Modifying the Cold Steel Trail Hawk, an instructional...

[bill lemon]

i tested it plenty chum,im a joiner by trade and have more than a little experience with cutting tools of all kinds,im also a knife maker and an adze maker and appreciate cutting angles and weight ratios,energy expenditure etc. ive probably chopped,hacked,sawn and hammered more wood than most so id say im in a good position to tell if a cutting tool is up to the task or if there is a better alternative.

after spending my hard earned on the hawk it became apparent that the axe is a far superior tool in most respects,which is why you hardly see a tommahawk in general use nowadays.i doubt any woodworker would reach for a hawk as first choice for ANY task. i think the advertising video from cold steel says it all though and if smashing cow skulls and car bonnets floats your boat then itll suit you well,you might even get a little wow factor from passers by too and look interesting (one of the main draws to a tommahawk i imagine)

im not in fact the person previously known as `beenz`, and i dont consider the little axe i have as blingtastic either. more functional actually. id have said a shiny tommahawk with nice leather thong and tassles and a nice long shaft would be more bling bling to be honest. but if the shaft is too long for you(and it is) why not get someone who can use a saw to cut it down a little too.

 

[bill lemon]

by the way , it DOES excell at wedging doors open.

 

[Wayland]

Snip> then after about ten minutes in camp i put it down and picked up my USEFULL gransfors wildlife hatchet <Snip

i tested it plenty chum <Snip

It's odd that almost everyone that has handled my hawk has been impressed with it's performance and seen the potential of such a small, light and packable tool. That includes some very experienced and skilful woodworkers by the way.

No one is saying that it is superior to a purpose made carpenters axe but if used correctly it is certainly not the inferior tool you suppose it to be.

The basic shape of this tool has been repeated in tools throughout history, so perhaps generations of toolmakers and users are also deeply inferior to your expertise as well.

For myself, I will simply believe the evidence of my own experience and many others thank you very much and in the meantime I will leave you to your own eccentric and somewhat arrogant opinion.

 

[whats wrong with you all]

It's odd that almost everyone that has handled my hawk has been impressed with it's performance and seen the potential of such a small, light and packable tool. That includes some very experienced and skilful woodworkers by the way.

No one is saying that it is superior to a purpose made carpenters axe but if used correctly it is certainly not the inferior tool you suppose it to be.

The basic shape of this tool has been repeated in tools throughout history, so perhaps generations of toolmakers and users are also deeply inferior to your expertise as well.

For myself, I will simply believe the evidence of my own experience and many others thank you very much and in the meantime I will leave you to your own eccentric and somewhat arrogant opinion.

Nicely said I'm hoping to get one in the next few weeks and start that as a project over the summer. Might take me a while with the re profiling what with my complete lack of powertools though

 

[johnboy]

What kind of terminator tile saw did you use. The one i picked up out of B&Q today wussed out big time.

After almost a half hour at it, there is barely any cutting surface left on the £2.50 B&Q blade (not to mention the fact it cost another fiver for the handle, as they design them so they wont fit on a normal hacksaw!), and all its done is make something resembling a full scrotum in my hawk
Well, better get that aldi bench grinder thats been sitting in storage up and running!

Perhaps the steel on yours is harder than the steel on Waylands...????

 

[bill lemon]

It's odd that almost everyone that has handled my hawk has been impressed with it's performance and seen the potential of such a small, light and packable tool. That includes some very experienced and skilful woodworkers by the way.

No one is saying that it is superior to a purpose made carpenters axe but if used correctly it is certainly not the inferior tool you suppose it to be.actually it is inferior to a purpose made carpenters axe,your sentence inferrs that it is at least on parr with a carpenters axe

The basic shape of this tool has been repeated in tools throughout history, so perhaps generations of toolmakers and users are also deeply inferior to your expertise as well.lol thats just dumb,better tools evolved from that shape indeed....to make them BETTER

For myself, I will simply believe the evidence of my own experience and many others thank you very much and in the meantime I will leave you to your own eccentric and somewhat arrogant opinion.eccentric and arrogant? lol hardly,and yet it is an opinion, just like what you say is YOUR opinion,the whole forum is made of OPINIONS ......and mine is just as valid as yours,just because we dont agree about your crap tool dosent make one opinion better or worse than the other[/QUOTE

viking? lol wise up .

 

[Robbi]

the good old irish hospitality shining through

wind yer neck in mucker, 'tis a friendly place we have here.

 

[Suffolksteve]

the good old irish hospitality shining through

wind yer neck in mucker, 'tis a friendly place we have here.

+1 for that!

It's odd that almost everyone that has handled my hawk has been impressed with it's performance and seen the potential of such a small, light and packable tool. That includes some very experienced and skilful woodworkers by the way.

No one is saying that it is superior to a purpose made carpenters axe but if used correctly it is certainly not the inferior tool you suppose it to be.actually it is inferior to a purpose made carpenters axe,your sentence inferrs that it is at least on parr with a carpenters axe

The basic shape of this tool has been repeated in tools throughout history, so perhaps generations of toolmakers and users are also deeply inferior to your expertise as well.lol thats just dumb,better tools evolved from that shape indeed....to make them BETTER

For myself, I will simply believe the evidence of my own experience and many others thank you very much and in the meantime I will leave you to your own eccentric and somewhat arrogant opinion.eccentric and arrogant? lol hardly,and yet it is an opinion, just like what you say is YOUR opinion,the whole forum is made of OPINIONS ......and mine is just as valid as yours,just because we dont agree about your crap tool dosent make one opinion better or worse than the other

+ 1

You are entitled to your opinion but the way you are going about expressing your point of view negates any useful input that you might have had.

Still, you have taught me something, that's how to add people to the ignore list.

 

[John Fenna]

+1 for that!

+ 1

You are entitled to your opinion but the way you are going about expressing your point of view negates any useful input that you might have had.

Still, you have taught me something, that's how to add people to the ignore list.

+1 for that again
Yon ignore list is a great tool - almost as good as Waylands Hawk - which I have tried out and found a very good and useful tool - pretty too (but that is true of all the gear he owns... )!

 

[luckylee]

i fetched mine today, from a bloke near me that is selling them on ebay, but was so close to me i was able to pick it up, looking forward to doing this project inbetween my orders, first impressions are not the nest to be honest, if someone bought one and did not have much skill in the way of working with there hands, then i would have been very disappointed, but as im ok with this sort of thing then this will make a great project, and should be able to do a sheath for it

 

[Robbi]

i fetched mine today, and should be bale to do a sheath for it

LOL ! if you need any advice or help, give me a shout mate

 

[luckylee]

LOL ! if you need any advice or help, give me a shout mate

will do bud, whats the best leather to use for a welt?

 

[Robbi]

welt leather.......obviously....D'oh !

 

[luckylee]

welt leather.......obviously....D'oh !

lol i had a bloke ring me up and ask me that, i nearly fell of me chair.
has made me chuckle this mate.
take care.
lee.

 

[Andy BB]

welt leather.......obviously....D'oh !

What animal is that off then?

 

[Robbi]

Highland Welty, a small confused creature that lives on the low lands of Birmingham

 

[Wayland]

I don't normally engage in battles of wits with unarmed opponents but as it seems to be what you want, here we go.

your sentence inferrs that it is at least on parr with a carpenters axe

My sentence infers nothing of the sort. It is not on a par with a carpenters axe because that is not what this tool is designed for.

It is a deliberate compromise between weight, pack-ability and performance.

lol thats just dumb,better tools evolved from that shape indeed....to make them BETTER

That's not dumb, axes of many different types existed in the past and still survive to fulfil many different functions. One type is not better than another, just different and suited to different uses.

If I wanted to carve a bowl in the woods for example, I wouldn't use a hawk or a Gransfors hatchet, I'd use a hollow iron made for the job.

If however I wanted a lightweight axe to carry into the wilderness for a variety of uses, then a hawk or a hatchet is a tool I would consider very seriously.

eccentric and arrogant? lol hardly,and yet it is an opinion, just like what you say is YOUR opinion,the whole forum is made of OPINIONS ......and mine is just as valid as yours,just because we dont agree about your crap tool dosent make one opinion better or worse than the other

One critical difference between our opinions is that I'm not the one declaring that one type of tool is "crap" and the only worthwhile tool is another one. I'm sure, as a joiner, you've heard the saying that it is "a bad workman that blames his tools."

As already stated, this tool is well suited to some jobs but of course not for others, just like your Gransfors hatchet. It it for the user to decide whether either tool will suit their particular needs, that doesn't make them good or bad, just different.

This forum does indeed thrive upon opinions but there are civilised ways of putting an opinion forward that do not involve insulting everybody's intelligence and experience.

(I hope you don't mind me correcting your simple spelling and grammatical errors, language, just like tools, ought to be used correctly don't you think?)

viking? lol wise up .

Choose your battles wisely Mr Lemon.



.

 

[Andy BB]

Don't sit on the fence Wayland - tell us what you really think

 

[Ahjno]

???

It's odd that almost everyone that has handled my hawk has been impressed with it's performance and seen the potential of such a small, light and packable tool. That includes some very experienced and skilful woodworkers by the way.

No one is saying that it is superior to a purpose made carpenters axe but if used correctly it is certainly not the inferior tool you suppose it to be.actually it is inferior to a purpose made carpenters axe,your sentence inferrs that it is at least on parr with a carpenters axe

The basic shape of this tool has been repeated in tools throughout history, so perhaps generations of toolmakers and users are also deeply inferior to your expertise as well.lol thats just dumb,better tools evolved from that shape indeed....to make them BETTER

For myself, I will simply believe the evidence of my own experience and many others thank you very much and in the meantime I will leave you to your own eccentric and somewhat arrogant opinion.eccentric and arrogant? lol hardly,and yet it is an opinion, just like what you say is YOUR opinion,the whole forum is made of OPINIONS ......and mine is just as valid as yours,just because we dont agree about your crap tool dosent make one opinion better or worse than the other[/QUOTE

viking? lol wise up .

Naaahh not nice, not nice at all ...

Cheerio!



Back OT please

 

[TurboGirl]

Gosh, just when I find a bushcrafter even more Testicularly Challenged than me, and he has to get banned! Shucks

I've got one ready to be done too, Lee And I made sheaths, you will giggle at them