Blades and Edged Weapons Including Khukuris

A Surprisingly Good Tomahawk From Amazon – The Nedfoss 12.2″ Tac – Yeah, I’d never heard of them either

I like axes, hatchets and tomahawks. I actually inherited a number of axes and hatchets from my dad and grandpa. I also have a number of CRKT and ColdSteel models among others – some are worth talking about and some are best forgotten or not mentioned out of sheer embarassment. This story is about a surprisingly good one.

You every buy something on a whim due to a photo? That’s what happened with me when I ordered the NedFoss 12.2″ Tac Tomahawk with G10 handle, full tang and 4.3″ bearded blade. I have a thing for bearded axes, hatchets and tomahawks (‘hawks’). Guess what? It’s surprisingly good – I’ve said that twice now – I didn’t expect to be impressed so let me tell you more – I’ve had it for almost five months now.

Let’s start with the ugly

I opened the Amazon box and saw the product box and wondered WTF I had just bought. It looked like the designer dropped acid and created the graphics. Literally, “what did I just buy?” went through my head.

Uhmmm…. what mall ninja shit did I just buy? Do I return it? Do I tell anyone I even bought this? — These were all going through my head when I saw the product box.
It was packed in a form fitting hard foam and when I pulled it out, the sheath, handle scales and rivets all caught my eye – they were all very nicely done both in terms of fitment and finish.

Details

After my intial panic over the box, I started taking a closer look at the little hawk. It was a fairly common size for people looking for a tactical or combat hawk. It’s just over 12″ long and the beareded head is 4.3″.

The hawk is just over 12″ overall.
The blade is just over 4″ and front to back is approximately 5″. Note the NedFoss lion logo that is elegantly cut into the head.
The back of the hawk’s head comes to a chisel point. Conceptually, it would hold up better striking a hard surface than the sharpened head.
The handles are two separate G10 scales (one on each side) held in place by brass rivets. The grooves give for a very sure grip. The bottom of the tang swells open and serves as an effective hand stop. The hole helps reduce the weight.
All of the rivets are well formed with no tool marks/blemishes on them.
The handle is about 1″ front to back. That size should fit different size hands comfortably.
The handle is about 5/8″ thick overall.
The whole steel part of the hawk – tang, head and all – is made from one piece of 0.213″ 8Cr14MoV steel hardened to 55 HRC.
I could have done without the hokey printed “runes”. I would have been more impressed if they cut them in like they did the Lion’s head. Note, it is a pretty deep beard – I like the profile.
It includes a leather sheat/blade guard. It doesn’t have a belt loop – it just protects whatever from the sharp edge of the blade it it did arrive sharp.

How did it hold up?

That’s the big question right? I really wasn’t sure how the edge or the finish would hold up and it just so happens I have a wood pile with a lot of dried hard oak. I whacked on some of pieces or oak and so did a friend of mine.

Guess what happened? To my surprise the edge held so so did the grey “titanium” finish. The hawk swings easy, balances well and hits hard.

I really expected the oak to do a number on it and at least roll the edge over or markedly dull it but the edge held. I did not expect that. The 8Cr14MoV steel with a 55 HRC hardness held up remarkably well.

8CR14MoV is a general purpose Chinese knife alloy is a clone of AUS-8 having an identical composition. If you’d like to read a very detailed analysis of it, click here for a post on KnifeSteelNerds.com.

In Conclusion

You can’t go wrong for the price – you just can’t. This hawk is $79.99 at Amazon and has free returns if you don’t like it. In terms of ratings, it is at 4.6 out of 5 with 113 reviews. It’s not a $400-1,000 hawk so don’t compare it that way.

I’m keeping mine and my friend was so impressed he ordered one the same day he handled it. I’m so impressed that I plan on getting more of their models. I especially have my eye on one of their bearded camping hatchets.

Here are links on Amazon for you:

I hope you found this post of interest.

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