Tomahawk Web Links + Wisdom

CitizenQ

CitizenQ

Joined
May 5, 2006
Messages
1,968
TOPIC POST #1

I've been researching Blade Forums posts made by the original Two Hawks who passed away several years ago...may God rest his soul.

The original Two Hawks seems to me to possess some wisdom on the subject of tomahawks, so I thought I'd make this topic some tidbits of Two Hawks musings along with some tomahawk web links I have collected. Then I figured that this topic would make a useful single repository for all of the tomahawk stuff I've been finding and collecting.

The first three (3) posts to this topic will be organized as follows...
  • Post #1: Q's Tomahawk Maker & Seller Website Links
  • Post #2: Tomahawk Educational Resources (Books, videos, news, ect.) & Tomahawkutainment
  • Post #3: Interesting Tomahawk Posts, Information & Miscellaneous Stuff

Please note that when someone posts a tomahawk resource that isn't already listed in this topic I update post #1, #2, or #3 with the new resource. I won't respond with "added...thanks" to each suggested resource so don't think I'm ignoring you....all suggested resources are greatly appreciated.

Carry on.
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Post #1: Q's Tomahawk Maker & Seller Website Links

MODERATORS: PLEASE CONSULT WITH ESAV BENYAMIN BEFORE ISSUSING ME A DEAL\AUCTION SPOTTING INFRACTION FOR THE FOLLOWING LINKS. THANK YOU.

  1. American Kami Hawks
  2. American Tomahawk Company
  3. Beaver Bill Forging Works
  4. BM Tomahawks
  5. By The Sword - Tomahawks
  6. Bronks Hand Forged Tomahawks
  7. Coal Creek Forge
  8. Cold Steel Tomahawks
  9. Contemporary Longrifle Association
  10. Crazy Crow Trading Post
  11. Custom Tomahawks by Glen Mikolajczyk
  12. Daniel Winkler - Master Bladesmith
  13. Dixie Gun Works
  14. Delaronde Forge
  15. Elite Knives Tomahawk Gallery
  16. Emerson Knives
  17. Fehrman Knives - Tomahawks
  18. Fort Turner Hand Forged Metal Works
  19. G. Gedney Godwin - Axes & Tomahawks
  20. GG&G BattleHawks
  21. Great River Forge
  22. H&B Forge Company
  23. Hawk'n Knives Off Beat Forge -- Custom Tomahawks
  24. Hays Knives & Tomahawks
  25. Jas. Townsend and Son, Inc.
  26. John M. Cohea
  27. Joseph Szilaski Custom Knives and Tomahawks
  28. K5 Tactical
  29. L.C. Hansen
  30. Laci Szabo
  31. Long Knives & Leather by Rich & Jeanne McDonald
  32. Medicine River Trading Company
  33. Mineral Mountain Hatchet Works
  34. Native Workshop - Handmade Pipe Tomahawks & Other Indian Tomahawks
  35. Nemisis Knives LMAX
  36. North River Custom Knives & Tomahawks
  37. Off-Beat Forge - Hand Forged Tomahawks & Knives
  38. Old Dominion Forge
  39. One Stop Knife Shop - Tomahawks
  40. R. Mayo Knives
  41. The R.E. Davis Co. - Tomahawks & Handles
  42. Ragnar's Ragweed Forge
  43. Ranger Knives Tomahawks
  44. RMJ Forge - Historical Tomahawks
  45. RMJ Tactical
  46. Ron Laclair's Shrew Hawk & Trappers Companion Hawk
  47. Sayoc Winkler Hawk
  48. Stuart Willis Hand Forged Tomahawks & Knives
  49. Takach Forge
  50. Tops Knives
  51. Track of The Wolf
  52. Two Hawks Custom Tomahawks
  53. Twisted Nickel Tomahawks
  54. Vec's Hawk Project
  55. Walk by Faith - Tomahawks
  56. Wally Hayes
  57. Windlass Steel Products
MODERATORS: PLEASE CONSULT WITH ESAV BENYAMIN BEFORE ISSUSING ME A DEAL\AUCTION SPOTTING INFRACTION FOR THE LINKS LISTED ABOVE. THANK YOU.

Q out!
 
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Post #2: Tomahawk Education Resources...​
:thumbup: = Qapproved!​
  1. Doing a fancy pipe hawk handle my way - By Alan Longkmire :thumbup:
  2. Trade Axe & Tomahawk Collectors Association :thumbup:
  3. Fur Trade Axes & Tomahawks :thumbup:
  4. Coal Creek Forge's YouTube Channel
  5. BeastOfBurdenenTerpr's YouTube Channel
  6. The Making of My Tomahawk
  7. Hand forging an axe or hawk head
  8. How I 550 Paracord Haft Wrap - By Q :thumbup:
  9. How to throw a tomahawk by Dan Beard
  10. Tomahawk targets by Dan Beard
  11. How to Forge a Frontier Style Tomahawk by Chris Crawford
  12. A Basic Manual on Tomahawk Throwing by R. E. Valade
  13. The Fighting Tomahawk by Dwight C. McLemore :thumbup:
  14. Fighting With A Tomahawk by Lynn C Thompson
  15. Knife & Tomahawk Throwing: The Art of the Experts by Harry K. McEvoy
  16. YouTube - How to Throw a Tomahawk, (Hawk) or Knife
  17. YouTube - Johnny Carson - Ed Ames Tomahawk Incident
  18. YouTube - 75 foot tomahawk throw
  19. YouTube - Basic Tomahawk Throwing part one of two
  20. YouTube - Tomahawk Throwing Search Query
  21. YouTube - Cold Steel Tomahawk Video Search Query
  22. Amazon.com Tomahawk Book Query
  23. ABC News - Some U.S. Troops Choose Historic Tomahawk
  24. Flying Hawkes Axe Throwing
  25. Tomahawk (axe) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  26. Tomahawks - Traditional to Tactical by David Grant
  27. Doing a fancy pipe hawk handle my way by Alan Longmire
  28. Peter LaGana Memorial
  29. Carolina Blade Slingers
  30. Tomahawks and Tomahawk Throwing

Post #2: Tomahawkutainment...​
  1. Allegheny Uprising (1939 Film)
  2. Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001 Film)
  3. Daniel Boone (1964 TV series)
  4. Drums Along the Mohawk (1939 Film)
  5. Jeremiah Johnson (1972 Film)
  6. The Last of the Mohicans (1992 Film)
  7. The New World (2005 Film)
  8. Northwest Passage - (1940 Film)
  9. The Patriot (2000 Film)
  10. Valhalla Rising (2009 Film)
 
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TOPIC POST #3

Post #3: Interesting Tomahawk Posts, Information & Miscellaneous Stuff...​

Two Hawks said:
THOUGHTS ON WHAT IS AVAILABLE AND WHAT YOU PAY Have not contributed much the last many weeks .... the body is rotten and the priority is shop time trying to finish the 70 hawks on back order. My apologies to all that have been waiting patiently. Have been picking away at this one during "break time" when too tired to do other stuff.

Over the years have had a lot of questions about "how much should I pay for a tomahawk" and "who makes good tomahawks" and similar. I don't have the ultimate answers for any of those questions, but I might be able to provide some kind of a "guesstimate" schedule for evaluating ads.

When I mention a maker it is because I know his work (which fits the category) and there are obviously others who do the same quality work. Sorry that I don't know you or forgot you. When I mention a supplier it does not mean that the only thing they offer is what I have seen from that company. They may have better or worse stuff that I don't know about. The categories where these folks are placed are entirely due to my opinions based on a number of years of using hawks, buying hawks, making hawks, and looking at a LOT of hawks made by other folks that I did not bother to buy. It is strictly opinion, just like a review of a new Broadway musical, and if you don't agree with me that is no big deal. You also have your opinion .... but if you know a bit about another hawk I haven't seen please contribute your views.

JUNK (WITH SOME SURPRISES): These are rough hawks made overseas and sold for about 17 bucks by mass market retailers like Atlanta Cutlery. They generally have poorly fitted Asian hardwood handles and are very crude. Sometimes there is a surprise with these .... a few years ago I picked up some India-made heads with very good steel in them. The handles were junk and the eyes were so crude that it was about impossible to fit the handles but what do you want for 17 bucks.

CHEAP HAWKS: A lot of the stuff you see at Rendezvous falls into this category, and they sometimes provide a real value for the dollar if you don't care about finish or can do your own. There's actually 2 categories that fit the $40 to $60 price range:

Forged Heads: Most of the Rendezvous hawks fit here ... watch for poor hammer welds, layer separations etc. The very best forged head hawks are those from H&B Forge and while crude and hard to fit handles to (due to inconsistent eyes) they are very reliable in the field and should last forever. Look for a rough-shaped varnished handle hydraulic-pressed into most of these with no attempt at fitting to the head. In the historic sense, these are probably the most accurate match for the cheap stuff actually traded to the Indians in the 1700's and 1800's.

Cast Heads: There are a lot of hawks available using investment castings (like a lot of rifle parts). From what I have seen they are generally sound but leave a lot to be desired for design and finish. These are sold "as-cast" with black spray-painted finish and generally have a crude machine-finished handle hydraulic-pressed into the head. Some are sold with a crudely rough ground cutting edge. Examples are hawks sold by Track of the Wolf and Dixie Gun Works and the Canadian Black Hawk sold by a lot of folks. If you have the time to re-work these you can make a decent hawk but the metal in these is often 410 stainless steel and cannot be blued or browned for a traditional finish.

QUALITY FIELD TOOLS: I'm a bit hesitant to open this category since it has been my own specialty for a number of years. I have seen a few very good quality working hawks at Rendezvous and shows over the years, but most of what I have seen has been either cheaper hawks or expensive "show" replicas rather than good solid working tools. These are the $100 to $200 well made hawks intended to be used by packers, trappers, hunters and other folks who spend a lot of time in the woods and are more concerned with utility than "replica" historic accuracy. Likely to incorporate modern alloys and engineering while based on traditional head designs.

THE MILITARIES: There has been a recent resurgence of interest in primarily military-use tomahawks. As a result, you can find "military" hawks ranging from $20 Vietnam-hawk overseas copies to high quality $400 "special tools" for a combat environment. The tomahawk has long been recognized as probably the most deadly close-quarter battle tool, and more recent fine-tuning of the design has resulted in more effective head and handle engineering.

The ultimate 21st Century modernization of old battle-tested designs from the 1700's is Ryan Johnson's Eagle Talon with an integral modern steel head and handle and effective fighting head geometry. Andy Prisco's American Tomahawk Company developed a virtually unbreakable synthetic handle which they have fitted to Peter LaGana's old Vietnam Hawk design and an arrowhead-spike head based on a 1700's hawk. My Warhawk designs use more traditional materials with head geometry designed to permit use of the hawk as a thrusting weapon like a knife in a combat environment. There are probably a lot of other models available that I haven't seen.

QUALITY REPLICAS: Somebody else might be able to come up with a better name for this category, but my feeble old brain was not able to. These are the fine handmade $300 to $400 hawks intended more for display than any field use and characterized by historic accuracy, very fine finishing and embellishment (such as silver or pewter handle inlays) and fancy head designs. These are without a doubt investment-quality hawks, and all that I have seen were of very high quality. Good examples are the RMJ Forge "standard" items (I would consider them "special" but Ryan says they are the regular stuff) and Szilaski's lower-priced units.

ART TOMAHAWKS: Here we have a couple of possibilities. There is the miserable crud that looks like something from a science fiction movie but still sells for big bucks in the mass-market catalog area, and some very finely crafted handmade works of art which would fit very nicely into an exhibit in the Smithsonian of 1700's edged weapons.

The crud ranges from $29.95 to whatever. The true quality hawks can range from the high $500's to over $2000 depending on how much work goes into them. They are impeccably accurate historically, and are made to standards that the world seldom sees any more. An example that comes readily to mind is the better hawks made by Szilaski.

I wish I could do stuff this nice. But I'm just a toolmaker and never claimed to be an artist.

SUMMARY: There's a wide range of tomahawks available. Any of them will work better than a sharp rock for cutting things (exactly why the traders were able to get high quality fur in return for cheap iron axes).

I tried to sort what I have seen in today's market into categories and provide some kind of descriptions. Probably screwed up and made some people unhappy but you can sign on and vent your own opinion.

JUNK - $17 stuff from overseas
CHEAP - $40 to $60 rough but functional
TOOLS - $100 to $200 quality tools for field use
MILITARIES - $JUNK to $400 specialty tools for combat environments
QUALITY REPLICAS - $300 to $500 made better than the originals
ART HAWKS - $JUNK to the good $2000 stuff that belongs in a museum

I AM SURE THERE ARE A LOT OF FOLKS OUT THERE WHO EITHER DISAGREE OR WANT TO ADD SOMETHING .... SIGN ON AND CONTRIBUTE TO THE DIALOG!!!

PS: There have been some rumors floating around that I am dead. Do not believe rumors .... I am just old and sedentary.

TWO HAWKS http://www.2hawks.net
Click to expand...

Two Hawks said:
1. An axe is an impact tool. It must be kept softer than a knife to avoid shattering and other problems (see below).

2. An axe should be kept soft enough to work the edge with a file, unlike a knife. That is what I do (no Rockwell tester but would guess about 45-50RC).

3. When you hit the wrong s**t with the axe (which you will) the softer edge will "roll" or deform slightly, and is easily dressed out (often requiring only 320 and finer grits with leather-hone finishing). A hard "knife" edge will break out a large chip (or will crack) and then you are looking at a major operation to bring it back to the original edge.

4. The double-bit axes of the lumberjacks in the 1800's were harder, but were used by PROFESSIONALS who cut only softwoods (pine/spruce/redwood) and not bone, concrete, rocks, nails, and the other s**t often impacted by today's hunter/axe user.

5. The challenge is edge retention in the "soft" steel which is why I use the high vanadium alloy. Lots of surface carbides to take the wear though it eats grinding belts 3 times as fast as the 4140 I used to use. It works. Field users have cut a lot of wood with them and brought back a shaving edge with just leather honing.

Hope this information is useful. TWO HAWKS
Click to expand...

Tomahawk Terminology....​

(The following image is courtesy of image courtesy of http://www.lchansen.com maker of extraordinary knives & tomahawks)​

 
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This screams sticky.

Also found some goooood looking hawks in one of the links. Like this one despite the heart in the middle...
 
Being a hawkhead has been and continues to be one fascinating hobby because of guys like all of you who pass along some great information. Thanks Q and everyone!
 
Well done Q, thank you. Clicked thru the links on #2 and found that Long knives and medicine river links didnt work for me. Just me or?
 
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These lists continue to be updated as I come across more tomahawk goodness. However...doing an "Edit" of the first three (3) posts to this topic does not bump this topic to the top of the forum topic list, so it's kinda hard to tell what is new. As a result, I'm gonna post a reply (which will detail the nature os the update) every time I add something via an edit.

Just added "Doing a fancy pipe hawk handle my way " by Alan Longmire. Wow! This a most excellent article!
 
Thanks for the time and effort to pull this together. Another request to make it a sticky please.
 
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