Spike Hawk Frontier Hawk, One Size

This tomahawk is advertised as really excelling as a weapon. I'd have to agree with that assessment. Its just heavy enough that when you swing it you know it hits with enough force to be deadly. Its just light enough to be agile. If you want to have something quite deadly that doesn't involve a projectile then this is right up that alley. And it CAN be a projectile-if you've got the skills. What its not is heavy enough to do is go out and chop down a forest. Its a tomahawk not an axe. Not designed for that. Designed for "light" camp duty-capable of light camp duty. And the spike does snag wood that's laying on the ground quite nicely. This hawk took quite an edge. Very nice steel. That said it needs to be emphasized that you are very unlikely to buy one of these-take it out of the box-and be ready to roll with it. I bought both this and the riflemans hawk and I know this wasn't the case for me. Other reviews say pretty much the same things-loose or poorly fitting handles, blades needing sharpening, etc. In my case both handles also had the grain aligned "quarter sawn" which means not aligned in a manner that gets as much strength out of the handle as possible. I don't mind because these are excellent hawks that just need some touch ups. For that matter the woods are full of handles. Its the head that you're really paying for. Sure you could say it should already come that way. And you could sure pay a lot more too. I like to save the money and maintenance my own tool-which you have to do anyway as part of its upkeep if you use things like this versus hang them on walls! YouTube this and you'll see all the ways you can mod and improve these hawks. Its not hard to wind up with a truly beautiful and useful work of art. Great hawk.

I received my spike hawk today and I must say it is more than I expected. I am familiar with Cold Steel having their products from across the spectrum. At the low end they keep the cost down by foregoing the cosmetics and opening the tolerances for quality control, leaving the buyer to finish up, something with which I have no problem. After all, for instance, why pay CS to put an edge on a machete and then the first thing I do is to change the angle more to my liking. I lucked out on the hawk and got one of the good ones, not to say it is perfect. It is so good that I have temporarily postponed the modifications I was planning and will enjoy the hawk as is for now. The head is secure on the haft. Also, the fit is so good the head did not shave the haft and push the shaved wood pieces up just in front of the head. I don’t like the finish on the haft preferring natural wood to feeling the lacquer or whatever they use and in time will remove it and apply an oil finish. Also the haft has a nice grain that can be seen when the light is right. I’ll bring that out during the refinishing. The black paint isn’t as unpleasing as I thought it would be but in time that will go also. It came sharp. Surprise, surprise! Paper cutting sharp in fact. There are machine marks on the grind and a very small burr at one end, all of which I’ll polish out tonight. The sheath smelt like leather. I don’t know what I was expecting but the smell of real leather caught my attention. It is also nicely made. I could find no real faults and this is the first time that I have ever written a favourable report so soon. I am extremely pleased. I lucked out and got a good one.

I've got to start by saying I'm a huge fan of this hawk. I purchased it to be a lite camp axe and it will do that very well. If I knew more about fighting characteristics of tomahawks I'd comment about that, but as it is, I'd be speculating. I've read a lot of reviews and information about these hawks so based on this and having one in my hand, it seems to be totally respectable. It's priced well. Don't buy this though, if you are unwilling or unable to do some modifications. I gather there are some pretty extreme variations in the condition in which any Cold Steel hawk will ship. I've bought both the trail and the spike hawks. The spike was better fitted in my case. To do: Strip the paint and stickers of De-burr the eye Throw out the screw fastener Sand down and reseal the handle (refitting the head) Treat the head (I used gun blue) A tomahawk is a pretty personal tool. None of the above seems to me to ne too much for something I'm going to trust and rely on. Yes, it's made in Taiwan, but that keeps the price down. I do agree that it's well made despite the need to modify. It is holding an edge well and cuts very well. The Taiwan stamp is only paint deep. Like the wood handle because it is so field serviceable (replaceable) and because the construction allows you to hand hold the head (trail hawk becomes a chisel, spike a pick, either a cutting edge) Finally, at a low price, I'm willing to use these hard. Buy it and make it your own!

This is my fourth item in this cold steel "inexpensive" category. They are by no means cheap but not pretty either. They have sort of turned into a hobby for me and fun art and craft type of thing. I have modified the War hammer, Norse hawk, Pipe hawk, and now this Spike hawk. Each time I try to do a little research and mod them for the time period. I am not saying I am historically correct in this venture,,,it is just my interpretation of what they may have looked like back then. This one I was going to pretty much leave plain and dark. I discovered that the spike hawk is believed to be an ancestor of the Navel boarding so I felt a dark and stealthy boarding a ship at night look may be appropriate. But after looking at the attributes of a the boarding axe, the two although somewhat similar, are miles apart. I learned that the spike hawk became popular during the French Indian wars. So that is the theme I went with, The head was stripped of paint and sanded as smooth as I wanted it using various sandpaper grits. I then added layers of cold blue and it brought out a deep charcoal gray. The pictures show it a little lighter than actual color. The haft I already had some black paint on it so I used some steel wool and sanded it down to the finish I wanted. I then over the next few days applied 5 coats of tung oil. I put it all together and it looked nice but needed that little something. I remembered I had a feed store bought small leather whip form about 20 years ago. I took that apart and used what leather I wanted. I played with different wrapping until I got what I wanted. I added 4 upholstery nails and it is all done. I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed working on it and putting it together. Now it is one of a kind and you will never see another like it. After you read this and if you have a few moments more, take a look at my pictures and please vote yes on them. Thanks, :o)

When I first got it I was concerned as the head was not as firmly afixed as I expected from Cold Steel. In using it though I was surprised how well it worked and that the minor wiggle of the head simply disappeared and did not result in the handle breaking as I expected (something you often get when an ax or tomahawk head is loose.) I used this to convert a 55 gal drum to a controlled burn container and it punched all the holes I wanted quickly and without any real effort on my part. The only change to the ax was that it picked up some blue paint off the drum. I don't think the black finish on the hawk head was even thinned.

Over the years I've purchased a half dozen Cold Steel hawks. All made by the American Tomahawk Company. They are all 1055 carbon steel which is just right for an high impact tools. With 0.55% carbon hardness will max out in the low 50s HRC. It is often used for tools which need toughness, such as hatchets and axes. It will take an edge but will need touch-ups every use. These hawks are a great platform to start building your own custom hawk. Some reviewers claim these aren't forged, this is just plain wrong as casting would cost much more. The finish on these is just forge scale and tempering unlike the Viking Axe which has a urethane? finish.

I don't know whether to be irritated that this isn't an actual Cold Steel product or even more irritated that it was made by "American Tomahawk" but it was made in Taiwan. It's a real existential quandry. I respect the massive brass it takes to bald face lie about something like the origin of a product on top of the manufacturer of the product and, yes, I did, in fact, purchase this item because it said Cold Steel. I am not at all happy about that lie, however, and I might have bought this without that label. That being said, the damn thing seems to be well made. The head is obviously steel of some sort. It isn't sharp on either end. The head is loose and has a sort of hex head screw affair to tighten it up. That is shoddy. But the grain is straight on the handle. So as I said, a quandry. None of it makes sense. Like this Amazon review widget that keeps spell checking "quandry" as misspelled. The word is legit, but I'm being told it isn't. See? Bizarre. Any way I'll probably keep it in spite of the deception because everyone needs an old beater tomahawk lying around and it had a pretty good price. Well done lying, misinformation machine, well done.

I heat with wood, I cut, split and stack oak firewood. I bought this tool to use as a hookaroon, which is a tool which allows you to pick up firewood and not have to bend over. It works well for that task. Just lightly whack a log or firewood with the hook and pick it up. The blade side can also be used to remove branches. Downside is, you must be very carefull with it or it will cut you. A safer tool for this work is the warhammer, but you cannot use it to remove the small branches. The war hammer also has a greater reach. I think they are both good tools. I will agree with those other reviews that say 'throw away the set screw'. These heads adjust themselves. I threw mine a few times, I did not get the hang of it, but I could see it was damageing the handle, so I quit. If you are going to throw it a lot, expect to buy extra handles. I have purchased a few cold steel knives in the past and I was happy with them, but I did not expect this 'Tiawan' item to be very quality. It is much better than I expected.