Cold SteelSpike 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.

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)

works great good construction a little small

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.

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.