CS Trail Hawk

[Mark@Sea]

Any fans?

[Moped]

Great tomahawk for the price! Here is a good review of it.

The Versatile Trail Hawk - Bushcraft USA Forums

You'll have to sharpen it after you get it. CS doesn't do a real good job sharpening one of these. Get a Crown Royal bag and you can store the head in it. Makes for safer and easier to store in a BOB.

[robin48]

I like Cold Steel I just got the Double Agent 2

[Mark@Sea]

Well, mentioned I'd like one for Christmas, and word got around...

Couldn't find a crown royal bag, so I decided to try my hand at leatherworking... Think I have the hang of it, if you need a sheath (blade cover) or belt hanger for the cold steel trail hawk, shoot me a pm...

[Moped]

Great looking job Mark!!! The Crown Royal Bag was for storing the head in your pack when it's not together. Most people I know ditch the little safety screw all together, so it comes off rather easy for breaking down and storage.

Have you had a chance to use them yet?

[bigwakes]

I have been thinking about picking one up.

[Mark@Sea]

Well, except for 3 days home at Christmas, I've been in Norfolk. Can't say I haven't been tempted to try them out, but no... I have used 3 grades of Arkansas stone (I didn't care for the factory bevel), ceramic, and just now started stropping, though, so one has quite an edge. I hope to get a hiking trip in sometime in April, though, and will test them out.

Picked up a Frontier Hawk, and I think I like the profile better...

My pack has velcro loops for an ice axe or whatever, the 'hawk rides quite well there. The belthanger is for those times I'm not toting the pack.

I hope to sell a few of these sheaths, recoup some of the cost for the leather and tools. The simple one with the strap around the belly of the blade is my personal favorite...

[titan14]

Sweet Mark!...looks like they "fit like a glove"..lol

I'll need an instruction course when you get home....oh...and a price...

[Moped]

Mark, do you know what you want to sell them for? It looks like quality work!!! BTW, where did you get the leather from? There is one leather shop here in Knoxville. I don't know if they have good prices or not.

[Mark@Sea]

I got the leather from the Tandy store in Richmond. My ship is in the body and fender shop in Norfolk; I drove up on a Friday.

I'm thinking $10 and shipping per piece - that's for plain, not carved. $20 and shipping for the set - cover and carrier.

[Moped]

Those are good prices! You should consider going into the custom leather sheath business as a side venture. That's really quality work!

[Mark@Sea]

Thanks... got em on e-bay now, will see if making them is worth the trouble...

[Oh Shoot]

Thanks... got em on e-bay now, will see if making them is worth the trouble...

Looks like you'll get your price at least on these first offerings, cool.

Probably won't tell you for sure how deep the possible pool of buyers is, though...

You might find down the road that a cheaper shipping price will garner more bids.

You could send these 1st class large envelope, with tracking, for couple bucks or less if you wanted to see if cheaper shipping boosts sales. If you found that there is good bidding competition for these down the road, even free shipping might perks sales better, and you just figure the $2 in the general overhead.

- OS

[Mark@Sea]

Well, the priority mail envelope is a one-price. I (well, Sue - she has them listed) can stuff a set or two in the same envelope. First class mail is weight priced, so it might come out about even for a single sheath, maybe a few cents less... These things aren't rocks, but they are fairly heavy duty. At any rate, Sue sold some stuff before Christmas and depended on E-bays' first-class postage calculator. She ended up losing money because the shipping was way underpriced.

After figuring in the e-prey and paypal charges, and the leather cost, ten bucks is only three bucks over break-even. I'm hoping it will do a little better than that, or it isn't worth the time.

If you want one, OS, hold off a couple weeks. I'm doing a few sets up special. Heck, I'll even do one up for the stone axe you doubtless had as a boy

[Mark@Sea]

Those are good prices! You should consider going into the custom leather sheath business as a side venture. That's really quality work!

I've done one custom sheath for a buddy here in Norfolk - one of those gimmicky klingon knives... what a pain in the patoot that was! But if you have something you want a sheath for... trace the blade, tell me about what you want (shape, color, retaining strap?, crossdraw?), and mail the tracing to Sue. I'll make it when I get home in April.

[Oh Shoot]

Well, the priority mail envelope is a one-price. I (well, Sue - she has them listed) can stuff a set or two in the same envelope. First class mail is weight priced, so it might come out about even for a single sheath, maybe a few cents less... These things aren't rocks, but they are fairly heavy duty. At any rate, Sue sold some stuff before Christmas and depended on E-bays' first-class postage calculator. She ended up losing money because the shipping was way underpriced.

Pretty simple, just weigh it in envelope, postage prices online at USPS. Surely y'all print labels from PayPal, eh? So no standing in line for packages under 13 oz.

Just sayin that if you find that you can send for $2 First Class, using Free Postage in ad generally prompts folks to bid higher and you get more in long run that way.

After figuring in the e-prey and paypal charges, and the leather cost, ten bucks is only three bucks over break-even. I'm hoping it will do a little better than that, or it isn't worth the time.

Oh, for sure. Would think you need at least double the material costs, after eBay/PayPal fees.

If you want one, OS, hold off a couple weeks. I'm doing a few sets up special. Heck, I'll even do one up for the stone axe you doubtless had as a boy

Zing! I resemble that!

Heck I don't have a tomahawk at all, and none of my hatchets deserve such a nice holster.

- OS

[Mark@Sea]

I'll talk to Sue about it... if they do well, free shipping could happen.

Hey, thanks for the compliment. These are first attempts, I started with leatherworking because I wanted a sheath for my trail hawk. I've made a couple more since then, they seem to be improving.

Working on this one at the moment...

[Moped]

Actually, I may have you work up something for my CS Norse Hawk.

[Mark@Sea]

Sure thing. I have a frontier hawk I did a nice sheath for - it wraps around the poll, the top blade edge has a flap. With the shape of the Norse, a strap might be a better idea... with the top edge sewn shut, the sheath extended to wrap around the poll, and a strap going under the belly of the blade, it would slide down and out... I think that would work, anyway. Would you rather do it differently?

[Moped]

No, that sounds good! So basically the whole head is covered with a strap under the blade at the bottom. I'll try to get you an outline before you return in April.

[Mark@Sea]

Check your PM's...

[Oh Shoot]

Wow, Mark, those did quite well! Especially the belt loop and the tooled cover version.

Assuming the pool of 'hawk owners is pretty big, you may really be on to something. Kinda hard to tell from the initial offerings there, only 5 different bidders spread among the 3 items.

Maybe you'd better think about doing a generic hatchet belt loop version too, to include lots more folks...

- OS

[Mark@Sea]

Well, I was very pleasantly surprised!

Actually, the belt loop is pretty generic - it will fit anything with a handle an inch and a half wide... I've made up ten, and 14 blade covers this week. I'll get a dremel today and stitch them, and get them in the mail to Sue.

[Moped]

Mark, I'll get back to you on the Norse Hawk. I'm going to play with it for a bit.

I thought you might sell those pretty easy! In Bushcraft circles, the Trail Hawks are pretty popular. A lot of people are looking for a good way to carry them on the packs and such, while big safe. I suspect BCUSA has been responsible for a modest increase of CS Trailhawk sales of late. I'm really surprised the CS hasn't come up with their own sheath by now.

Have you considered making a baldric or maybe a possibles bag with a hawk hanger on it?

Edited January 22, 2011 by Moped

[Mark@Sea]

I haven't really thought about it yet... I just got into this. I could certainly do it when I get home. I left my stamps and so forth at home, just picked up a side of leather, a pack of needles and thread, and some snaps, etc. so I could fiddle with it at work.