I got:One 'Made in Taiwan' stamped steel tomahawk.
Black epoxy coating on the head, and a plain, sealed hickory handle.Another view. Note the set screw. Obviously, this will need a lot of work.So. I take the set screw out and toss it. A good axe needs only friction to hold the head on, and a well designed handle will accommodate that. Once the head is off I note the scarring that the shoddy stamp job on the eye of the head (which left a nasty burr all the way around, both top and bottom) left.
Ten minutes work with a round file, and the burr is gone. Sanding of the handle commences. It takes quite a bit of work to round the handle, remove the scarring, and smooth the handle to the profile I want.Once the nasty epoxy has been stripped from the head, and the head scrubbed down with mineral spirits and steel wool, it is time to put the steel into an acid bath and give it a protective patina. Into boiling vinegar the head goes.Some work on the edge improving the profile and sharpening it properly (not a razor blade by and far, you do not really want a working axe to be that sharp); 2 coats of Onyx stain followed by 2 coats of boiled linseed oil on the handle later, and the project is nearly finished.So, I am left with a very slick and smooth haft. How to fix that? Well, you wrap it.
Cold Steel Frontier Hawk Mods Minecraft
I chose 20' of fully cored 550 for my wrap. It has utility and function. I chose black and olive drab because I like the colors together.So I have now a completed tomahawk. I am happy with the results.Another view.Last, but not least.one in the hand is better than one in the head.Thanks for your patience. 'By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.'
- Ben FranklinA human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. Heinlein - 'Time Enough For Love'I have a universal translator. A large bore rifle. It speaks louder than words and will translate you to the afterlife instantly. ¶▀‼▀▀▀▀=## ¯▼¯(▀▀Φ▀▀▀▀‼‼▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀‼▀▀!
####/ ( /¯¯¯¯¯ ####/¯¯'Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.' - General Douglas MacArthur. Very nice work. A much improved tool! Their site claims it's made from a drop forged 1055 carbon steel so it should be a decent head.
That shiny coating is a travesty and CS should be taken to task for daring to blemish their steel with it. The only CS knife I've ever spent money on is the Recon Tanto and so far I have no complaints about it. The AUS 8A Stainless steel blade has a coating on it is called Tuff-Ex Finish that appears to be Teflon based. Not positive but 10 min of interweb research seems to bear that out. Not very durable though. Scratched pretty easily.
Nothing even remotely close to the durability of the black powder coating on my ESEE-5. Filing the coating off the spine of my ESEE-5 to expose a section of the blade for firesteel striking was quite the task! Too bad they didn't at least use their Tuff-Ex Finish on the trail hawk.Anyway, enough of my blather.Again, great work!Byte. 'Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom.' Kennedy'You took the good things for granted-now you must earn them again.
For every right that you cherish, you have a duty that you must fulfill. For every hope that you entertain, you have a task that you must perform. For every good that you wish to preserve, you will have to sacrifice your comfort and ease. There is nothing for nothing any longer.' - George Washington.