Estwing Camper's Axe

I realized recently that I didn't have a decent tomahawk or hatchet with a hammer poll instead of a spike. I looked at some of the tactical offerings like the CRKT chogan, but ultimately I realized that what I really wanted was a good tool that could be pressed into service as a martial arts weapon, rather than a martial arts weapon that would spend most of its life being an inadequate tool. Ever tried to chop wood with a full tang hatchet with G10 scales? Those impact vibrations have to go somewhere...

Enter the Estwing Camper's Axe, which is available for about $40 at your local Lowe's or Home Depot. There are two versions - 16" and 26". The overall length of the 16" is really closer to 18". It is a solid steel full tang hatchet with a rubber grip around the tang. The rubber grip is quite good at mitigating vibrational shock, although it still transmits more than a wooden axe handle.

I got the 16" version... because the 26" was out of stock at all four stores I visited in the area. It is a hefty chopper that weighs maybe twice what a traditional tomahawk does, so it's not particularly agile as a single-handed weapon. You can still choke it up a little so your hand is up at the top of the rubber grip and flow through strikes single-handed. You can also put two hands on it and move it as fast as you like, with very limited reach. Best used with a rising hammer poll strike to beat a weapon or parry a strike before looping around and coming back down with the axe blade. Training with this is fun and could potentially work as a strength exercise to make you faster with normal weapons. Using this as a weapon would require excellent use of distance and timing to make the first strike count. The same could be said for any tomahawk. It WOULD excel as a zombie smiting implement, I guess. Better for that than a CS trench hawk by a large margin. 

It excels as a throwing axe. It is heavy enough to make you work, unlike lighter tomahawks that seem to almost throw themselves. But when it sticks, it has a tangible and satisfying impact thud. It is something of a good arm workout to throw it repeatedly and an enjoyable diversion. No danger of handle breakage. 

The head profile is stout, quite a bit thicker than a real fighting axe, but slim enough to be more useful for chopping and felling than splitting. Kindling shouldn't be a problem but splitting larger pieces of wood would probably be frustrating with this hatchet. 

I wrapped mine with green cloth tape and plan to make a kydex sheath for it. It came with a serviceable but uninspiring nylon sheath. 

It is ultimately too heavy to take backpacking, but would be extremely useful for vehicular insertion to your area of operations for extended occupation  car camping or overlanding. You give up a little bit of the leverage of a longer wooden axe haft in exchange for bombproof durability, the ability to put it inside a backpack, and the potential fun of throwing it into tree stumps. 

Consider this instead of a full tang tactical tomahawk unless you're dead set on a spike or want something more agile. But if you want something more agile, forget axes and get a bowie.