Cold Steel Trail Hawk Review

The Cold Steel Trail Hawk is the picture of a no frills traditional tomahawk. When it arrived I was very excited to get it into my hands as it was my first wooden handle tomahawk. The Cold Steel Trail Hawk comes a bit rough from the factory but for 24 bucks I think it is a good value. It is fun to throw and beat on, but I think the Cold Steel Trail Hawk is best when it is used as raw material for a DIY project I had a blast modding mine. Check out the review of the base ‘hawk and then I’ll detail a few of the mods I made.

Ergonomics

The ergonomics on the Cold Steel Trail Hawk are about as basic as it can get as it is nothing more than a hickory handle topped with a tomahawk head! There is no fancy materials or techno-gee-whiz in this baby, it is about as traditional as tomahawk as you can get.

Blade and Hammer

The Cold Steel Trail Hawk has a decent sized head made of 1055 steel. 1055 steel is a good tough carbon steel that is low on the “Wow Scale” but is a good choice for a tomahawk like this.

The head is nicely shaped and with a little bit of work it will take a good edge. I put a sharp but not overly fine edge on mine. I want it to perform typical light hatchet duties around camp and deliberately sacrificed ultimate sharpness for a good working edge. The blade is big enough for most light chores such as brush clearing, limbing, and splitting small logs for a fire.

I like the hammer head on this baby as it provides a bit more utility to me around camp than something like the Cold Steel Frontier Hawk or Estwing Tomahawk does. The Cold Steel Trail Hawk will never be mistaken for a sledge but it hammers in tent stakes just fine.

Unfortunately the Cold Steel Trail Hawk comes slathered in a heavy black paint that hides the beauty of the steel. The Cold Steel Trail Hawk also comes with a set screw holding the head on instead of having a good press fit like a hand finished ‘hawk. I addressed both of these issues in my simple mods.

Using The Cold Steel Trail Hawk

The Cold Steel Trail Hawk is a blast to use, it is light and fast in the hand, and fairly well balanced. It excels at light work and like any good ‘hawk throwing it is awesome! When you are beating on it the roughness of it’s finish matters not in the least. In fact it is nice not to have to worry about an expensive finish and to just have at it! As an overgrown 12 year old I have been known to grip it tight while The Walking Dead is on. . .

Modding The Cold Steel Trail Hawk

The Cold Steel Trail Hawk is fun as is but it fairly begs to be tinkered with. Some easy to accomplish modifications are:

Sand and stain the handle.
Remove the heavy black paint and polish the head.
Clean up the inside of the head with a file so it will fit well without using the set screw.
Get artistic with a torch
Add a 550 Para-Cord Wrap

The Wrap-Up

The Cold Steel Trail Hawk is a fun and basic piece of gear. It is about as straight forward as a piece of gear can be. The fit and finish on the Cold Steel Trail Hawk is a bit rough but it really lends itself well to being a blank canvas for your inner artist. I have had alot of fun with mine both modded and un modded and can say for $24 it is worth getting one. With much internal debate I’m going to give it a 3 out of 5 Stars. It loses a bit for being sloppy from the factory but picks up a bit for being so much fun. Get one you won’t be disappointed!!!

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