Affordable Tomahawk Mods for the Cold Steel Trail Hawk, Vietnam Hawk and TOTW Belt Axe
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- Опубліковано 29 лип 2021
- This video is about Cold Steel and Track of the Wolf tomahawk modifications that I brought down to historically relevant, battle-proven weights.
And if you are interested in increasing your skill sets check out Cornelius Creations for power carving skills.
Also, I’m rocking my Foxhound Combat Kali shirt. If you are interested in a martial arts podcast check out:
/ @thekennelpodcast2805
And we have a handful of Backripper Tomahawks and Empress Tomahawks available at:
www.wingardwearables.com/shop-1
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Thanks for the tip on “Track of the wolf” they look great.
I, too, lived in North Alabama as a teenager. Russellville, to be precise. I was a real genius and put a couple of velvet tail rattlers in an extra large sandwich bag. I was walking home with the rattlers (which I had "killed" with sharp blows to the back of their heads) when I felt something hitting my fingertips. Bang, bang bang! I looked down to see that those "dead" rattlers were very much alive...and more than a little unhappy with their travel accommodations. My neighbor, a salty old cuss, who was tougher than woodpecker lips, seized the bag, pushed me away, and spouted a list of expletives that would have made a deaf sailor blush in ultraviolet. Those timber rattlers were faster than I would have ever thought...Not that I did enough of that thinking stuff, anyway. He dispatched them with a hoe from his Fox Dog/ gardening truck. He accomplished all of this without losing the half a mile of ash from his budget cigarette. They don't make'em like ol' Pop, anymore.
Great video, great advice, excellent stories, and really cool cats.
Thanks from a former Alabamian.
Really enjoyed reading your comment. I suspect most snake bites in the United States are from snakes near people with an inordinate amount of interest in snakes.
@@wingardwearables Mine was a severe deficit of common sense and an attempt to get "cool stuff". Look forward to watching more of your content!
I was lucky enough to snag a Cold Steel Vietnam hawk just before they were discontinued. Sharpened, but not modified it makes a pretty good utilitarian tool. The small surface area of spike works well for processing down wood for kindling. It also happened to be the only Cold Steel tomahawk that came with a leather sheath.
And it’s the only one with a wedged head handle connection. Very secure.
about 20 years ago i took a cold steel riflemans tomahawk and ground the head down so i could hold the hammer poll and spin it, kinda like the movement from a tonfa or police baton....still carry that tomahawk to this day.
Interesting modification
My new favorite channel!!!
I modded a viking hawk. Slimmed it down significantly, removed the ugly coating and replaced it with gun blue, and customized and properly fit the handle. So much lighter and more more manageable.
I'm so glad I found your video, I've been considering getting a trail hawk, to seriously modify, I'd no idea the native American hawks were so light, but it makes absolute sense,,.
99% of people "modifying" tomahawks on UA-cam, think that stripping the paint off the head, and burning silly patterns on the handle, is as good as it gets,, You've given me so much to think about,, I'm definitely getting a trail hawk, as soon as I can,,
All the very best, from across the pond,, John.
John, thanks for this comment and I’m glad you enjoyed the video. I hope you have fun modifying the trail hawk. I wish they had made the eye a whole lot smaller, and not used that ugly set screw, but it’s an affordable item to risk aggressive modifications. Best regards, Zac
Came for the mods, stayed for the rattler story. Great video mate. 👍
I appreciate that!
Thanks for the vid and info. Heading into the woods for a week with my modified hawk but nothing as intense as your mods.
Shared the vid, getting that 13’th. Commenting for the algorithm
I appreciate that! Thanks for the share and comment and enjoy your time in nature
Learned ‘hawk-stuff from a Native American as a teenager. Threw ‘em to entertain tourists.
This is a fine video. Enjoy your evolution(s) from passible factory offerings to personalized customs.
Well done! 👌
Thank you!
Great video thanks. Love my Tomahawks from H&B Forge. Have the Shawnee throwing hawk and medium & large pole axe camp tomahawks. Awsome hand forge tomahawks that classic old school but still little heavy at 1 pound & 1.5 pound heads. Their small hawk My all metal survival spiked tomahawk is great for a beater hawk but still not as good for selfdefense. One day I would like one or more of yours one day when possible. When I was in middle school I used to go hang out over at a older guys house across the street who had a couple of pet rattle snakes. One day he said to me do you want to hold one and I as a young and stupid, but brave , kid I said yes. So he reach into the tank and grabbed the bigger snake and handed it to me and I held it by the back of the head so it could not bite me. After giving the snake back to the guy he put it back into the tank. He then tried to pick up the other smaller rattle snake but it bit him on the hand between his thumb and index finger. So the guy runs into the bathroom sucking on the bite and then he call the hospital and told them he was driving him self down there to get the anti venom. I went home and told my mom and she never let me go hang out over at the guys house again. The guy was ok after going to the hospital but we were both pretty dumb for handling live rattle snakes.
This comment made my day! If I was younger I wonder if I would have done the same thing lol
That is funny. I was in college I got the great idea of getting a reticulated python as a pet. I was asking all kinds of questions about snack owning. Someone said they are for “advanced” reptile owners and for some “beginner” reptiles. Various lizards. I don’t remember what kind now. Then it dawned on my just how big they get and how dangerous they are... Few dodged that stupid move. 😂 I have dogs now. Informative video.
Thanks! The 2 cats we have are trouble enough!
Great video thanks so much. Learned a lot
Glad you enjoyed it
I was just looking for a Vietnam style tomahawk last week.
Saw that the only (decent) ones really available were from American Tomahawk Co.
But if I’m gonna spend that kind of money, I’ll get a Backripper.
I love hearing this!
I personally like friction fit handles on tomahawks just because you can easily make handles. My go to tomahawk (until I get one of yours) has a friction fit handle and after I made sure it was on tight I haven’t had problems. In fact my favorite axe has a friction fit handle and I haven’t once had it get loose. In tomahawks such as yours I definitely think you did well by using wedged handles though.
Definitely easier to make a replacement handle! My experience with friction fit handles has always been poor, but there are other makers who go the extra mile and make the head/handle connection very secure. I think McCoun does friction fit, and adds a brass pin and sometimes resin-reinforced wraps that really lock it in place.
Full tang for me . If it has a wooden handle its a tool , if it has a metal handle its a weapon . Think medieval battle field , the royalty had the best . Allthough i would love to have both .
7:30 also the polls were longer as well, 2" +, 3"
I havent modded my forged spike hawk yet, but I did mod a drywall axe down to approx. 12.5 oz for the head and the 13" haft is 5oz so around 17.5oz nice and handy and it hits pretty hard
My grandma slept with a drywall hatchet in arms reach. Was 19 ounces. If she hit a burglar it'd be lights out. If she missed, she'd be finished because recovery from the swing would be a bear, especially for a 4'11" 90 years old lady.
@@wingardwearables The head itself was 17.5oz or so before I worked on it, now it is pretty light, but I see where I should have done a little more on it (but I already hafted it with just the wood wedge, sawed shaped and sanded it down and oiled it, so I dont want to remove it (mess up the haft pretty good) so it will stay as is for a while) I soaked it in vinegar to remove the rust, and you can see where they forge welded the high carbon steel bit for the edge and for the poll onto mild steel, those are darker and the mild steel core half the blade, the eye, half the poll (roughly) is lighter - pretty cool to see that and not just a monosteel head
1 of the 12 🤣🤣🤣
Worth it to hear about Pat!!
Pat was a near tragic story
@@wingardwearables 🤣🤣🤣
Awesome tools btw
@@kozureokami8374 thanks 👍
Outstanding information as usual.
Now I have to go weigh all my hawks.
I put a SOG Voodoo Mini tomahawk head onto one of their tactical hawk handles (it’s longer) and really like the way it feels in use.
I wonder, now , how much it weighs.
Edit: yeah, it weighs 23.8 ounces...
Please post when you get around to weighing them! I do think there’s a lot to like about all these products, but there’s a difference in liking the feeling of the “heft” vs. feeling the speed. But more weight is great to utility chops and chores.
Any tomahawk over 20 ounces-well, that’s heavy! But some feel better balanced than others. This CS Vietnam Hawk is super head heavy.
Cool video. I collect and modify axes/tomahawks and it's a lot of work but when your done it's worth every bit of the work involved imo.
Ive owned all but a few of North Americas rattlesnakes and several other venomous snakes as well. My favorite was my puff adders from Africa.
Your story reminded me of a guy I sold a timber rattlesnake to. He kept trying to buy extremely deadly snakes like one of my puff adders but I knew better than turn him loose with something like that.
I ended up selling him a half grown timber rattler and I'm glad I hadn't sold him anything really dangerous. Anyway he was having a kegger party and decided to show off his new snake. He was holding it a couple inches from his face and said "Your not so bad." After he had the word bad out of his mouth the snake bit him on the end of his nose. Lmao He was extremely lucky the snake didn't inject much venom or he could have died. A lot of times a venomous snake will give you a dry bite as a warning because they don't like wasting venom. My friend survived and had a new respect for venomous snakes.
The same guy is also missing the end of his index finger after messing with my giant rat. This rat was a freak, I literally had hundreds of rats because I sold them to my customers. And this rat was seriously twice the size of any rat I'd ever seen. My friend was poking him through the wire of his cage. I told him to knock if off but the second I turned my back he did it again. The rat turned his finger into a blood fountain and ate the end of it. The rat was a cannibal and would even try to attack cats if they got close to its cage. I eventually sold him the rat for a crazy amount of money. He was going to get revenge on it by throwing into his rattlesnake tank. It didn't work out though. He had to rescue his snake because the rat was murdering it lol.
It was probably a good idea giving the guy your snake to feed, it's a good way to get bit. Force feeding snakes is pretty exciting work that I never looked forward to doin but it's part of it sometimes.. We had to force feed a huge Mojave rattlesnake. It was crazy strong and highly toxic. That'll make your heart beat fast or not at all if you mess up lol. Unfortunately I had to get rid of my collection when I moved to Missouri because it the laws. I miss working with them. They are the perfect animal for adrenaline junkies to keep.
Wow I really enjoyed reading your comment because it shared so many vivid memories! I am glad I never got addicted to owning venomous snakes-I recently looked up the guy who sold me the timber rattlesnake, Chuck Hurd. A few years after the sale he got jailed in Tennessee-a copperhead he owned wound up killing a fellow enthusiast. Turned out the copperhead had bitten the person some months before, and the man seemed to fully recover, so when he was bitten the second time, he again didn’t seek medical treatment. Unfortunately instead of developing some resistance to the venom, his body became more sensitized to it, and anaphylactic shock killed him on the second bite. Sadly Chuck Hurd passed away back in 2019. He was in his 40’s but his health got really bad.
I made it through!
One of the 12!
I have a cold steel rifleman's, pipe and spike hawk as well as a CRKT woods Chogan I've had sat waiting modification for purely hobby reasons but standalone their balance and size are terrible as fighting tools. The CRKT tactical chogen I own feels flimsy and my OKC Ranger RD hawk II is purely a breaching/vehicle escape tool because of how clunky and hammer-like the balance is. I own three ATC model 1's (honestly should have just invested that money on a single RMJ Shrike and be done with it) in nylon, the regular hickory and the gold point handle versions and the only one that feels good in the hand for me is the regular wooden handle due to that flaring which makes an incredible difference in handling compared to the other versions. With your mindset and ethos towards how a tomahawk should feel and perform, I'm definitely going to be investing in a couple.
Reading your comment has made my day!
We had a guy up here many years ago. Caught a wild rattle snake. Kept if for a while and "tamed" it. So tame he could safely kiss it on the mouth. Worked fine until it didn't.
“Worked fine until it didn’t” is a great phrase for many things.
What does it make me if I not only watch it all the way through but I come back 2 years later and rewatch it all the way through?
It means I need to make more long form videos!
@@wingardwearables hell yes!
Not sure if you figure out how to heat treat the tomahawks. The one with the curve spike, but there a man name "Rex Kruger" where he does a video on making his own hand plane blade for woodworking under a budget. Short story he just use regular old kitchen oil you see at some cheap store and did that. Recommend watching his video or get in contact with him in some way since he also does alittle bit of black smithing. Might help you more on improving your tomahawks in the future.
Thank you for the suggestion but I am a bit confused by your comment. This is the youtube channel for Wingard Wearables, we design, make, and sell properly heat treated tomahawks. This video was just going over some fun little projects I did years before the business got launched. The intent was for folks who couldn’t afford our tomahawks to be inspired to make something close to the historic spike tomahawk’s combative capabilities. This would be for folks who were experimenting with the tools they had on hand around their home or garage. It’s probable that they would benefit from that video you mentioned.
The Cold Steel Trail Hawk, is the lightest of the bunch. I should know I have the Trail Hawk, the Norse Hawk, The Rifleman's Hawk, and that thing is a beast. And last but not least the Hudson Bay Hawk. Which is about right, weight versus usability. As in being able to chop well and since it has a hammer side, pound things. Spike Hawks pretty much have one use, Tactical.
The Cold Steel Vietnam tomahawk is the lighter than the Trail Hawk by a couple of ounces, but they discontinued it.
Also a well designed spike tomahawk has proven handier, IMO than hammer polls. Some spike tomahawks have larger flat sides which can pound stakes in the ground-if it’s also got a long tapered spike, then it can pre-tap the ground to more easily set and pound a wooden stake than any hammer poll tomahawk. Other spike designs can be used to hook and drag deadwood to the campfire, or used like a sickle to gather or clear foliage. It comes down to details of the design and techniques of the user.
Believe the CS frontier hawk is about 1/4lb lighter than the Trail hawk, despite having much more blade width
The Cold Steel hawks are made with the backyard thrower in mind. The set screws are there to keep people from having to snug down the heads as they come lose during throwing sessions, that is all.That being said I have replaced and modified every cold steel handle I have bought.
They definitely do not come out of the box ready for serious use. The Vietnam hawk is discontinued but was the only one I found that was close to useable out of the box (after extensive sharpening). I owned the North hawk, trail hawk, and pipe hawk and all came out of the box as dull as spoons and, in spite of tightening the set screw, the heads would still work loose and slide down the handles. All were sluggish and felt dead-in-the-the hand but they are fun to mod, and if folks get aggressive these can be turned into useful tools. But I stick with my recommendation that Track-of-the-Wolf has a superior product for modifying. No nasty set screws. Properly shaped handles. Way less ugly.
@@wingardwearables Can't argue that, just pointing out that Cold Steel has a different target demographic and the only hawk they had that was ever intended to be a "fighting hawk" was, as you said, their version of the Vietnam one. The rest are historically "Inspired" toys for the backyard cutters. The big selling points for Cold Steel are that they were the first company that took this area of interest even remotely seriously, (I have a Carbon V SRK from the late 80's) and they are cheap and durable. They did inspire a lot of others to make much better tools and for that they deserve some credit. Cheers.
@@christopherfisher128 I completely agree with you!
@@wingardwearablesHa! Well there's a first for everything. I'm used to inadvertently starting drama ;) Enjoyed your video and like the fact that you show the actual history of the tools. Cheers
As far as I know the set screw is a nother point to get the cost down.They can ship them cheaper I guess.
To those who don't now already .First thing you want to do is to take that screw out and throw it away.Get a nice frictionfit (tutorial out here) for throwing you want the head to be able to come lose ,when missed...The screw will only get your handle broken faster,and throwing will brake the handle sooner or later..
What martial arts do you train and what would you recommend for a tomahawk?
We are working on an Empress tomahawk combatives course with our combatives consultant-he has a deep background in FMA, however we are pursuing a more pugilistic stance
i am 187 th to have watched. thank you. and great advise on NOT owning a rattle snake as a pet
Someone has to raise awareness of this issue. I knew I had to warn people.
“Pinky Mouse Trade Economy… or PMTE for short.🤣
Apparently the market for this was not lucrative enough to cover health insurance
I put my Cold Steel Viet Hawk to the grinder as well. 😂
It definitely needs work out of the box! Hopefully there’s a good after-market supply of them since they’ve been discontinued.
Note to self
If he moves in next door don't lend wood burner
Best wishes from Germany 🤣 i like the kiss my axe
Thank you!
Thanks again for the great video. Zac, you should really talk to those guys at RMJ, they are making everything too heavy. I have some of their collaborations with CRKT, and although they are on the smaller side, they are still not easy to carry due to their weight. Also, I believe that CRKT is open to collaborations with interesting designs, if you would ever want to share one of yours with them to make them easily available anywhere in the world.
That's a good suggestion. I think we're way too small right now to get thier attention but we are slowly growing. At some point an opportunity like that will occur. We plan to do Bladeshow someday when we have a few new product lines, and maybe a place like that will be a good face-to-face networking opportunity.
I can't find that cold steel tomahawk
They stopped making the Vietnam tomahawk
Greeting from germany nice video. If you want so make a handle in the future that say kiss my axe the better german would be "küss meine axt". küssen is more like kissing.
Excellent! Thank you for the accurate translation
You used to live in Madison at the top of the hill in an apartment complex??
Yes. Over a decade ago. The apartment complex was behind a Publix. It was called Flagstone back then.
Oh ok I lived in the next complex up around the 08-09 time period .. and we had a guy that lived up there as well who had a pet rattler .. from what I remember the thing got loose in his apartment for like a week or two .....he ended up finding it in his couch I believe.....talk about needing insurance 🙃
That’s funny because I lived in what was called Flagstone Apartments at that time. Probably the complex between yours and the Publix. Fortunately my rattlesnake never escaped. Small world!
Yes sir
Tell me you bought that snake of a guy named Ricky tillis
I bought it from a man named Chuck Hurd-he has since passed away (not from a snake bite).
I'm making my feather weights out of claw hammers
If you get around to taking pictures, weights, and measurements, please share somewhere and post a link because folks like me would like to see them
„Küss meine Axt“ is proper german for „kiss my axe“ not küssen
Yeah that’s my improper use of Google translate
I took a nap half way through 😂😂😂
Too bad you woke up
No I’m special because all of my classes in high school said I wash
🤣🤣🤣
We Germans say "Leck mich am Arsch" (lick my ass) ;-) But sorry to say, you did a mistake: If you translate "Kiss my Axe" to German, it has to be "Küss meine Axt". "Küssen" is the basic for (to kiss), but the direct speech towards someone is "küss".
Thank you for teaching me something new! Years back, when I just typed “kiss my axe” into Google Translate-I got the “leck mich am arsch”-then I decided to translate individual words “kiss”, “my”, and “axe”, which lead me to my mistaken translation. That’s alright. I wasn’t happy with the tomahawk handle as is, and I have a life full of similar mistakes. Best regards 🍻
@@wingardwearables I am sure, I make similar mistakes, when I write or speak english, always happy to get a correction and learn to improve my English. So I really liked the fact, that you put the slogan in German on the Axe handle, it is a great idea. And besides that Kiss my Axe is an awesome slogan ;-)
No
you obviously don’t know how Obama Care works and it’s negative affects
Interesting how you imagined I said something positive about that. You could have interpreted my intended-to-be-subtle sarcastic message: all the negative real world implementation chaos and political consequences but at least we’ve insured a guy dumb enough to force feed rattlesnakes.