Cold steel = American Tomahawk Company ?!

M

Mongo-man

Joined
Feb 11, 2005
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I have read in the past that the Lagana Viëtnam tomahawk was a great tool. From the concensus at that time the Cold Steel copy was not comparable to the ATC copy in fit and finish and workmanship.

Searching google to aquire an ATC VTAC i came up with this page.

http://www.coldsteel.com/axes.html

It states "The American Tomahawk Company® is a division of Cold Steel, Inc."

Should i pay double the money for a composite handle on the VTAC, because they seem to be made by the same company?

confused :confused:
 
Mongo-man,

While ATC is a division of Cold Steel, Cold Steel is run by Lynn Thompson, and the ATC VTAC is made by a separate 'group' run by Andy Prisco...

The Cold Steel Vietnam Tomahawk is made in Taiwan... is is a reproduction, and if you throw it, you will eventually break the handle... maybe on your first outing...

The ATC VTAC is a whole different animal... it is made in the USA, and you can throw it all day long with no concern it will break... the handle material is NOT the only difference, the overall construction, head attaching method, finish, etc. are totally different between the two upon inspection...

I have had both, I broke the CS VT's handle, and still have the VTAC now... I would NOT recommend using the CS version for throwing (even though Peter LaGana threw his 'original' VT a lot)... I do think it would make a fine choice for hand-to-hand combat, though!!! On the other hand, the ATC VTAC will do both, and would excell in both...

The CS VT is worth it's price, and the AC VTAC is worth it's higher price...
 
Cold Steel should be sued for even attempting to equate their CHEAP junk of a hawk with the ATC VTAC. There is NO comparison whatsoever. I used my buddies Cold Steel version of the REAL VTAC and it broke after 11 throws at a tree in his front yard. My 2 VTACs have been thrown hundreds of times, nothing is harmed on them at all. Cold Steel is NOT ATC. Period.
 
Cold Steel's Vietnam Tomahawk is intended to be a reproduction of Peter LaGana's original Vietnam Tomahawk from the 1960's... however, if you compare Cold Steel's product shown here...

VietnamTomahawk.jpg


With the tomahawks in this picture of Peter LaGana and some of his original Vietnam Tomahawks...

PeterLaGana2.jpg


You will notice that Peter LaGana's originals had thicker (and typically tapered) handles... which would probably explain why the reproduction version breaks more easily...

The ATC VTAC was a joint effort in about 2000 between Andy Prisco and Peter LaGana (Andy became Peter's partner, and had the idea for the ATC VTAC), and was intended to be an improved Vietnam Tomahawk, which it accomplished very well... ATC VTAC means: American Tomahawk Company Vietnam TACtical tomahawk...

This is the ATC VTAC...

VTACTomahawk.jpg


The Cold Steel version is a reproduction of the 1960's version, and the weak point is its handle...
 
And...

When I examined the handle on my Cold Steel Vietnam Tomahawk after it broke (it was only thrown maybe 5-7 times?), the wood that the handle was made from seemed dry and brittle, much more 'fragile' than my Cold Steel Frontier Hawk handles seem to be...

Perhaps the wooden handle is just too slender, or the wood itself is poor quality (since they figure it gets painted/covered)... or maybe the handle and head are assembled, painted, and then the paint is baked, thus drying out the wood...

I wish everyone who has had a broken handle on their Cold Steel Vietnam Tomahawk would do as I did and contact Cold Steel, and ask them to make a Vietnam Tomahawk II. My idea for the Vietnam Tomahawk II is to offer an updated version that has a handle made from fiberglass, polyproplene or composite... with the same head painted black instead of OD green, and the same sheath, except in black leather instead of oxblood-colored leather... I am convinced it would happen if enough people contacted them and requested it...

The cost would likely be about the same as the wooden-handled Vietnam Tomahawk...
 
I hate nonwood handles. The right thing to do is make them out of stright grained hickory.
That is why I paid more to get my Norse Hawk at a local knife store ,so I could pick the one with the best handle. The handle on my Norse is fantastic.

I am not a fan of the Vietnam style hawks. The head is way to big and they feel clumsy compared to a real hawk. The big head is probably why the handles break.
A traditional hawk has hundreds of years of use so it has been refined to a very fine degree.
 
doesn't a wood handle vietnam use wedges to hold the handle on? i thought i remember seeing pics of this but maybe i am wrong.
 
i think the ATC VTAC was made partially in Italy - don't quote me on that.

....maybe Mr. Prisco will chime in here.

it is a fantastic hawk, in my opinion.


i re-handle the CS VN hawk with my composite handles and sometimes refine the head with some tooling, for the reasons stated about the wooden handle composition.

straight grain hickory handles, as also mentioned here, must be magnificent on them as well! let's see some pictures of those, brother...!


Cold Steel's heat treats have been pretty good for me so far, how about with you, brethren...?


i really appreciate the fact that some one took the effort to get the common military man some knives and tools that didn't break the bank, that he could trust, on Mr. Prisco's and Mr. Thompson's parts.

YMMV.

vec
 
Unsub said:
I hate nonwood handles. The right thing to do is make them out of stright grained hickory.
That is why I paid more to get my Norse Hawk at a local knife store ,so I could pick the one with the best handle. The handle on my Norse is fantastic.

I am not a fan of the Vietnam style hawks. The head is way to big and they feel clumsy compared to a real hawk. The big head is probably why the handles break.
A traditional hawk has hundreds of years of use so it has been refined to a very fine degree.
Click to expand...

Honestly, the head on the CS V hawk is fine. Yeah, it's bigger, but the shorter handle makes it very fast. The problem is the handle attachment. The taper and the wedge make it too weak to hold up to what we've come to expect from hawks.
 
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