As a onetime Boy Scout I was taught that the small axe was a most important tool in your camp. It filled the gap between the pocket knife and the defensive weapon and the felling axe. But it could also serve as all three in a pinch.
I grew up in the east Texas woods, not the eastern woodlands, where so so many RU-vid movie stars live. I am in my seventies, and until You Tube came around, I never in my life ever thought about hitting the spine of my knife to spit anything. My father and grandfather would have took a razor strap to my butt if they ever saw me doing that.They actually taught us to use and maintain the right tool for the right job. Now, many of the so called You Tube movie stars laugh at the thought of not banging on your knife to split wood, and then try to sell you a three hundred dollar knife to bang on. I have great knives, from LT Wright and William Collins and if I can help it, I a'int banging on any of them.The tomahawk is perfect for that task. Banging on the poll of the hawk with a piece of wood or mallet to split wood for the camp fire is the way to go, even though most camp fires do not require split wood in the first place. It is also safer. I say this for me, not anyone else. I do nor give a hoot in hell how someone treats their tools, but don't be banging on mine.The hammer pole on the hawk is priceless at times. The hawk makes a perfect wedge for spiting larger chores around the camp. Thanks for the video, I always enjoy them.
Well said sir and i agree at 52 yrs old i had the same upbringing. Southern middle tennessee here. Those who beat there knives i call bushdummies. My modern take on the small belt hatchet is a roofing hatchet mine is an estwing with a big square head and long rectangle hatchet blade. Works exceptionally well. Also a drywall hammer with hatchet end is totally doable.
I have to believe that such a tool would, in addition to the daily tasks you demonstrated, have been very handy for blazing trees to mark a path, cracking nuts for a snack, opening stubborn shellfish, butchering livestock or even large fish, splitting kindling for a campfire...
Yes, you won't be chopping down large trees in a virgin forest with that belt axe. However, they are plenty useful for things other than crushing skulls!
I have known some old timer woodsmen and trappers who have said that they would not travel in the woods without their small axe ( ie : hatchet) has more uses than their pistol. I am 73 yrs old and have heard plenty times form these guys up here in Northern New England. To many who know about the era the small axe was an absolute necessary, for all you have said and much more. Including brining home supper!!!
Weight, weight, weight. In a time before light weight materials such as synthetic fabrics or aluminum the hatchet was the light weight multi tool of its time. It may not be the best tool for all tasks but it can be used for most.
Live in the southwest and have used one many time while bushcrafting to process campfire wood and make small overnight shelters. Not chopping down and oak but for smaller chores does a great job and saves your knife.
Far from useless, obviously. People are funny, to be honest, they get some crazy ideas, and a LOT of the time, base their decisions on nothing more than image. Long time ago, I met a visitor to my country. He had flown in the night before, it was his very first day back-packing, his first day in all his life, outside of the USA. And he had his sleeping bag in a non-waterproof bag on the outside of his pack. We were both going to walk down to the railway/ferry station to catch a train . . . and it was POURING rain. I gave him a big clean rubbish-bag out of the hostel cupboard, and said, cover your sleeping bag, or it will get wet, and you will be cold sleeping the whole trip . . . He put it on the bag . . . looked at it . . . and took it off. Because it LOOKED FUNNY TO HIM. And he just accepted a wet sleeping bag . . .
Modern life gives me the option of a sturdy knife for batoning and a folding saw for processing. I carry that for the same reason I would carry a hatchet over a full size axe, weight. In the old days another feature is the hatchet not getting hung up on everything you pass while carrying it stowed. Woods were a wee bit more dense in those days. As for using it to build a cabin? Well no, not a bear proof one anyway, but it would not gather dust during the build.
The whites had lhatchets for various wood working jobs for a thousand years. Usually they had a hammer poll on the back of the head. Traders with the natives found that they wanted something lighter. They wanted something to cut saplings for deadfall traps. Tripods and lean-to shelters. So the natives described what they wanted and the traders provided it. The fact that it made a fearsome weapon was not lost on the whites so it caught on with the woods-wise folk.
A hawk has become my favorite woods tool. I prefer a slightly longer handle, but the profile on yours looks nice. My favorite is very similar to the original Biscayne trade axes with a slightly different shape to the eye. Never fails to put a smile on my face.
I've done pretty much the same with a tomahawk ; but when it came to splitting a , not even , very large log it got stuck , so I batonned my way through with a stick on the hammer pole .
In my opinion, Anyone who says a small axe or proper tomahawk is only useful as a weapon has not spent any time using said tools. To me they are a multi tool, if the axe has a spar it is also a hammer. Remove the handle and now you have a blade to cut meat, clothing or other task that a knife could do....just my opinion.
I have a Bobby Tyler Iroquois tomahawk and it did a pretty good job of cutting up a small apple tree in my yard. Apple tend to be harder than most woods and I was shocked at how well it did. I've used mine to cut down some small pine trees, about 3-4 inches around and it handles them with ease.
I stumbled across this video and enjoyed it so much I’m going to give you a follow. I checked out your site and found some very interesting items. I live at ground zero for the revolution, the battle of Lexington and Concord and the old north bridge are about 8 minutes from me, Salem is about 25 minutes, Boston Freedom Trail and Tea Party Museum about 15 minutes and Plymouth Rock is about an hour. As you can imagine, these types of items are pretty popular around here. I’m going to take another look and reach out if I come across something that would turn some heads at some of the events we have around here.
Interesting historical context. However, if your title meant are they still of much use today in the outdoors, that is a different context altogether. For modern forays into the wild, there are far better alternatives. Firstly, for doing cross-cutting of wood a saw is a far more efficient tool. At 8:00 that branch would have been cut through in a quarter of the time with a Silky saw, and with a fraction of the effort ( and much more safely!). The branch at around 6:30 would have been cut just as effectively with a good belt knife. Also, even a small tomahawk like that is still quite a cumbersome tool to carry around. A Silky Gomboy is far more compact and light. However, I concede, these tools I mention are not as much fun! ;-) Cheers mate.
Throughout history the tomahawk/belt was first and foremost an everyday tool . When used as a weapon remember that most belt knives were thin relatively short bladed knives that resembling the kitchen knives of the period and not for chopping trees or firewood.
As a light weight, multi purpose camping and survival tool, they’re hard to beat. They’re only “worthless” when you should have brought a felling axe along with you. Could it be that those considering them worthless are judging them by cheap replicas sold for decoration or ceremony? You can hold them by the handle and drive them like a wood chisel with a large mallet or bludgeon. That will move a lot if wood with control. They make a nice little froe also. Two or three inch branches should pose no problem. Drive it in , turn it to the side and pry. It makes more sense than “battoning” your side knife. Nice hawk. What steel? Leaf spring 5160? (I love that stuff. The 22 foot bars are perfect for forging.) Forge welded sandwich of wrought iron and file steel?
I bought a Cold Steel tomahawk a couple years ago on a whim, and have found it pretty effective around camp - when I bring it. That said, I have a lot of options for doing small work, the tomahawk is just one. When kept razor sharp, it can make short work of most anything that is as wide as the head is long - about 5". The head can be easily slid free for handy slicing of food, as well.
A tool is a tool is a tool, whatever you have you make the best use of. Did they not have small saws on the pattern of a modern pruning saw? There is always the question of when it is more efficient to saw through something or chop it.
I use my tomahawks to rough out long bows from seasoned hardwood and they work fantastic. If you were at a long hunters camp and wanted to build a shelter, a chair, some cooking utensils, a tripod, pot hooks, lodge poles, cooking spits, drying racks, etc. A tomahawk or small belt axe is a perfect tool. Processing game and fighting are certainly primary uses, but they make great wood working tools for light to medium level projects, and in a bind you can cut some substantial trees down too with a little time and hard work.
I'm nearing 40 years since I began pre-1840 getting out on the ground. I have also belonged to an organization of like-minded men for 30. For the last few short years I have watched yt videos of modern camping folks, practices and techniques. I have never processed firewood. The only time I will split wood is if it's wet to get the fire going. Once going, wet will dry and burn. I take some dry into my bedroll in anticipation of rain if it threatens. I don't cut logs, as I am travelling and not building a cabin or a fort. I see yt guys stepping over piles of branches to drag logs back to camp. I burn the branches, and at most will score the breakpoint as you have. Larger diameters become pushlogs and are advanced as they burn when we are in larger groups. All of my cutting needs are filled by knife, and all chopping by an axe/tomahawk slightly smaller than yours. I do not chop wood or split it by beating a knife into it. I don't even chop wood for firewood. I feel those who do all this busy work are playing around needlessly. I don't drive screws with a hammer, either.
I’ve got a lightweight ‘hawk about the same size as yours, and it suits so many of my tasks that I take it everywhere. It rides in my vehicle during the week, in my pack when I’m at home or work and on my belt in camp. Great all-around tool. Also, it seems clear that none of these “experts” have read documents, purchase lists, nor correspondence of the period, or they would know that a hatchet, tomahawk, or belt axe was considered an indispensable multi-use tool.
If you couldn't cut through a relatively thick piece of wood by hitting only one side of it, you'd just turn it around, and start cutting through the OPPOSITE side. For that matter, you could KEEP turning the wood, and cut through ALL sides of it. You could also use the belt ax to chop KINDLING. Who SAYS that a small ax is useless as a working tool?
I carry the British light infantry axe that’s a bit heavier then that but not much, and have done a lot of work in the woods with it, very handy tool. I’m thinking lots of history was done with that sized axe made of iron, bronze and polished stone over the years
Never had a problem with it in most of 20 years use. You just need to know how to use it like any tool. I have a even smaller Fort Meigs style that is basically a pocket ax. Just learn to use it within it's limitations.
Small axes are seen in historical documents of the 18th century as a replacement for swords. Not because they were more "deadly" but because they are infinitely more useful in daily tasks, and could serve as a weapon if needed.
I trek almost every weekend i use a small belt ax for lots of utility stuff. When you travel relatively light and your camp is hasty....its a fine tool to have when u need it. I used a fort meigs ax for a long time but it was ok but a little too light for me.
Small axes such as this - yes, useful. Dedicated tomahawks (even polled tomahawks), a little less so. I'm used a couple different tomahawk's (based on dug extant artifacts) and they're not completely useless. For camp axes, something around the size of the polled axe in the video are super useful, though.
Off topic a little but Quick question, I have been wanting a charleville for my impression but haven’t found documentation of civilians owning military muskets in the mid 18th century (1750-1760)? Could see it happening just haven’t found any written documentation of this happening any input is appreciated.
Ok. If you think another tool would work better, I invite you to walk 5 miles with it and everything else you need in the woods. Also Keep in mind that your walk might become a terror ridden flight where Native Americans were involved. Hiking isn't good enough, you need to be able to run. Small and light is a good thing.
That isn't a 'small axe'...it isn't even a 'small hatchet'...it's a 'tomahawk'. My answer would be...if it's all you got with you, it's pretty damn valuable...
True as to the use being valuable in the woods. However the descriptions tomahawk, belt axe & hatchet, were all used interchangeably many a time during the 18th Century according to documents of the time period.
