Why did we give this design up?

[Capn D]

Just loading up a bucket of hawks for tomorrow's trek.


Why did we ever give up such a useful design?  Heads can't come off, lighter than a hatchet, less exhausting to use with more leverage from the longer handles.

Here are some of my favorites.  From left, a Cold Steel brand cast steel I've used surveying for over ten years.  An old pipe axe with a handle made from an undrilled school library chair rung is an excellent chopper and super light.  The first hawk I ever tried to forge has a cutting face on one side and a splitting wedge face on the back.  I made it of a car spring about 1980.  My weeping heart axe was forged by a neighbor.  It is hard and heavy.  Unfortunately I decided to cut the heart after it was all done so the cutting took lots of drilling and filing.  I completed the work about 1976 and have carried it in my personal camp gear from that year.  It is a bit heavy for a long trek.  Finally, a mouse hawk I bought at Ft. Niagara in the early 80's.  It is light and a good cutter but hardly better than any decent bowie knife. None are fancy but they sure do the job.

[pathfinder]

Two thing's;#1,A bucket of hawk's for a Trekk?
                  #2,Who gave up on the desin?

Nice bunch of hawk's!

This is the one I've been using nearly 30 years. It has a steel insert and a new birdseye maple handle. Nothing wrong with the old one,just LOVE birdseye!

[Watauga]

I didn't gave up on the design it works fine for me!
(Matter of Fact Hawks will follow you home just like BP Guns if you dont watch out)

Pathfinder that's one Wonderful Looking Hawk you have

[crazell]

Have a few i take along.Easy enough to carry and you never know who you'll run into!!Someone may need one for trading or throwing!!! Nice hawks guys!1

[Capn D]

They ride in a bucket to the site along with the tent pegs and maul.  I've always carried them that way because our old artillery unit had a bunch of extra wooden buckets.

Capn D

[Capn D]

Here's the bucket 'o hawks.  I will be taking about 10.  Several of these guys don't have one and I will give them a choice before we head in.  I took high school Juniors and seniors out to shoot muskets, pistols, build fling and steel fires, knap arrowpoints and throw hawks for many years till PC ended the practice.  I was teaching AP US History.  Spare hawks are common here.  Several of the guys going with tomorrow are former students now in graduate school.

CapnD

[crazell]

That's pretty awesome Capn D!! Have a good time .

[Watauga]

Yep! Capn D
  Sounds like a fun time and you have probably sparked some new interest in this Hobby!?Obsession?! of Ours!!
           Thanks

[Mohawk13]

Nice looking bunch of hawks. Went to school on a Res, and did some of the same activities. It's a shame they don't let kids get hands on with anything but computers these days...

[beowulf]

got my first hawk before I got my first muzzleloader . It was a 16`th birthday present from my mum , be 5 more years before I got my first soot belcher ! still like my hawks and still have my first . it`s had several handles over the last 38 years ,this last one it`s had since 95 . it`s just for lookin at now , been retired ! already starting to look like an antique ! kinda like its owner ! it`s the little spike hawk on the bottom !

[crazell]

got my first hawk before I got my first muzzleloader . It was a 16`th birthday present from my mum , be 5 more years before I got my first soot belcher ! still like my hawks and still have my first . it`s had several handles over the last 38 years ,this last one it`s had since 95 . it`s just for lookin at now , been retired ! already starting to look like an antique ! kinda like its owner ! it`s the little spike hawk on the bottom !

Nice setof hawks !!! I like that one on the bottom too!!

[gordy]

         Somw of us havn,t given-up . For folks such as us its still a great tool , The problem is most folks today want  an engine driven or battery or a plug-in tool to do what a belt axe or tomahawk has always done well with a little  mucle power.

                                                   

[pathfinder]

What type of event are you going to? A Trekk is a primitive hike from one spot to another. Ours are usually 2-5 miles for the most part.

[Capn D]

Sorry about that,

No computers up there so I can answer you now.  The event was about ten of us hiking about 42 miles over five days in Union County, GA.  We have found about 67 miles of forest trails in this area that are pretty remote, avoid the Appalachian Trail by some miles and only cross pavement a time or two.  We started at a cabin belonging to a friend of mine and followed a line of survey in severe terrain we had cut in the last several months that wraps four miles around his timberland and ties into the Chattahoochee National forest.  We then took forest roads about 18 miles along mtn ridges that are part of the forest but surrounded by private lands at the mtn. bases.  After one nice day and two cool, overcast and rainy days and nights we actually short cut through another friend's farm and down another National Forest Ridge to my cabin to get fresh meat for dinner and a dry night's sleep.  In the morning of the fifth day we arrived back at our vehicles.  We call this a trek.  You can't take anything not in common use in the 1750's.  Clothing, bed rolls, canteens, boiler and porridge, flint and steel or bow and drill.  To save weight we used overhangs we knew for shelter and greased canvas for windbreaks and lean-to construction.  Since the route was a bit different, we had to use Google Earth to figure out the final distance.  Since everything is in season right now in the Northern District, there is no question about taking rifles and fusils into the woods at the moment.  Sometimes the DNR has some pretty pointed questions when one is walking around armed out of hunting season. If you are in period garb and carrying a map of your route as well as not carrying game or shooting except at targets in camp in the evening, it is a doable deal any time of year.  Period clothing leaves little room for 700+ sq inches of blaze orange so even though we are fairly distant from roads and rarely run into anyone, it is our habit to make lots of noise this time of year and avoid being mistaken for deer.  There are plenty of hiking days in summer and spring when quiet can be observed without any risk of being a target.

There is a local trekking group that does short day treks on trails in N. Georgia.  I attended two.  Unfortunately the two I attended were more an opportunity to escape the house and drink (seems a common issue) than any real period event.  I have no problem with an appropriate evening libation but am not using the event for an excuse so I got together some ex-re enactor friends of mine and a few former students and we started our own group.  Many of our events are in Elbert County Ga. along the Hudson and Broad River in the center of the "Hornet's Nest" of Rev. War fame.  This section of the Hudson and Broad is passable by Kayak or canoe and has many archaeological sites (both identified and unidentified) from the Archaic and Woodland Native American cultures.  Great areas to walk.  Good hunting and great fishing in the Broad as well.  Anyway, we are back and planning the next one already.

Best,

[moby6400]

That sure sounded like an enjoyable 5 days, rain of not,,, thanks for sharing,,