Cold Steel: The good, bad, ugly
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- Опубликовано: 9 фев 2025
- I just got a few new tomahawks in and thought I would show what they look like " out of the box" so to speek. Most of the reviews I have done show the hawks after I have dressed them up. So before I got started on these new projects I wanted to video these in there arrival state.
I have read a number of reviews and comments from varous sites where people (mostly first time owners) express how dissapointed they are with the cold steel hawks, the two main reasons seem to be that the edge is dull/poorly ground and that they have issues with the head/handle fit. I am not trying to debate what they are saying, for the most part they are right to complain. What I am trying to express is that these faults are easily fixed and it is not the end of the world. The price on these is at a point that almost gurantees you will have to do at least some work to get them ready to take on the great outdoors.
I do agree fit and finish is anywhere from Ok to terrible and I would like to see it improved,HOWEVER if they did they would not be as affordable as they are. Besides for myself and I think alot of others customizing them is what makes these things fun to own/collect.
The important thing for me (and this is just my opinion) is that the steel is of good quality and once you put a nice edge on it and work out the handle fittment these things perform outstanding. I would rather have fit and finish issues than something pretty that cant hold an edge.
Anway hope this helps some of those who are considering buying there first tomahawk
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These ARE good teaching videos. As a retired (3rd career) elem/jr high teacher I feel he does a great job of getting the point across. He doesn't talk too much at all. I'll listen to his advice any time. Hands on all the way.
I got to tell you I recently bought a trail hawk and watched a bunch of reviews some good and some bad. Finally I pulled the trigger and got one. When it arrived I removed the set screw and checked the fit.....looked good but still needed to be cleaned up a little. Then went into the garage and started chopping into a log I had in the garage. The edge needed work. Took care of that in 10 minutes. Then just for fun stripped the head and stained the handle and started burning designs into the handle. I took it into the woods for a field test. With about 15 minutes of necessary mods and 30 minutes of cosmetic mods I have an excellent tool that I love to look at. For the price of these hawks and the work needed to make it a great tool that has your personal touch there is no good reason to complain. Great hawks and fun to personalise
I've heard that they purposely don't finish the edges very well knowing that most will reprofile anyway and it helps keep cost down. Don't know if that's really true or not but it sounds good! Anyway, you've taught me a lot about friction fit tools and I really appreciate it. Thanks for another great video!
correct answer to 11:26 HELL NO! You cannot have enough knives or tomahawks.
There really aren't enough guys on RUclips that put the work into their reviews that you do. Your field tests are the total review that the rest of us are looking for. I hope I speak for everyone when I say we really appreciate what you do. Keep up the good work.
Great video!! I'm a huge fan of Tomahawks and this is quite literally one of the best videos around for leery Cold Steel buyers.
Say Heah Zeuki, I never had a Cold Steel Tomahawk or Axe. But I do have a Double Edge Machete that's discontinued in the 1055 carbon steel. It's African made, and a machete is used alot in that Country, so they know how to make a good machete over there, well at least as good as in South America. The reason was Wessex did a video on his two Fav. Knives, and one of them was a C. S. Barong, which I tried to get, But it was discontinued already. So I got the Double Edge one and no regrets. But my very first expensive knife was a Vintage Trail Master that neither the seller that was going out of Bussiness nor I knew much about. I never even heard of Cold Steel before that. He sold it to me as a 420 Stainless and it was in the San Mai 3., I bought it for $150.00. When I found out and watched the video, Needless to say I was impressed. This weekend on our Bushcraft Trip, I went Cold Steel. I took my new Master Hunter in 3V, which I also have in the SM III which I teamed up with my Kukuri Plus in O1 a lovely piece of kit. A real fuctioning combo. Anyhow I teamed my 3V Master Hunter with one of my CarbonV Recon Scout's which I have (2), one I use the other one a queen safe. I also took the Double Edge machete that kinda look's like a Roman Sword. I'm glad I took that Recon Scout out, I almost forgot how great of a knife it actually was. I hardly had to use my new Master Hunter in 3V. I did alittle chopping and batoning and it did brilliently at both. I also have a S. R. K and a Recon Tanto and the O. D. A. all in the CarbonV, I also have the Recon Tanto in all three steel's my Trail Master has a different ricaso than the new ones, Even though my Recon Tanto is a tactical knife that really work's well as a bush craft knife or atleast work's well in the bush. I also have a Laredo in CarbonV and my Natchez is in the SM III. Yeah, The C. S. worked great for me this weekend. But my Tomahawk is a 2Hawks Warbeast which I got without the wrap because I didn't want a hole in my handle. It has three sharp edges that chop's as good as a small hatchet.,,.
As a dude who's only had a couple axes and hatchets in my lifetime, I'm excited to try some tomahawks. Very cool and gonna check these out. Thanks for vids
Thank you for the work you put into the videos! I started my modifications on my first pipehawk today because of your insight. Be well Daniel
I got a CS frontier head, stripped the paint, made a haft myself, did some leather and file work, that's the fun! I got the head by itself on ebay for 15 bucks. Can't beat it for beating around the woods and throwing at stuff. People expect too much, I'm with you 100%. To get an entry level good out-of-box hawk from a smaller forge you'll really have to spend AT LEAST $50-60 dollars and can easily spend hundreds. I plan on doing that some time but these CS hawks definitely serve a purpose.
Thank you for taking the time to do these videos. I have made the decision to order a rifleman's hawk for now based on what I've seen in your videos. Again thank you for your helpful reviews.
Is that a LAW hanging on the wall?
yep looks like it too me....
@@albertlevy3721 would be a fired one, just the outer casing most likely, though it is America and if you have the right Federal licencing I think you can own LAWs legally.
Either way a very cool wall hanger and talking piece.
Just got my first, a Norse Hawk. Needs work but I love it. Thanks for all the vids, they do help!
The Axe Gang Hatchet is 1055 Carbon steel, just like all the other hawks they make. For more information go to the Cold Steel website. I should have my Trailhawk in a few days.
For the life of me i don't know why they clear coat these handles. Sure, for a working axe you might do that (to avoid blisters on hands) but for a weapon, no way. Sand that off is first thing i do and then stain it (dark walnut, minwax is real nice but whatever you got is better than nothing and this will give you decent grip). Strip the paint from metal (it will sand off with orbital sander as well, start with 150g, then finish with 220 and because metal is so hard, it will not polish out the metal, it'll still have that slightly pitted old look but stripping is way easier) and i coat my heads in yellow mustard and with Q tip, draw a pattern (usually "S" lines across blade, from top to bottom for a tiger stripe). After that I blue it with gun blue, lightly steel wool it, then lightly oil it after putting a hair popping edge. You can also do a vingar soak to patina it if u don't have gun blue, some people prefer that.
PS: I bought my trail hawk on Amazon for $20. Next week, they were $25, so, that's the range.
PPS: I like the trail hawk for a weapon, more than the pipe hawk or the others. Believe it or not, they seem small but if you swing and miss, they become very heavy since they are front end loaded, obviously. The trail hawk is a fast weapon and let's face it, it's not made for anything else. none of these make a decent axe so for me, since they are basically weapons, i would go with the trail hawk. you'll see what i mean once you actually start swinging one around and i am 6 ft, 225.
I like the small hammer on the opposite side so if you miss, you have a quasi weapon on the back swing. I don't like the ones with no hammer head. I don't like the spike. every time you spike something, you will lose your weapon. imho. i've never actually stuck anyone, lol. of course if you're going up against armored knights (snicker) you do want that spike.
I bought what I assume is a trail hawk many years ago. No retaining screw, no finish on the handle, a little gash in the wood. I filled the gash and used brown liquid shoe polish on the handle which dried well and stays on. I resharpened with a file and a Lansky duel grit hockey puck and it seems to do fine. I admit the edge that came on it was most likely meant for attacking car bodies. The point I'm making is that what was shipped in the past may not be an exact match for what they sell now.
Hello,
Do you have or can you make a video of how you sharpen and prepare the Cold Steel Hawk blades. I have really been enjoying your reviews of the hawks.
Thanks
CS should consider putting a link on their site referring people to this video so they'll know what to expect/do when they buy these.
is it really neccesary to remove the set screw? I've noticed that a lot of people do that. I have heard some people say that it could compromise the strength of the handle. but I haven't heard a good answer, just some speculation. I would think leaving it in would help keep it tight and eliminate some of the fitting issues? Any help is appreciated because I'm new to this tomahawk and axe stuff.
It is not really necessary to remove the set screw, However it will work its way loose causing you to tighten it frequently which will dig a deeper hole into the handle. I suspect cold steel uses set screws to hold the heads on because it is cheaper than to pay someone to hand fit each head to each handle. The handle should be sanded and tapered to match the head for a friction fit just like a pick, mattock, or other friction fit tool, done properly your head should fit well and be removable with slight force, once you get the hang of it a proper fit should only take a few minutes with a knife and some sand paper. Hope this helps and good luck.
I forgot to mention while you have the head off the handle it is a good idea to de-bur the head and put a slight chamfer on the edges of the eye to allow a smooth fit to the wood, I use a small round file and sandpaper.......
Thank you very much for the detailed reply! That definitely cleared things up for me.
+ZEUKI1 can a dremmel tool be used for the deburring of the head ? I just received a Rifleman's Hawk from Cold Steel. I did sharpen the edge and sand and oil the handle without removing the head. I am going to try it out as and see if the head comes loose after chopping.
Definitely, a dremel works great. Hope you enjoy your rifleman.
Just ordered my first pipe hawk, paint stripper, sandpaper, files, wood stain at the ready and a weekend of fun modifying to look forward to, then to throw together a leather sheath with fire steel slot on it to round it out
Awesome, Sounds like a great weekend project!
How do you prefer to sharpen your axes/hawks? and with what sharpening method? and system / thank you for great vids! Regards, Andreas Sweden
Thanks for the helpful video, I'm about to start fixin' up my lil TrailHawk.
Have looked at the Trench Hawk yet? I know it's marketed as a "tactical" tomahawk but I'm very interested in seeing how it would work as a tool. It's different from Cold Steel's other tomahawks and I'm wondering how it compares to them.
Just curious to know if they have started fitting the handles a little better since this video was made. Also, the ‘axe gang’ is from the movie Kung Fu Hustle if you didn’t already know. I especially like your video on the H&B camp hawk
Farrrrout! Man I cant wait either. I hope you get the pipe hawk done first. I think Im just as excited as you are for getting more tomahawks. I love watching your videos. Thank you crazy for doing this. Its just what I needed. Tomahawk Zeuki1 (TZ1) is your assigned call sign from me for now. T13A out.
Good video man. I've recently joined a knife and tomahawk throwing club and i'm looking for a throwing tomahawk from cold steel as they are within my budget, which one would you recommend, i was thinking the frontier hawk myself but I would love your personal opinion. I also love what you did with the hawks, they look great, the blades look much nicer, what exactly did you do to strip that black coating off?
Have you had a chance to try the Rifleman, I am considering picking one up
I have a trail hawk that I have cut 4" off the handle and treated with a red oak finish.
It packs well on my back pack during treks and dual sport rides
I love my Pipe Hawk, but hated the hole in the head and handle. What I did after I removed the head was put super glue on the thread of the set screw. Then I inserted it until it set just below the outside edge and let the super glue set over night. Next I whittled piece of scrap wood to fit tightly into the hole in the handle leaving it a little long. Then I glued in in place. In the morning I sanded the peg flush with the rest of the handle. I got out my Dremmel and ground the inside of the set screw flush with the head. That eliminated both unsightly holes with miminal effort.
nice videos man i like what you did with the handles in the background
COLD STEEL RPG
I think you do the best reviews on these tomahawks your the man that convinced me to by one. I just got my frontier hawk today it's way cool
good reviews man, just bought my rifleman's hawk. I'm pretty psyched. You r a true mountain man, keep going.
Earned a new sub here. Great hawk reviews. Looking forward to more.
I see you haven't made a hawk video in awhile??
I like the bearded axes. What is your favorite hawk?
got any experience with the sog tomahawks? i got a fasthawk but haven't gotten around to using it yet i do like how small it is tho
A very sensible and informative video, thank you!
do you ever use wedges to get a tighter fit on the handle?
Good ideas to make it work practically. Thanks for the video.
I agree 100 percent about how 'sharp' things come. If your sharpening skills aren't up to putting an edge on the blade, then what were you going to do when it got dull even if it DID come sharp? How 'sharp' something comes is the least of my concerns, and if it IS a concern to a buyer that probably means they need to brush up on their sharpening skills before buying anything anyway or they won't be able to maintain what they do get.
Could you do a video on how you sharpen your trail hawk. i got mine and i swear the grind on it looks like it was the last one made on a Friday. each side is a different angle of grind and i just don't know where to start on fixing it.
@ZEUKI1 Thanks for the reply. I was wondering then, do you have to keep your blades from rust after stripping the paint or are they stainless?
i always go to these reviews before i buy a tomahawk. i personally am a fan of Cold Steel and at first, your reviews seemed critical. i realize now that this is good; if everything got a thumbs up, then i wouldnt know for sure which name to trust.
Best two wood tomahawks i have are by crkt.
Wood chogan & wood nobo.
No set screw holes. Came very sharp. Keeps an edge too.
Awesome video. I might not have known to pay attention to the corners of the eye. I didn't notice a video on the handle burning yet, but it looks great! How do you do it?
YOur work is excellent Sir!!!! would you recommend a NORSE or SPIKE hawk for a knife thrower who is buying his 1st hawk? thank you for your input and thanks for all your great videos.i wish I had your skill and tools,your hawks are beautiful.
MUCH RESPECT,david
Would love to see how you do the wood modification
I want to get a Trail Hawk and i hate the cheap glossy look the handle and head have when they arrive...i didnt understand what u do to get that glossy, cheap look away.
How do i get the cheap look off?
thank you,
Brent
Great videos, with a lot of good information!
I'm curious which of the CS hawks you like best for a weekend in the woods?
I would suggest the trail hawk, light, and versatile.
Loving your videos. I just bought a pipe hawk a few days ago and decided to mod mines, but I realized the fit in this thing was just like the first trail hawk in this video and has no friction between the head and the handle. This is kindda freaking me out, and tapering it is kind of a job of finding precision, and this is my first time projecting on a tomahawk. So would you give me any good advice on fitting the friction fit right on this thing?
Instead of using a knife (for trim the handle) you can use a file or sandpaper?
Same disease here :o)
The Frontier Hawk is my favorite. Looking forward to see your results!
Would it be possible or sensible to use shims to keep the head in place?
The eye of the trail hawk and the pipe hawk are the same????
the "project ready" term fits so many things and it's a bit sad that so many people opt for paying more for less just to have it "perfect" out of the box.
I recommend putting the set screw in backwards, it fills in the hole and doesn't look like an obvious screw. it almost looks like a stamping or makers mark.
I totally dig your reviews and its a shame your tomahawk videos dont have a higher view count.... IMO your CS Tomahawk video's are the best on youtube..... Is that folder you opened at 3:37 a BM Stryker?..... Not a fan of Benchmade the company anymore... but i had an original Stryker bought in 2000 and carried it for years..... I think i speak for a lot of your subs when i say make more video's.
I've been following your videos a lot lately on these hawks because I am doing several projects myself. I know this video is rather old, but I have the same problems with the heads riding up the handles almost too far with little room at the end. I have friction fitted and filed down the edges, have you had any come off or had any issues with the small amount of room at the end of the heads?
I have never had any come off yet but have had some that were a poor match to the head. I shoot for a good 1/2 to 3/4 inch extra above the head minimum. This is a pretty interesting and complicated topic that I plan on doing a video on in the future ( I am working on a handle right now ). The amount of room you need is basically determined by two things, how dense the wood is ( how many growth rings are in the handle) and how heavy the head is. A lighter handle ( fewer rings) will compress faster accelerating wear and letting the head " creep" up faster, and a heavier head like a pipe hawk or rifleman will work into the handle faster as well. So what this means in the end is if you have several handles and heads around try and pair the denser wood with the heavier heads , or at the very least pair the ones that leave the most handle sticking above the head for future creep. hope this makes sense ? If you have a handle that just wont work out you can always order another one.... but you are not guaranteed to get one better than what you have. What I do Is go to the hardware store and pick out a good straight grained sledge hammer handle and carve it down to fit. This will ensure I get a good fit and the best grain orientation, as well as the added benefit of choosing the exact length you want. It is a bit more work but worth it in the end. Of course you can always use any other wood you can find too, I have used Hawthorn, Amaranth, and Alder as well. Hope this helps and good luck with your projects !
ZEUKI1 excellent! Makes perfect sense to me. Thank you again.
So what would you say is the best way to take the paint off?
awesome video. gonna apply this knowledge to my cold steel norse hawk
You should do a review of the marble's camp axe I've heard good things about it but I wanna hear ur opinion
i had the trail hawk and i loved it but my only problem with it was i wished it had a bearded blade nut im going to order a new pipe hawk i think it will be more fun i lost the trail hawk on a canoeing trip when i flipped the canoe in some rapids put out more tomahawk videos your great at it. good luck friend.
ha i like the LAW (rocket launcher) lol :D
also could you do a direct comparison of the pipe hawk to the modified spike hawk and i think driving a semi thick nail into the top of the ax might help with the play/wabble
Could you please make a video on how you actually sand and cut the handle please
Just coming back here to state holy fucking shit.
I bought a hawk (initially frontiers but they only had a norse so they sent me that) expecting what you posted in this video but what i got was even fucking worse. There are wood shavings 1-2mm deep ON BOTH ENDS of the head, with the screw in there is give or take a centimetre of play. If you look at the top of the shaft-hole in the head and the shaft/handle itself, after fixing the handle there will be under a millimetre of space left if any at all. The handle is also noticeably crooked 2/3rds of the way up and the head is slightly warped.
If it wasn't so much more expensive over here than it is in NA i would've made a new handle but this is fucking wild. Ramming a thick stick through the head would've made a better handle.
How do you get your handles like that?
Probably used a torch to burn in the rings.
I took the coating off of my cold steel trailhawk with aircraft grade paint stripper. only took an hour and a half:)
Law rocket is a nice touch to the decor
Great video... Very Helpful! and helped me decide to go with a hawk for bushcrafting vs a higher priced hatchet. I have several estwings and other cheap hatchets but was looking for something a little different, nicer, and something i could personalize and use while bushcrafting. I wanted something to compliment my mora #1, something light that could handle the heavy work. Not looking to hack down trees so a hawk should work perfect. If I need to cut down a tree I will switch to a chainsaw!
***** thanks for the vid youve earned a new subscriber, ive been doing a little research on the trail hawk as i plan to buy one soon (my first tomahawk!) And im glad i ran across your video because none of the reviews ive seen addressed those issues and you covered them thoroughly so now i know what to expect and how to remedy it, also what do you sharpen your hawks with? I was planning on buying a lansky dual grit puck sharpener and a nicholson axe file do you think those would suffice? If you could get back to me it would be greatly appreciated.
I believe that the slightly blunt edge is actually a good choice, as sharpening is different for chopping most the time harder woods than for chopping softwoods most the time. Therefore, a somewhat dull blade leaves it is up to the user to decide which final blade shape is best for the most common woods to be chopped.
But when it comes to the fit of the handle and the incredibly stupid adjustment screw, I firmly believe this is a major manufacturing and design flaw. The former is poor production quality, the latter a significant design flaw.
how to you go about bluing the tomahawk heads?
Totally agree. I bought a riflemans hawk i 'port and polished' the head then i re-beveled it. Now i have a brilliant tomahawk
Whats the best cold steel hawk for throwing?
My trail hawk came dull as a doorknob out of the box, easy fix with the angle grinder though.
Thanks. I'll give that a try
I'm having the opposite problem with my Norse Hawk - the helve is so bloody tight I can't take the hawk down. I've whacked it with a massive lump hammer (using a wooden block as a buffer) and it won't move. I've taken it indoors to dry out in the hope it will shrink enough to work the head loose. If not I'm going to saw it off and re-fit a new helve to get a good friction fit. Cold Steel - project grade tools for the masses!
Those hawks out of the box as a finished product does suck! If you think of them as a little project, then they become great tools that are simply impressive!
I just stripped, force patina, sharpened sanded and stained the the handles and gave them a hit of linseed oil, my cold steel pipehawk and trailhawk are looking very cool now. , oh and de-burd the inside of the hawks
before I use any hatchets, I always make sure that they have no wobble whatsoever. Had a bad experience when I was chopping down a small tree with my friend standing on the other side, the head flew off and went straight into my friend's leg.
I really like your videos! Thank you! I have learned a lot from . Thanks!
Nice, I like them also. For the price you can not get better.
I like the LAW hanging on your wall, I fired a few when I was in the military.
what do u use to burn the wood
Looking forward to the "axe gang" hatchet review
this helps me a lot in ordering mine thank you
Mine was one of the ugly ones and had no room to work on so unless I order a new handle I can't take the set screw out. :(
i got the norse hawk but my handle was too tight and it toom an hour to hamer the head down and of the shaft.
I have 5 hawks. I had to profile the handles on 3. I bought extra handles as one was just too loose. But, I have 2 that the heads are so tight I can't budge them.
I forgot to take a picture of my new pipe hawk and it kinda worried me and it had scale and not the glossy paint and it wasn't press fit to the head
Is that an M72 Law on your wall?
If the handle fits well, why remove the setscrew?
Because using the tomahawk, the head will slip further up the handle. With the set screw in place, it digs into the wood more. Ruining the handle over time.
@@brianmccann666 plus with the set screw removed you can simply remove the head when required (in the event of breaking a handle, which you will do eventually if you throw them), the original tomahawks never had set screws in them, that is a modern addition, they were all friction fit with the handles being slightly larger at the top (so the hawk head could not fly off).
All traditional hawk users discard the set screws first up from what I have seen, if the hawk comes with one.
@@waveman0 ... Yep. Remove it. Throw it away. Not needed nor wanted.
Is that an M72 on your wall?
M72 Law baby
When bear spray just don't cut it.
Ah, that lovely M72 "LAAW" (double "A's" for Anti Armor) were a nice defensive toy AFTER being used. Save those tubes. Get up in the tree branches & comm-wire it to the main trunk flap down. Have it about 5-6 ft over a horizontal branch, pin the flap with Berkeley Trilene (Mom LOVED me & sent toys) 20lb+ brown fishing line run down & out to covered "step-down" boxed trips. Pull pins on 7 M26 Frags, load gently, & CAREFULLY get down & away. "Pachinko of Death" now set. Be nice & mark ALL maps!
I must have got lucky my Viking hand axe fit almost perfect when I got it
England salutes you sir, you are too modest
Project indeed. I mean really I love buying things like these hawks just so I have a project. What's the point of having a hawk or blade if it isn't tooled and costumed to your specification. You've got to have something with it's own personality.
All i can say it was a great video. But that is really werid that u hey them like that I have gotten even hawk they have and I have always gotten them super sharp and well fitting i have never had a prob like that I will have to start askin my friends how there have came I really think that must be s rare thing but I guess not where do u buy them from cold steel dercetly or a diff company that sells them I only ask cuss I started testing and reviewing for a store in my area and I would like to get info from others about the items and other people's experiences with purchasing items if u dont mind let me know
i like you you are no bull crap, refreshing thanks
People just love to complain lol. I always hear folks complaining about the tomahawks and the machetes, but the thing is these are so inexpensive that there's no point in complaining about it haha. Just takes a few minutes to put a decent edge on something.