Cold Steel Norse Hawk 18

Absolutely love this axe for a chucker. Good weight for the head and the handle is easy enough to cut down to size if you want something a little faster. Can throw this all day with ease.

Nice axe...but...the hole drilled for the grub screw was not straight, the thread was stripped, so i had to re-cut the thread and put a longer grub in, plus make a small dent in the handle for the grub to 'bite' into...much better now.....but annoying to have to do this from delivery....so assembly seems variable....maybe i had a monday/friday axe?

Quick update on my review from 6mths ago. The hawk head on mine was a bit loose so I secured it with Soudal (SMX hybrid polymer) adhesive. That is I removed the head, smeared this stuff around the top of the handle (it's like thick jam and cures to a super strong rubber-like finish) and then I slid the head home into position. I then made sure all gaps were filled and removed excess adhesive and left for 24hrs. This filled all the gaps between wood and the steel head. When dry it is completely solid. I wasn't sure if it would be OK but it has worked exceptionally well and the norse hawk head is completely secure even after multiple hard use occasions. Obviously this solution isn't desirable if you want to remove the head but I've no desire to do that. Now the norse hawk is a lightweight, sharp and very robust cutter / chopper. Not as "destructive" as an 850g axe head but it is way lighter so, for certain tasks, it's perfect. Recommended if you're willing to spend a little bit of time on it.

Cold Steel tomahawks are known for being more like nearly finished "kits" rather than being perfect, i..e. not like their knives which generally 100% sorted. Most people are OK with it because the price is reflective. That's how I approached it. The steel hawk head seems usable: plenty of strength with a hardened sharp edge that can be easily re-sharpened. I've done chopping and it holds its edge. Handle fit is not great, though, and you need to be careful with the sandpaper if you remove the set screw and sand the hickory haft for a better fit. Go very slowly and use fine grade paper from the start. After getting an OKish fit (but not that good) I was disappointed by the length of handle above the head; only about 12mm standing proud. Ho hum. If it doesn't work I will find an ash branch and shape a new handle by using a long edge blade as a draw knife. The handle would be fine if CS took a little more care in shaping it. All in all I'm content. The main thing you buy here is the hawk head and it seems fine. Looks way better after the black paint has been taken off with nitromors. Super quick HH delivery and also appropriate packaging: just enough card to protect without adding bulk.

Nice axe Pro's Decent steel Long handle Came sharp enough to easily fix Seems pretty strong Con's Bent handle Wobbly head (easily fixed with sandpaper)

My Norse Hawk arrived as sharp as it is beautiful. The axe head is a high quality item made in Taiwan. It is a friction fit, but also has a hole for a set screw. You can buy spare handles for these. It seems a lot folks like to customize theirs. There are quite a few Youtube vids of this.