Even out here on the Prairie, a tomahawk is a handy tool to have for those very reasons; splitting pieces of wood too big to break up by hand, splitting an animal's hip joint, even making emergency tent pegs because you forgot yours when you left home. Yeah, I actually did that once. :redface:tenngun said:By 1800 the ”˜Kentucky ax’ a modern hatchet style was becoming more common. So the throwing aspect was decreased. However for all the above reason any one likely to be overnight out of doors had one. I don’t go in the woods without one in my belt.
....like this one does.crockett said:Most paintings of the era show hunters with a hawk. Actually, rather than a tomahawk, many are small hatchets. Square head, 12-14" handle. I think they would be carried all the time.
jrbaker90 said:Would a hunter in the early 1800s to the 1830s would have carry a tomahwak? Would a tomahawk be something that he would carry all the time or left in camp?
Rifleman1776 said:jrbaker90 said:Would a hunter in the early 1800s to the 1830s would have carry a tomahwak? Would a tomahawk be something that he would carry all the time or left in camp?
I surmise he would have had pack horses or mules and any hawk or hatchet would be carried on them. Carrying a hawk on the body is ackward and can be downright dangerous (I have a small scar over the kidney area that attests to this ). If you want to carry, do use a full cover sheath made of heavy leather. Not pc/hc but safer than bare.
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