Spike Hawk, 22.00 in, American Hickory Handle

Right out if the box, this is a serious melee weapon. It has a sharp chopping blade and a sharp spike for piercing. It isn't perfect for throwing but it would be plenty dangerous in this role too. Lots of reviewers find fault in its assembly but this piece begs you to make it "your own" and this requires you to take it apart anyway to customize it. The handle is too smooth for me so I'll improve that my own way, and the head looks better to me without the black protective paint so I'll remove it from mine, the blade came sharp but I can make it sharper so I will do that too... when I'm all done with my versions this will hang on a wall because it will be deadly beautiful.

So out of the box these are pretty rough and to some nigh unusable. The biggest issue is the heads are either too loose or are smashed (literally) on too tight. First though yes tomahawk heads are MEANT to be removable, they are NOT meant to be permanently attached like an axe or hatchet ( one reason is historical, they were trade axes and Americans didn't want to pay for handles they could make themselves ). But they shouldn't be loose enough to remove with just your hands, either they need a few good whacks with a stick to remove or by dropping it straight down a few times. You could sand or carve the handle to fit better, which is the "proper" way. But if your lazy like me a quick, effective and safe way that is also unseen is to look at where there is gaps between the head and handle then cut and stick as many layers of duct tape tape (good old duct tape) on the inside of the eye as needed until you really have to ram it on there then cut off any tape still visible, this works for me and I own 5 cold steel tomahawks of which I've done this to 3 without any issues and I use them hard and often. And take that stupid screw out or all the other tomahawk guys are gonna laugh at you, just saying...( joking, nobody will laugh at you, I swear). Another trick is to buy another cold steel tomahawk and switch the heads around, don't know why but every hawk I've got fit terrible on the handle it came with but fit really good on all the other ones it didn't come with. As for the length of the handle being too long? That's up to personal preference, historic tomahawks were typically 15 to 19 inches long with some up to 2 feet, a rule of thumb for throwing is from your top knuckles to your elbow, but the longer the handle the more power you generate, see where you like the feel of it and cut it off there, simple. These never come sharp, some come obscenely dull and others ok but still not good enough. I use a bastard file and then some diamond and arkansas stones to finish (sorry no real quick fix for sharpening). These are of course worth every penny, the base materials are excellent quality and with minimal time and effort ( it's still time and effort though) you get an end product that is unique to you, functional and useful. You could buy a tomahawk that has none of these issues but they are hard to find and the only one I've seen easily available are by hb forge and cost over $100( $110 as of this review) and are not always available. Those by condor and crkt have these same issues but to a lesser degree (but your still going to have to fiddle around with getting the head to fit snug and sharpening them) and they cost more ( and are wayyy too heavy to feel like a traditional/historic tomahawk, most of which had 12 to 16 oz. heads or lighter, a tomahawk should be light enough to go comfortably on your belt). Those no name ones here on Amazon are far worse than cold steels in every category (talk about rough!) and they cost more. And those by hanwie and windlass steelcrafts come with easily broken handles and they cost more. See a pattern here? Cold steel gives in my opinion the best function/use/quality to cost ratio there is on the market with condor a solid second place (sorry crkt your just too heavy).

Of my 9 Hawks from 4 manufactures including CS and CRKT this is with out a doubt my favorite hawk for both throwing and woods use. Chops wood and splits kindling decent for ahawk while being lite weight and offering a deep penetrating Spike for scavenging fat wood and busting into stumps etc to get to the dry center. Great great great tool.

The handle fit always sucks on every tomahawk Ive purchssed from any manufacturer. If you try to make it fit better, then the headstock becomes too short, and the handle has a short life. Cold Steel is a good quality value though, and original replacement handles are available at a reasonable cost.

This is an amazing tomahawk.This is the kind you throw a modified mine a bit But this is a good throwing tomahawk bury em every time

Don't do it!!! Cold Steel will never get my business again. The quality could NOT be worse. The wood handle is trash (pieces will come off or cause slinters). The paint looks NOTHING like advertised (low quality, chipped, dull, missing, burnt???... burnt???). The handle is beyond lose and frayed. The blade is dull... like no blade dull. This thing is a piece of $#!^... I never write negatives review so this is watered down... and I can't return. No option. CS was once was a good company... Like so many others, they sold out. GARBAGE... Oh, it took forever to deliver. Not a one star... a negative 5. Some may say... this is axe should be made fantastic by the owner... not the company. That horse dung... yes, I will fix it up but that doesn't give the company the right to deliver trash... WHY??? WHAT??? HOW... can you give a four or five star while stating, "It needs work... not useable... very rough... but... etc..." Yes... I can fix it... I shouldn't have too... stop settling and demand quality. Stop buying garbage... Like I did.

The axe head metal is pitted, I would expect better from Cold Steel.

This is a surprisingly useful tool for the woodsman. If you cut brush, limb it and handle firewood this combination of pickaroon and hatchet is light weight and handy! Sticks firewood chunks better than more serious looking and expensive pickaroons I have tried.

Cuando conocí la marca Cold Steel y ví sus tomahawks la Spike Hawk fue mi favorito al instante, eso fue en 2005 y apenas hasta el año pasado(2022) pude comprarla, así es como quedó después de personalizarlo y quedé tan complacido con el resultado que hice una rifa y ese fue el premio mayor... Acabo de pedirlo por segunda vez, ahora si para quedarse en casa y unirse a la colección, esta sería la septima tomahawk de Cold Steel que compro y al menos para mí, son productos muy buenos y versátiles.