Cold Steel Spike Hawk Tomahawk Axe

I was so pleased, i bought 2 of them!

I've had one of these for at least 5 years. It's a great supplemental tool for working with firewood. I keep it on a belt with a hammer loop. The blade is helpful to lop off small limbs missed by the chainsaw. The spike works like a pickaroon to pick up logs for the splitter. I added some grip tape to the lower end of the handle to minimize slipping out of my hand due to the taper. Very pleased with the quality and functional!

I purchased one of these and ended up giving it away to a friend while camping. He was very impressed with it, so now I bought another one. All Cold Steel tomahawks are easy to throw 1-2 rotations with little practice.

Like all Cold Steel 'hawks, it needed a fair amount of work to get into actual, practical throwing condition. The handle ended up being a mangled disaster, and will have to be replaced eventually. The head isn't sharp at all, so once you put an edge on it, and re-finish everything else, it ends up being a fun, balanced thrower. The spike hawk can be thrown from either end, on account of the "spike" portion of the head (which some folks don't like). If you refinish hawks as a hobby, I recommend it (look for a good sale, though). But if not, I would consider other possibilities, as it will simply disappoint you right out of the package.

Good design, I like the lengh of the haft. More suitable for defense or display than work. I like my SOG hawk better for general use but this cold steel hawk is great for what it is designed for.

I have this and some other CS tomahawks and they do need work to make them better. First off the head is loose and you need to loosen the set screw, take the head off and turn it 180 degrees and then hammer it down tight and then reset the set screw. I turn them 180 degrees so as not to be in the same set screw hole or too close to the original dimple. The edge also needs some sharpening, but takes a good edge if you have some skill. I really don't understand why CS sends them out with a set screw in a wobbly position when it would only take a few seconds more to make it tight. A wicked weapon/tool once you fix it.

Classic colonial era spike tomahawk with so-so handle. The 1055 steel head appears to have a fairly hard temper. It is held in place by a swell at the far end of the ash handle and a single (metric) set screw. I was unimpressed with the fit of the head to the handle and would expect it to quickly work loose unless more effort is put into fitting the two together. The good news is there seems to be lots of handle sticking out from the top so there is plenty of material to accomplish this. Since the head is slid down the length of the wood handle to the opposite end, the handle is pretty much the same diameter all the way from where you grip it. This is fine for throwing but you may prefer to have a more familiar swell at the near end like a camp hatchet for a more secure grip when swinging. I guess one could always wrap or lash the handle with something. The spike is very pointy and effective so using this as a hatchet may not be such a good idea. The blade is only sharpened enough to let you know which side to put a proper edge on. Also the curve of the blade has way too much belly for proper wood chopping. The blade profile may be more appropriate for throwing (or dueling), but I don't do that so I couldn't say. The epoxy coating seems to be a durable rust deterrent but looks pretty cheesy and rough. You may want to strip the coating with paint remover and refinish the bare metal. It will take a lot of work to file or sand out the forging marks. Power tools may be required. Overall, despite the shortcomings it is a very authentic looking medium weight (25oz) tomahawk with an unbelievably fair price. I doubt it would be any better as a camp hatchet than a purpose built tool, especially with the spike staring back at you, but it has a good reach and would be a wicked self defense tool, likely better than all but the largest knives. I understand Native American braves used to kill bears with something similar to this. Brave indeed!

The head was loose and it required some sharpening however over all it is a really good product

The head is good, and so is the handle. They just don't fit together well. I wedged leather in between them to stop the wobble. Also it comes blunt, but easily sharpened. If u watch YouTube reviews you'll see it's to be expected. With a little work it becomes a good tool.