Raven Spike Hand Forged High Carbon Steel Spike Tomahawk Axe | Forged Texture Head with Piercing Spike Poll | 19 Inch American Oak Haft | Leather Sheath | Bushcraft Camping & Throwing Axe Gift | BMK-1121

Description

The Raven Spike is deliberately unpolished. The flats of the head keep the scale and hammer marks from the forge, and only the bevel is taken bright, so you can see exactly where the smith stopped working and started sharpening.

Built to be used: bushcraft, camp work and target throwing. The bearded bit handles the cutting and splitting, and the spike on the back of the head punches through what an edge will not — bark, frozen ground, a stubborn knot, a stake into hard soil.

The spike is the reason to buy this one

A spike poll is a different tool from a hammer poll. It concentrates the whole weight of the head onto a tapered point, so it penetrates instead of transferring shock. That is useful for setting an anchor, for breaking crust and for climbing purchase, and it is also why this pattern was carried historically when a plain hatchet would have been lighter to make. It is genuinely sharp at the tip. Treat that end with the same respect as the bit.

Forge texture is a finish, not a shortcut

Leaving the hammer marks means the smith cannot hide anything under a grind. You can read the flow of the metal around the eye where the steel was drifted open, and you can see how the bit was flared out to make the beard. Under that texture is a layer of hard black scale, which is oxide, and which incidentally protects the steel better than bare polished metal would.

American oak, straight, no varnish

Nineteen inches of straight-grain oak with no curve to it, left pale and unfinished. A straight haft is the right choice for a tomahawk because you can index the edge by feel and because the head can be re-seated if you ever need to replace it. Oak is stiff and takes vibration better than most hardwoods at this length.

Care: two materials, two routines. The head is high carbon and the exposed bevel is the only part properly at risk, so dry it and put a smear of oil along the sharpened edge before it goes back in the sheath. The oak matters more than people expect — an unfinished haft will absorb sweat and rain, swell, then shrink as it dries, and that cycle is what loosens a head over a season. Give it a coat of boiled linseed oil once a year, let it cure, and check the head for movement every time you pick it up.

Questions about this tomahawk

Can I throw it? Yes — that is part of what the pattern is for. Expect the haft to take damage from overthrows that hit the target handle-first, and count that as a consumable.

How do I sharpen a curved bit? Work it in sections with the stone following the arc, keeping the angle constant rather than the wrist. Sharpening on a whetstone covers the technique that transfers directly to an axe.

What if the head rusts? Surface rust on a forged head is normal and comes off. Removing rust walks through it without stripping the forge finish. For the same forged construction with a broad beard and no spike, see the Iron Beard bearded tomahawk.

Model: BMK-1121