I purchased a Columbia River Knife & Tool (CRKT) tomahawk to customize. It is made from the same steel Cold Steel hawks are which is 1055 carbon tool steel. The good thing about the CRKT hawk is that it does not have a set screw as do both the Cold Steel and Condor hawks do. It is however a heavier hawk than the Cold Steel and I think even heavier than the Condor. The CRKT is a little more expensive to purchase than Cold Steels but not as expensive as the Condors. This CRKT is one of my favorites I have done, and I wanted it to have a really nice looking haft so I purchased one made of curly Hickory. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as curly Hickory. I will confess the haft cost me as much as the hawk, so it doubled the price I paid and put it over what I paid for the Condor I previously posted about, but in my estimation, it is still a bargain. To have a custom hawk made of good quality tool steel by a custom maker would be quite expensive. There is just too much work that goes into them. Back several years ago I customized and sold on line about 14 Cold Steel hawks and made enough money to purchase a Shiloh Sharps rifle which was my goal. I no longer make them to sell but just do them as a hobby and for my personal collection.
Here are some photos of the CRKT hawk before, during, and after the customizing process.