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How to Choose a Tomahawk by Mark Hatmaker

 

As we get deeper in the weeds of old school authentic frontier weaponry in the RAW/Black Box Project, I am often being asked “Hey Mark, what sort of ‘hawk do you recommend? SOG, Benchmade, Gerber, etc.?”

The answer is…None of the above.

This is no slight to any of these fine manufacturers. They all make a stalwart and pretty tool—I own a few of these myself.

These are mantlepiece or showroom items, well, in my house Old West gunnery sport the walls, but you catch my drift.

Allow me to clarify that “None of the above” answer.

In a prior essay titled “Tomahawks, Tradeknives, & Tools” we go into the work/combat-utility equation. I suggest having a read of that piece to make this one sink in all the more.

Tomahawks, whether intended as camp tool, woodcraft implement, survival aid, or combat toy must be put thru their paces to render our skills useful. That’s a no-brainer.

Any tool we do not or will not use is no longer a tool but rather a museum piece or yet another artifact to gather dust around the house.

Tools put to use get dinged, dirty, pitted, and abused. Simply look at any good craftsman’s toolbox. Yes, they take good care of their implements but even a well-kept but well-used hammer no longer looks showroom ready. It looks like the hand-extension of a hard-worker.

Any viewing of the History Channel’s Forged in Fire reveals that the gorgeous blades rendered by skilled craftsmen that will knowingly be put to test often come out a bit on the less than pristine side.


It is for these reasons that my reply to the showpiece manufacturers is “None of the above.”

Any item we pay high dollar for may be less likely to put through the same paces we would a hammer acquired at Home Depot.

For tomahawk training this reluctance or hedging of use is anathema.

Would we buy boxing gloves to put in a display case because they are too pretty to use?

Or if we did dare don them would we merely touch the bag lightly with them for fear of scuffing them?

We want to choose tomahawks that are what they are—tools.

I use a variety of ‘hawks, hatchets, camp axes etc. that I have acquired in antique shops, flea markets, camping supply stores, etc.

They share the following attributes in common…

·        They are all full-weight.

·        I have paid under $20 bucks for all of them.

·        I beat and use the hell out of them in Black Box Training and if they lose their sheen, chink their edges, or one becomes so irreparable I have to toss one [a rare event] I don’t shed a tear.

Showpieces are lovely. I repeat, I have a few myself.

To work shadow, to work posts, to work trees, to work limbs, to work mattock, to employ woods runner drills, I go cheap and utilitarian.

And for partner drills where contact is a must, the Cold Steel ‘hawk trainer can be had for around $12 bucks.

It’s light as hell, far from realistic, but some drills need all the safety they can muster.

But…by all means don’t make a lightweight trainer your training weapon.

Choose full-weight.

Choose a real tool.

Choose a beater.

Then drive it like you stole it.

For skinny on The Black Box Project

[For techniques, tactics, and strategies of Rough and Tumble Combat, Old-School Boxing, Mean-Ass Wrestling, Street-Ready Frontier Scrapping & Indigenous Ability culled from the historical record see the RAW Subscription Service, or stay on the corral fence with the other dandified dudes and city-slickers. http://www.extremeselfprotection.com

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