tomahawks

[Dispatch]

Question: In those days, how would these Tomahawks have been obtained? Would they have been exclusively from the tribes or did the pioneers make them too? It was never clear, taking into consideration the elaborate handles, inlays and smoking bowls that were on them. Makes one wonder if they were only produced by American Indians? :hmm:

 

[LaBonte]

They were trade items made by "whites" just like the knives, guns, cloth clothing, etc. Not until later when some NDNs learned smithing did you find such items made by them.

Decoration on the other hand was often later applied by the owners whether they be white or NDN (especially beads, tacks, quillwork, feathers etc). The fancy inlays, ends caps, mouth pieces, etc. made of silver or brass and often engraved were made by white makers, often gunsmsith like Angstadt.

The term tomahawk is a variation of an original NDN term that denoted a type of war club, that was then later applied to the war axe that we now know as a tomahawk - pipe hawks were often called smoak axes in the earliest of time.....

 

[Coot]

Metal tomahawks were made by the thousands in Europe in various grades of both very plain and fancy and were common trade goods supplied by the British, French and Spanish. Native Americans sometimes customized their hawks with tacks, wraps and carving. "Indian Tomahawks and Frontiersmen Axes" by Hartzler and Knowles has photos of hundreds of variations.

 

[Ron LaClair]

I carry mine tucked under my arm in a shoulder rig

 

[hawk]

nice hawk holster there :thumbsup:

 

[MattyB]

OK, where can a guy get one of those?

 

[Claude Mathis]

OK, where can a guy get one of those?

http://shrewbows.com/Frontiersman/

 

[MattyB]

Thanks Claude.

Looks like that is for a specific 'hawk.

 

[LaBonte]

If you want a fine handmade hawk at a good price there is none better than Stuart Willis www.swillisforge.com

For commercially made finished hawks and/or heads and handles see below - all have websites:
H & B Forge
Track of the Wolf
R.E. Davis

 

[George]

Here's a link to a photo of a hunting outfit owned by G. W. Weiser [scroll down a bit], and it includes a belt ax and case. Targets found with the outfit were dated 1839, for what that's worth. This same outfit, but with the hunting pouch, is shown in Madison Grant's The Kentucky Rifle Hunting Pouch. There are many tomahawk/axes shown with the outfits in Grant's book, but this is the only one shown with a case. Which means nothing. I wouldn't call this a tomahawk, it's a small ax, more of a camp ax, I would say, of the American pattern.
http://tatcalite.tripod.com/id22.htm

It would be very easy to make a case like that.

Spence

 

[MattyB]

I have plenty of tomahawks, I was more interested in having a sheath like that made.
Thanks for the help though.

 

[SmokeEater2]

Here's a link to a photo of a hunting outfit owned by G. W. Weiser [scroll down a bit], and it includes a belt ax and case. Targets found with the outfit were dated 1839, for what that's worth. This same outfit, but with the hunting pouch, is shown in Madison Grant's The Kentucky Rifle Hunting Pouch. There are many tomahawk/axes shown with the outfits in Grant's book, but this is the only one shown with a case. Which means nothing. I wouldn't call this a tomahawk, it's a small ax, more of a camp ax, I would say, of the American pattern.
http://tatcalite.tripod.com/id22.htm

It would be very easy to make a case like that.

Spence

Great link Spence. At the very bottom of the page in your link is a rusty 3J hawk head. I have 2 of those that I use on a regular basis. Are they collectors items?

 

[Murv]

I just got through making a sheath for a new Hawk that a buddy made for me. It's awesome.
I didn't want to use a shoulder strap, and I also didn't want a flap to close over the top of the hawk.
I just made a cradle with a hole in the bottom for the handle and cut it low enough that I can grab the hawk out of the sheath quickly but at the same time protecting me for those inadverdant mishaps during normal movements which have caused me to cut my fingers...don't necessarily like the sheath idea, but I figure the trade off is worth it to keep me safe.

 

[Murv]

Not to start a debate but wouldn't you think that to lump every pre-and colonial frontiersman into the same mode, because of only a few documented clues on whether a hawk was sheathed or not would be just unjust and portraying history incorrectly?
I already in another post told how I carry mine, wouldn't it be safe to assume that as individuals back in the day, they were capable of thinking for themselves, and if a hawk was carried unsheathed or sheathed wouldn't be incorrect.
Practicality would probably govern one's desire to carry it sheathed or not. Even though my design was thought up on my own, I feel very comfortable in my thinking, that I fall into the guidelines of "period correctness", based upon some intelligent reasoning, and not by limiting myself to the notion that it has to be patterned after one found as a museum piece. I would be willing to bet that the ideas and customs of backwoodsmen back in the day probably produced alot of items that might not be "period correct" because there are no proofs to be found., but were totally born of necessity, on the "fly" if you will, but nonetheless still every bit as old and colonial as items found in a book.
Murv