Sep
Cold Steel are world renowned for making some of the toughest kit on the planet and have a range of knives, axes, machetes, and other tools that are unrivalled in their toughness and cutting ability.
They make a good range of axes and tomahawk style tools, mainly designed as great choppers. The Spontoon Hawk is a little different as it is a rarely found variant of the Tomahawk which has been designed primarily as a tool for piercing rather than chopping.
Cold Steel manufacture two different variants of the Spontoon Hawk – one with a sloping blade and one with a diamond shaped blade.
Cold Steel Spontoon Hawk With Sloping Blade
The first variant of the Cold Steel Spontoon Hawk has a thick sloping blade which terminates into a wickedly sharp piercing point. The drop forged blade is around 4 3/4″ long and is made from 1055 carbon steel. 1055 carbon steel is the perfect steel for a tool such as this, as not only is it resistant to impact it also has great wear resistance. This means that this piercing tool can take a beating and still carry on – the opposing side of the blade features a rock-solid hammerhead in the shape of a ‘faux pipe’ for added utility. This is a tool designed for hitting hard, and it should withstand a great deal of shock. The 22″ American Hickory handle adds to the overall toughness and usability.
Out of the box the blade is not sharpened at all, but the blade has been ground so that if did want to an edge (or two) you certainly could. 1055 carbon steel has very little stain resistance, but the axe head has been coated for added resistance to both corrosion and staining.
The whole thing weighs 27.6oz and feels nicely balanced. The smooth hickory handle is replaceable when the time comes and in the hand it feels really comfortable. It has some heft to it, but in no way too heavy. It certainly feels substantial enough to do an excellent job.
Cold Steel Spontoon Hawk With Diamond Blade
This second variant of the Cold Steel Spontoon Hawk has the same excellent materials and features of the Sloping Blade Spontoon Hawk, but it has a drop forged 5 1/4″ diamond shaped blade instead. It still features a ‘faux pipe’ hammerhead on the back of the blade and is still made from quality 1055 carbon steel for excellent wear and impact resistance.
The head is slightly heavier on this model though, weighing it at 28.4oz and it retains a really hard piercing point. As with the Sloping variant, this does not have sharpened edges, but it has been ground so that if you did want to sharpen the edges, you would be able to do so.
In the hand, just as with other Cold Steel axes, it feels nice to hold and well balanced.
These tools are designed to pierce and pierce hard, their sharp toughened points would put a hole in just about anything, from thick wood to sheet steel. They are in no way subtle!
This great video from Cold Steel demonstrates some of this amazing piercing ability. It also shows the Spontoon Hawks being used as throwing axes!
If you need a really tough tool to pierce and bludgeon, then this may just well be the right tool for you. It is amazingly strong with unrivalled piercing power. The inclusion of a hammerhead adds to their overall utility and if you decided to sharpen the edges, you would have a great all-round chopper.
The Cold Steel Pontoon Hawks are super tough tools designed to do a job and do it well. If you are looking for a tough piercing tool that can be used as a throwing axe as well, the Cold Steel Spontoon Hawks may be just what you are looking for.
