Polled Tomahawks and Hatchets and Belt Axes

[Artificer]

I began muzzleloading and 18th century reenacting in the early/mid 70's.  Back then we did not have nearly the choices of equipment, nor as good of information on what was and was not "correct" or "authentic" as the information we have nowadays.

Many of us, probably the majority, used H&B forge "tomahawks' for throwing competition and/or reenacting.  The "Shawnee" Hawk was one of the more widely used hawks, at least at Friendship in those years.  I "de-laminated" one of them in the seam from a poor throw and bought a second one and used it for many years.  I have to admit I did not like handle for cutting small camp wood or other chores.  Today we would probably call the "Shawnee" a belt axe instead of a tomahawk.

Nowadays I'm looking to make my gear more authentic for the Seven Years War Period and have been looking at polled belt axes rather than tomahawks.  I am intrigued with polled belt axes/hatchets as I think they would be more handy for general use? 

I found the following site a few weeks ago and thought other forum members may be interested.  I do not know or know of the author, but it seems like he "did his homework" and has cited both original sources and the archeological record.  Thought other forum members might enjoy going through his site.

http://furtradetomahawks.tripod.com/id19.html

Gus

[David R. Pennington]

Polled hawks or hatchets are very handy. A few years ago I went on a backpacking canoeing trip in Canada. I brought a small polled belt axe. One of our campsites was nearly devoid of useable fire wood except for several large blocks of unsplit logs about 2 ft. long. The forest service people had left them when they had float planed in to clear the trails of storm downed trees.  I whittled a little maul out of a branch with my hatchet and made a couple of little wooden wedges (gluts). I would drive the little hatchet into the logs with the maul to start a split and then use the gluts to split them. In a little while we had plenty of fire to boil our drinking water, cook, and dry out our wet gear (a couple of the guys had tipped their canoe crossing a beaver dam). I'm sure they found similar use in the 18th. century.

[Artificer]

David,

That is a very interesting use of a polled hatchet to make a maul and gluts and get your firewood.  That is an idea I'm going to file away for certain. 

When I was a Boy Scout and on a 50 mile canoe trip they called "The Voyageur," one day rain had come down so hard it thoroughly soaked every piece of wood so we could not start a fire.  One of our counselors  told us we had to get dry tinder, in a very matter of fact manner.  We all must have stared at him like three heads, so he told us we had to use our canoe paddles.  Our eyes got even bigger as keeping our paddles was both a souvenir and "badge of honor" when we had completed the trip.   There was a tiny grin on his face when he said, "No, you don't cut up your paddles, you use them to knock down dead branches on trees under the leaf canopy."  Sure enough about a half hour later we had enough dry wood to start our fires and dry out larger pieces of wood to burn to cook, dry out gear and keep warm.
Gus

[skillman]

That's a great resource Gus. A dear friend has an old book on axes that I had always admired. I could never find a copy but when I started using a computer and google, I discovered that I didn't really need a copy of it. I'm so glad that I learned to use the internet and my laptop. So many historic sites and resources.

Steve

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

It occurred to me at some point that I was unlikely going to need a tomahawk in a fight for my life, and that a 'polled belt axe' would be more useful to me in the bush.  So I bought this little axe from RE Davis - think it was around $40.  I love it.  Carried in this baldric style sling I hardly notice I've got it.  I think this one may be made by the Mold and Gun Shop.  It has been hardened and tempered before it arrived, and I only had to fit the 16" haft.