They are better as woods tools, but sacrifice some of their weapon ability in the process.
The Frontier, Rifleman's and the new Plainsman's, Pipe, and Spike hawk all have longer edges and will be more axe-like than the trail hawk, and that's why people who like axes prefer those hawks. It takes more effort with the hawk than a hatchet, but it's not that it can't do it. The bit slides right in up to the eye, and if you have enough speed, the eye acts as a wedge and splits the round. Trick is to set the round up a the very limit of your reach and get the hawk moving as fast as you can. In short, you end up removing the same amount of wood with each swing, just in a different manner.Īs for splitting, I've split rounds up to 4'x15' with a single swing of the trail hawk, and 6'x18' with multiple swings. It doesn't cut as wide, but cuts much deeper.
I find the trail hawk head to chop as well as most axes the same length. 1055 simply won't hold that kind of edge for long. I filed a convex edge on my hawks and get them fairly sharp, but don't bother polishing the edge or getting them shaving sharp.
