(25 October 2017, 19:41)Hiddenpanda Wrote: tomahawk vs knife
please give an in depth explanation on why you chose one and why you didn't choose the other, pros and cons and all comments are welcome please go into as much detail as you can give.
Sounds like an argument in the making.
Gentlemen, the grenade has been thrown!
I am assuming you mean tomahawk vs "big knife", because there would be no comparison between the tomahawk and the SAK, and more specifically the tomahawk rather than the standard hatchet?
There is a difference between the tomahawk and the hatchet, believe it or not. The tomahawk is the obsolete version of the much better designed modern hatchet.
As an outdoorsman and a re-enactor of the American frontier I own and use high quality examples of both instruments.
First I will start by saying that I do not use just one cutting instrument. I rely on a series of cutting instruments at home and in the field.
The system begins with the pocket knife I use as EDC, which is a high quality Case Stockman style 3 blade knife that would be legal for EDC, even in the UK. An SAK or Boy Scout Knife would be equally as suitable.
Above that is a "field blade" knife, which some would call a bushcraft knife, that has a slightly heavier blade from 4"-6" and varies from task to task. Sometimes it is a fixed blade knife, sometimes it is a folding lock blade. It just depends on the task and my mood.
The next tier is a hatchet or tomahawk for heavier tasks. Those would include splitting kindling, loping off branches or saplings and the task of field dressing game.
Heavier cutting calls for an ax or saw of some sort from the folding bow saw up to the gas powered chain saw.
My use for "big knives" is and always has been limited and it is a style of knife I can live without due to the presence of the hatchet or tomahawk and the smaller and more versatile field knife. Also my location does not lend itself to the use of a "big knife" or machete. My forest is hardwood and needs a real chopping tool that has 5,000 years development behind doing that task.
I do own large blades, just do not use them much and even then it is for clearing brush and specific tasks and not as a general or primary cutting tool.
And there are a few large and fancy big knives I use as decorations to various costumes for my re-enactment roles. The actual applications one would have for a Bowie knife or a hunting sword are very limited in the forests of today and I find them more cumbersome and in the way than other tools.
So If I was forced to choose one over the other I would chose the hatchet for my woods needs rather than a "Big knife". I could even get along well with only the hatchet and the pocket knife, and have done so many times. I have dressed out many deer with only those two items.
I would probably chose the hatchet over the big knife even if I was allowed only one cutting instrument.
As for "justification" of my choice???
That comes from more than 60 years of running the woods and working a homestead as boy and man, student and teacher. I know what I can do with each tool and I know what my preference is. It might not be the same choice another would make.
They do not have to agree with me.
But do remember that for 1.5 million years the human animal survived with nothing but the hand ax as his primary and only tool. Few other artifacts exist from those eras, and certainly not a "big knife".
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