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In days of yore were tomahawks carried in a sheath (like the ones you see for sell today) or did folks just slide them in their belt or sash?
No kidding! I was just wondering how the hawk would have been carried back then. I would really like to know.August West said:I have seen pictures and movies of people with their hawk just stuck behind their belt or sash. I have no idea as to PC or HC but carrying naked steel like that is a bit on the looney side. My hawk will shave your forearm bald, I do not want that edge on my body unsheathed. Chris
I don't know that I can answer that for you, but I can give you some evidence. In Audubon and His Journals, Vol. II, pg. 467, John James Audubon describes a deer hunter. Here's part of the bit:oldmantom said:No kidding! I was just wondering how the hawk would have been carried back then. I would really like to know.
He does go out of his way to mention that the knife was in a "scabbard", so it can be assumed that the hawk wasn't.George said:I don't know that I can answer that for you, but I can give you some evidence. In Audubon and His Journals, Vol. II, pg. 467, John James Audubon describes a deer hunter. Here's part of the bit:oldmantom said:No kidding! I was just wondering how the hawk would have been carried back then. I would really like to know.
"His feet are moccasined; he wears a belt around his waist;... on one side hangs his ball pouch, surmounted by the horn of an ancient Buffalo, once the terror of the herd, but now containing a pound of the best gunpowder; his butcher knife is scabbarded in the same strap; and behind is a tomahawk, the handle of which has been thrust through his girdle."
Doesn't mention a sheath for the tomahawk, but that doesn't mean there wasn't one, of course.
Spence
I've carried mine that way for years with no sheath, no trouble. I imagine it was pretty commonly done that way in the old days.Jack Wilson said:Mine goes in my belt, in the back. The way it's carried, you would really have to work at harming yourself with it in that position. No, it's not razor sharp because I don't need to shave with it.
Jack Wilson said:I also think we are much more "safety conscious" today than they were back then. Heck, we even have laws making you wear a helmet on a bicycle, which we didn't even have that when I was a kid. I would guess that the people carried their hawk so it was readily available, not in a politically correct container.
Paul - While I agree that an axe or hawk is not intended for cutting hair and generally needs a less acute angle - the rest is a bit confusing. You said that Axes were only used to split things and then say they can be used to cut across the grain????Axes are NOT designed for cutting hair, or much of anything else. Instead, they are wedges on a handle. They SPLIT things.
Because a " camp axe" is often called on to CUT across the grain of small, Green, wood branches, and tree trunks, It needs to be sharper than an axe used to split old logs for firewood. a 45 to 60 degree angle on that bevel is needed. Smaller, hand axes for cutting less than 1" diameter sticks, can work well with a 30 degree bevel, and withstand the pounding so that the edge is not rolled, or bent, or dulled.
LaBonte said:All in all axes can be used for many different things and the type/angle of edge will depend on the type work designated.
Jack Wilson said:I thought this was about "tomahawks", which are weapons?
Axes are not the same and there's no disputing what axes are or how they are used.
Jack Wilson said:I thought this was about "tomahawks", which are weapons?
Axes are not the same and there's no disputing what axes are or how they are used.
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