SOG – Tactical Tomahawk Review

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	By John Platt

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A good friend of mine gave me a SOG Tactical Tomahawk and since I enjoyed using it so much I have decided to write a short review. I am not in any way a martial artist so I plan to use is as a tool not a weapon. I have decided to use it to make a one-stick fire with a piece of scrap 2x2 I found laying around. For those of you unfamiliar with the one-stick fire concept it involves using a single piece of wood to serve as tinder, kindling and fuel. This allows you see how your cutting implement does many tasks and is good practice for those who enjoy bush craft.



First up is a picture of the package that it comes in, packaged in a cardboard box with a couple of foam inserts, the overall impression is that this hawk in absolutely unbreakable. It has a short handle compared to an axe at just less than 16” and a weight of 24 oz.

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<img src="http://www.calif-tech.com/bigfrank/hawkreviewphotos/1.jpg" border="0" />

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Foam inserts keep everything safe during shipping:

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<img src="http://www.calif-tech.com/bigfrank/hawkreviewphotos/2.jpg" border="0" />



It comes with a nice sheath and is scary sharp!

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<img src="http://www.calif-tech.com/bigfrank/hawkreviewphotos/3.jpg" border="0" />

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One of the first things I noticed about the SOG were the holes in the blade, whether they are for lightening or to allow other grips I found them to be a huge advantage. They made it easy to use the very sharp edge for tasks other than just chopping. You could easily clean game or skin a deer with this tool if it was all that you had.

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<img src="http://www.calif-tech.com/bigfrank/hawkreviewphotos/5.jpg" border="0" />

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I used this 2x2 for my one-stick fire.

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<img src="http://www.calif-tech.com/bigfrank/hawkreviewphotos/6.jpg" border="0" />

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Using the sharp edge I was easily able to carve this shavings of wood to try and catch a spark from my metal match later on.

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<img src="http://www.calif-tech.com/bigfrank/hawkreviewphotos/7.jpg" border="0" />


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<img src="http://www.calif-tech.com/bigfrank/hawkreviewphotos/8.jpg" border="0" />


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From there I split some kindling and small sticks to use as fuel, splitting was easy on the larger stuff, but the tiny pieces demanded extra care with a hawk as compared to using a knife and a baton. In one end of the stick there was a stout knot and after dealing with it for a while I decided just to chop it off. That is where to hawk shined, no power was needed, just guidance. The shallow angle and super sharp edge chops like crazy.

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<img src="http://www.calif-tech.com/bigfrank/hawkreviewphotos/9.jpg" border="0" />


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<img src="http://www.calif-tech.com/bigfrank/hawkreviewphotos/10.jpg" border="0" />


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Next it was time for the metal match to see if we could get a spark. Out came my daypack with its PSK (personal survival kit) for the rest of the test.

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<img src="http://www.calif-tech.com/bigfrank/hawkreviewphotos/11.jpg" border="0" />

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The hawk did not have a flat edge anywhere for throwing a spark, one could be added with a file or a stone, but this review was to see how it worked in stock form so I resorted to using the edge to throw a spark. I apologize to those of you who cringe at the sight of a nice edge being abused, but rest assured that it was restored to shaving sharp in a few minutes with a diamond rod.

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<img src="http://www.calif-tech.com/bigfrank/hawkreviewphotos/12.jpg" border="0" />

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It was a spark-throwing champion! However it was not as easy as using a small knife (I am a Mora Clipper fan) to direct the spark onto the correct spot. I mixed in a little bit of bark and scrapings and got the spark to catch within a couple of minutes. We had rain the night before and humidity was high in my backyard….

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<img src="http://www.calif-tech.com/bigfrank/hawkreviewphotos/14.jpg" border="0" />

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Once the spark caught it was off to the races, I grabbed the tinder and had a fire in no time at all.

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<img src="http://www.calif-tech.com/bigfrank/hawkreviewphotos/13.jpg" border="0" />

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So what was my impression of the SOG Tactical Tomahawk overall? It is great. I do not believe you could break it without deliberately doing something abusive. The handle is attached with setscrews and is made of polymer so it transfers almost no shock to your hand in use. It also is temperature stable so that in the cold your hand would not freeze or stick. It was easy to build a fire, doing some things better than a knife and some things not as well. It would easily get you through the night if you were lost in the woods and needed to build a shelter, probably better than a knife. Having said that it would not be as easy to clean a small fish or prepare food using just a hawk. If you were truly a special ops warrior looking for a tool to get you out of a downed helicopter, breach a door or get through a wall in a hurry I could not imagine anything better. If it were presented as a weapon in the hands of a trained fighter I could not run away fast enough, it would be fearsome.


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I give it a 100% positive endorsement.