One of the most common issues with a real hawk is the fact that you are swinging a relatively sharp blade attached to a generally short handle. As any hatchet user knows, the closer the moving edge, the more danger one is in. And if your brush leans towards branches, then the hawk wins.īut all the useful violence packed into the hawk is not without its downfalls. The wood chopping capabilities of the hawk are second only to the axe, and perhaps on par with your hatchet. A hawk’s brush clearing talents loose to machetes but win over knives. The hawk as a prybar exceeds that of almost every other tool except a pry bar. Its résumé includes being thrown fast whether across the room or at the nearest outdoor recipient in need of a good puncture. Tomahawk Use: Violent EncounterĪ good hawk is a brute force instrument that can be beat hard against anything. Apparently the hawk comes in second in enough races to win overall. But I cannot deny the Hawk urge when I need a grab-and-go tool for all the unknowns and many of the knowns. I even have some specialty tools I carry in the truck including the Crovel Elite. And if I need a hammer or pick I will use my hammer or pick. I love carving with Spyderco and Benchmade bushcrafting blades. I absolutely love addressing large wood challenges with my Gransfors Bruks hatchets and axes. So therein lies the dividing line between the dedicated tool (knife, hatchet, axe, machete, etc.) and the tomahawk.įor me, the hawk is more of an urban tool. But none of that matters in the wilderness or when doing bushcraft. The hawk can puncture tires, cut out a windshield, even disable an engine. The hawk can open a car door, or simply go right through it splaying the tin like a can opener. But then there is the over-the-top end where the hawk can breach, demolish, kill, and fly through the air on its way to the job site. On the more forceful end, the hawk can chop and slash and pound. On the gentle end the hawk can slice and carve and gut. The hawk…make that a quality hawk… is a survivor that does its job harder and longer than anything else you can carry. The tactical hawk is usually tougher than pretty much anything else in your kit. The tomahawk, or just hawk for those a little cooler, has many uses, but few skills better than any of the special purpose tools it would replace. What is on my list for a hawk? Well, that it yet to be determined. Unfortunately, none of those tasks are on my shortlist of needs when it comes to an edged tool. Of course there is also the hand-to-hand fighting aspects which the hawk excels. And with spiked hawk instead of hammer, the tomahawk will puncture tires better than just about anything else. Their uses included puncturing 55 gallon drums to both drain their contents and create burn barrels. I have talked to some service boys who found a use for the tactical tomahawk in the unstable hot deserts of the world. So why has there been an explosive resurgence in the availability of tomahawks to the point that even Home Depot and Target have a section of hawks to choose from? Heck, even Walmart has 125 hits on their website for the search term “tomahawk” with a serious dose of the hits being actual metal bladed tomahawks and not toys or sports memorabilia.

According to the Gransfors Bruks website, the origin of the word tomahawk is from the Lenape tribe use of the word tomahawk, which loosely translates to “cutting tool.” Although the tomahawk has a rich past, so does the sling, the atlatl, the spear and even the horse.

Crkt tomahawk