ThrowingTomahawks

Why you should get this ever popular survival tool.

From fighting pirates with the Royal Navy, to scalping men with Native Americans. Few tools are as legendary as this one. The tomahawk quickly became popular among any man or woman who's survival rested in their hands, when you look at this tool's many uses is easy to see why. The tomahawk had already been long established among the Native Americans before its discovery by Europeans, they would make theirs out of chipped stone and heavy wooden handles. The Native Americans would use it for everyday uses, such as chopping, cutting or hunting but was typically used as a weapon. Later when steel was introduced by Europeans , the Native Americans decided that the Tomahawk was not cool enough so they added the "poll", that is the back of the Tomahawk, which consisted out of a spike for splitting brains, a hammer for driving nails or splitting brains or a bowl to smoke out of, I do not think that they split brains with that particular one, that would be gross.....like really gross.

 All although Native Americans have been crafting tomahawks long before the Brits, it was actually the Royal Navy that gave us the steel variety. With their light weight, small profile and crushing capacity it is no wonder that these tools where used to defend and board the often confined and chaotic spaces that where sea vessels. SIGH!, those where the days, hand to hand combat, close and intimate, the bitter smell of rum in the breath of your opponents, good times man, good times. 

The tomahawk's splitting edge and solid steel composition made it also ideal for driving nails, splitting coconuts and wood crafting. I am sure how you can see how this tool quickly became indispensable for men who's life involved surviving in a floating box full of highly desired items.

Let me highlight one of the most, I don't know, macho? aspects of this tool. Its original design was to be a weapon, this great weapon was so perfect that it also happened to work very well at everything else. And this is why this tool is an absolute essential for your BOB(bug out bag). It is light weight, durable and multi-functional. 

Like the Native Americans, you can hunt. Although not exactly easy, the tomahawk makes a great flying and spinning death provider. It will take a lot of practice, but when done right I was able to drive the spike of my tomahawk clean trough a pressed wood board from about 6 feet away. Now I know I am not going to impress any one with those stats but, let me point out that it was my first time trying this. The weapon's ridiculously deadly design made it so I could land a kill even if I had no idea what I was doing. 

I account this more to the tool's design than my skills.

Like the Royal sailors and the Native Americas you can use this tool for wood crafting. The tomahawk's lends it self to a really easy grip close to the head that does not feel clumsy at all. with this grip, you are able to get some real finesse for making traps, fishing hooks or wood shavings for kindling. I think that it goes with out need to say that it is essentially a hatchet on steroids so of course you can split wood and build a shelter with it.

Thanks to advancements in technology and design you can use this tool to get yourself in or out jams, literally. Gerber just released their downrange tomahawk. This tool not only has all of the amazing qualities of a tomahawk but they added some more, such as pry bar and demolition hammer, in all honesty I can only imagine that this particular tomahawk is next to impossible to throw, but when you can literally tear a new one in to a building at any whim, I think that the lack of aerodynamic design can be over looked. 

The best advertisement out there.

courtesy of Gerber knives.

The countless designs and modifications, availability, and original perfect design make this tool a must have. With that said the popularity and usefulness of this tool has produced thousands of different tomahawks by hundreds of different brands. I will produce a detailed shoping guide soon, but for the sake of not making this a ridiculously long post I will give you a few questions to ask when shoping for this tool.

1. What will be this versatile tool's main purpose?
        Hunting, building, breaching, defense. All though you can do all of these               things with a tomahawk, some will be better than others as different                       designs become more and more specialised.

2. Full tang or a fixed head?
     A full tang construction will be more durable, a design wich is the head                  attached to a piece of hickory or composite allows you to replase the handle          should it break in the field.

3. What is your budget?
     Dont be fooled by bells and whistles that only drive up the price. If a tool has        modifications you can forsee yourself using then sure, go ahead and drop the      extra doe like you are in a P Diddy video, or is it Diddy now? Sean Combs?            However if all you need is a simple tomahawk then you can find plenty of            good options that are very affordable.

I will be posting a review of my budget tomahawk here soon, I hope you guys enjoyed it and thank you for reading.