The American Tomahawk

Maritime tool, Trade item, keen tool of explorers of our past, the tomahawk has been a staple in America from our earliest days. Still used today, the tomahawk doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. I am front and center a tomahawk lover and have used my hawk in the field for years. It’s a staple of gear that I don’t go into the woods without, regardless of how long I plan to stay. My hawk is my friend and my guide, a good tool that I can lean on and have confidence in. But how did the tomahawk as a tool come to be? And what makes this piece of woods-kit so valuable to us?

(example of a stone tomahawk head. photo not mine)

The Tomahawk in North America first was documented with the Algonquian native Americans of southern Quebec and eastern Ontorio in Canada. Their tomahawk was a stone hand axe that was fashioned to the end of carved stick and attached with rawhide. Primarily used for warfare, the tomahawk naturally was used for other, more mundane daily tasks like chopping wood. Now I wrote that the tomahawk was first documented here, but there’s no telling how many other tribes throughout the continent also used the same tool. What we do know is that the word tomahawk actually comes from the Powhatan(Virginian Algonquian)  word Tomahaac. *Temah- “to cut off by tool”, also known in various different tribes as Tomhikon and Temahikan translating to the tool word for “axe”

(early 1700s french boarding axe)

With contact and colonies comes trade and it didn’t take long for native tribes to see the sailors of the French and British using their light boarding axes for various chores. These axes looked very similar to our single edge plain-jane tomahawks today but the pole, or handle, was put in much like axes; with the pole coming up through an “eye” of the axe head and kept in place with a wedge that was hammered in. It’s well documented that many of the original boarding axes had a spike on the back of the tomahawk head that was curved downwards. This innovation allowed the sailors to use their boarding axes to latch onto wood debris and move it out of the way or pry out cannon balls from the body of the ship, and even pry open doors and gun hatches.

The native Americans made short work of the most distinctive change to the hawk’s design. First the poll was carved to be tapered so it could be dropped through the top of the eye and wedged in place, thus making replacement handles easier to make and removing the need for a metal wedge or pin to hold the head onto the handle. The second change was the advent of new “poles” on the back of the tomahawk head. I know I know, there’s a lot of “Poles” being talked about. But this pole I’m referring to is the curved spike on the head of the tomahawk that exists on the opposite side of the blade. Common new designs were a hammer, a more curled hook, or a war spike. Seeing the changes to the heads, Europeans started producing the metal heads of the tomahawk this way and used them as trade goods with the native American tribes.

(spontoon tomahawk)

Along with these new poles the Europeans also started producing tomahawks with various different sizes and types of blades from straight edge (missouri hawk) to the more traditional curved (crescent moon hawk), and spear like edges (spontoon hawk) were also seen. But the best idea they brought to the table was to make a head with a pipe bowl on the pole side so you could use tobacco in your tomahawk. That’s right, the tomahawk kept getting more and more multi-functional all the way to being able to smoke your tobacco out of it! Now Europeans also noticed how the native Americans they traded with were replacing the old style of handle with the simple and straight pole, so being the ever economical thinkers they were, it wasn’t long before tomahawks were being brought over to the new world for trade as just metal heads. Now the European states could trade with more native tribes with a fraction of the weight in the cargo hold of their ships.

(brass pipe hawk head located in the british museum)

As history shows us the hawk traveled throughout the continent through trade networks both European and native and became a must have commodity. So much so that when we finally make it to the revolutionary war in 1776 the basic soldier in the colonial army was expected to keep as his secondary melee weapon either a saber or a tomahawk. And many records show that the hawk was more preferred for your average infantry soldier because of its multifunctional use in the daily chores around camp. As we move forward in history all of our famous American frontiersmen and explorers are depicted with the item as a light weight alternative to the heavier, and more expensive axe. Lewis and Clark packed hawk heads in their stock of trade items and mountainmen like Jim Bridger carried theirs into the Rockies and back.

(Crescent tomahawk similar to what mountain men like Jim Bridger might have carried)

Tomahawks fell out of fashion after the Civil War when folks started to migrate westward in numbers, and that’s mainly attributed to folks packing their wood chopping axes with them in their wagons and hand carts. Still, the tomahawk was used as both tool and weapon by the native American tribes that they came in contact with as well as many of the former fur trappers who became scouts for wagon trains and the u.s. army.

From the turn of the century onward the tomahawk wasn’t seen very much. Instead the small hatchet was more favored by outdoor clubs, such as the Boyscouts of America, and there are only a handful of accounts of soldiers using them during the First World War. But the tomahawk would not be forgotten and in Vietnam select U.S. forces used a specialized hawk with a deadly spike on the back. This tomahawk became so well known that around 2001 the American Tomahawk Company started producing the “VTAC” or Vietnam Tactical Tomahawk. And many of our soldiers serving in combat zones around the globe love their hawks today.

(remake of a vietnam tactical tomahawk)

Once the tomahawk was brought back it didn’t take long for it to hit the civilian market. Folks could find the hawks every now and then in army surplus stores and started bringing them into the woods with them in the 70’s to 80’s with the explosion of backpacking, although the hatchet was still the regular choice of camp chopper.  With the immergence of Buckskinner and Rendezvous reenactment groups in the 80’s the tomahawk began being produced again by local blacksmith enthusiasts wanting to produce the tomahawk as it had been between 1700-1850(roughly). Many in these groups started studying their history and looking at written accounts of how these tomahawks were used and soon figured out that the stories from their childhood of mountainmen throwing these hawks weren’t just fiction and soon tomahawk throwing competitions were being held at these rendezvous events just as they would have been back in the early 1800s. Today the sport of tomahawk throwing is an ever growing industry, especially in the western United States.  Tomahawks kept gaining momentum after the turn of the millennium with companies like Cold Steel producing affordable hawks for the public, and with the growing Bushcraft and Survival movements folks were hungry to get their hands on these wondrous tools of our frontier past.


So why has the tomahawk not gone the way of the Dodo then? Tomahawks are frankly too good of a tool to throw away (see what I did there?) to the historical garbage can. A tomahawk is such a multi-functional tool that can be customized in various ways to the user’s tastes that it’s a no brainer for those needing a chopping tool that’s lightweight and compact. Some folks choose to leave their tomahawk handles longer, allowing them to use the tool one handed or with both hands for some really hefty chopping, this is how many boarding axes were written to be used.  Others tend to take a measurement from the top of their knuckle to the tip of their elbow to “size” the handle to their armspan for more accurate throwing and an overall lighter tool. With the different companies producing hawks and the many blacksmiths you can meet out there one should have no problem finding the hawk head that fits your needs in the back country. You can get a straight cutting edge, a traditional curved head, even a bearded option. Not to mention the poll on the back of the head such as a hammer for pounding stakes, maybe no hammer for throwing, or a hook for pulling in nets. Yes you can still find the pipe bowl tomahawks out there, but I would practice with another tomahawk first before trying to throw your nice pipe hawk.

(me and one of my old wood burned handles on my tomahawk)

Lots of folks enjoy making their gear theirs by decorating and customizing it. I like to use a wood burner on mine to make fun designs on the handle, and if I want my tomahawk to blend in a bit better for camouflage I just make some burn mark streaks across my handle. I’ve met a few woodsrunners who have painted their handles various colors as well. And lots of guys will force a patina on their hawk heads or have them dipped in paint to instill fun patterns. Really a tomahawk is as customizable as you want it to be. It’s something that you can make truly your own that no one else will have out there.

For folks wanting some hearty chopping power out there in the woods but are concerned about cutting weight off their back a tomahawk is a fine choice. It’s lighter than an axe and is more easily repaired if something happens to it. Also, you can leave that deck of cards at home because you and your buddies can find and old stump or a small dead standing tree and take turns trying to stick your hawks. And let’s not forget that if you do break your handle its cheap to buy a replacement, or even carve your own, which is much easier than an axe because it just needs to be simple and straight.
Your tomahawk is kind of an original multi-tool. Since the head can be so readily removed from the handle you can use it for lots of other tasks in the woods. If you find yourself needing to do some serious woods chopping that would call for an axe, you can use the head of the hawk as a driving wedge and hammer it through the log using a large stick. You can also scrape an animal hide with the head if you’re learning to brain tan. And you can use the head as a cabinet scraper if you take on some camp carpentry in your spare time. I personally have used the head of my tomahawk as a spatchula for my fry pan when I didn’t have the time to carve one from wood. Really the possibilities of what you can do with your hawk head are up to your imagination.

(missouri hawk with the traditional cut out heart)

If you own an engraver you can make designs or engrave your initials on the head of your tomahawk. And if you have access to a grinder you can make different marking on the top of your hawk such as “kill counts” and “river waves”. Some traditional throwing tomahawks come with a “sloping heart” shape cut out from the body of the head. Now I’ve asked around plenty of old timers to try and track down a consistent answer as to why that heart shape is missing and as of yet I am still trying to figure that out. All I can tell you for sure is that enough tomahawks were traded to the native American tribes with that particular design that we now produce hawks this way simply out of tradition. Hopefully I’ll track down the real answer on that one day.

You can easily still find online and in stores modern versions of the Vietnam Tactical Tomahawk. Many versions are now made with micarda scales or stacked leather for handles and fit quite nicely in the hand. In my opinion these tomahawks are designed more as a weapon rather than a tool but to each his own. Most can be thrown too, so you can go have some fun without the worry of snapping your handle in two if you miss too many times.

(modern tactical tomahawk with micarda scales on the handle)

As I mentioned before the sport of tomahawk throwing is ever increasing in popularity. Where I live in Utah we have five indoor axe throwing places within a half hour drive of us. These axe throwing businesses set you up on lanes, kind of like bowling, and allow you to throw at various targets on a board for points. They offer leagues and team competitions locally and are fun for the whole family. While they do offer you different axes to learn to throw, I find a tomahawk is much more predictable to stick and takes less time to learn on.  Mountainman Rendezvous events also have outdoor courses that come complete with spinning and swinging targets that really make a fantastic throwing experience. When I say tomahawk throwing is for the whole family though I really mean it! You can purchase what’s know as a “mouse hawk” for your little ones to learn to throw with too! They stick extremely easily, the key being that they aren’t really sharp, but the blade tapers thin enough that they can wedge themselves in the wood. I don’t know if I’d trust my young nephews with pocket knives just quite yet, but I would trust them with mouse hawks, and what a great way to include them in a throwing competition!

(mouse hawk on the bottom lying next to a full size tomahawk)

So if you’re curious at all if a tomahawk would enrich your experience out in the woods, then I suggest borrowing one and trying it out on your next trip, and hopefully you will fall in love with this fantastic piece of woods kit. When you do decide to buy one, there are plenty of makers online as well as large companies on Amazon such as Cold Steel that I mentioned before that make very affordable hawks. My primary hawk is infact one of their Pipe Hawk models. But, if you’re patient and also like fun social events then you could find a mountainman Rendezvous gathering happening around your home and buy one from a trader or blacksmith there. I’m sure they would appreciate your business and will probably be willing to coach you on learning to throw your hawk aswell.

The tomahawk has been forged in a rich history shared between many nations. It’s a humble tool that shows its worth through its practicality and not something we can so easily let go of. To a history lover like myself I love thinking of the tomahawk as the symbol of an era; An era where men went off and explored new lands, trading and trapping, and being mindful of what they needed to take with them, and the American tomahawk would not be something that would be left carelessly at home. As a society we thought we had no use for it for some time, but a good tool like a tomahawk will never be forgotten.