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“Stay ‘unreasonable.’ If you don’t like the solutions
[available to you], come up with your own.”
Dan Webre
The Martialist does not constitute legal
advice. It is for ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY.
Copyright © 2003 Phil Elmore, all rights reserved.
Intuitive Tomahawk
By Phil Elmore
The
tomahawk is a remarkably effective close combat weapon. A relatively
recent surge in interest in the weapon — owing to several factors, among them
the prominence of the ‘hawk in the Mel Gibson film
The Patriot —
means that there are plenty of quality ‘hawks on the market.
Less common — though it does indeed exist —
is instruction in the use of the tool as a weapon of self-defense.
The beauty of the tomahawk, however, is that
it is a relatively intuitive weapon. Most of us, at some point in our
lives, have used a simple claw hammer. The basic physical
movements required to use the tomahawk are little different than the mechanics
of swinging a hammer.
Whenever wielding a single weapon, the off hand
should be used to protect the center. In some of the photographs that
follow, my off hand is not precisely over my centerline — either because I
was turning (and reorienting my hand) during the strike or simply keeping my
hand out of my face for the sake of the shot. Centerline awareness is a
very important skill to develop in self-defense and should not be neglected
during weapons training.
When wielding the tomahawk or any other weapon
in one hand, the off hand generally comes forward to protect the body when the
weapon comes back. Exceptions to this include situations in which
extending your hand would get your fingers lopped off or give your opponent
something with which to grab and hold you. When the weapon is before
your body, by contrast, it gives you some degree of protection — but you
cannot simply leave it hanging out there mindlessly or your opponent may try a
disarm. Locking your arm out in front of your body is a great way
to render workable all those otherwise questionable disarms taught in some
dojos today.
Concerns
specific to the tomahawk involve the arcs through which its sharp and pointy
ends must travel to inflict damage on an enemy, versus the portions of the
‘hawk that are not harmful. We’ll call the latter the ‘hawk’s
“non-strike zone.”
Picture your hand and arm as an extension
of the tomahawk. Where your arm pivots — at your elbow or at your
shoulder — becomes the pivot point of the weapon, depending on how you
swing it. The more you use your shoulder over your elbow, the more
committed your movements become. The more committed you are, of course,
the more critical the situation becomes, for greater is the reduction in your
ability to recover from an error.
The arc of motion described by your elbow or
your shoulder translate to arcs along which the blade or the point of the
tomahawk must travel to strike the enemy. (The butt of the tomahawk can
also be used for strikes, but depending on how light the handle is compared to
the weight of the tomahawk head, these strikes won’t have the power that is
generated with strikes from the head. Think of using the wooden end of a
hammer instead of the hammer head to drive a nail.)
The area inside those arcs of motion — a
sphere encompassing your hand and the handle of the ‘hawk — defines the
non-strike zone. It is here that an opponent could jam or grab the
weapon. You must be mindful of this in wielding the tomahawk. Keeping
your motions tight to avoid the danger of attacks to the non-strike zone.
This also diminishes the chance that you will telegraph your movements.
Take, for example, a simple overhead strike
with the tomahawk. No matter how tight you manage to keep your movement,
your arm and elbow comprise a “stop zone.” A quick opponent could
attempt to jam or trap your arm and elbow, trusting that the dangerous
portions of your ‘hawk cannot be brought to bear against such a counter.
Striking from side to side has the same inherent vulnerability, in that the
elbow of the weapon arm (as well as the haft of the tomahawk) can be slapped
and grabbed without harm.
The T-shape of the tomahawk makes it extremely
useful for trapping, hooking, and grappling. If you can grapple with the
butt of a stick, as some Filipino Martial Arts practitioners do, you can
perform the same locks and hooks with the butt of the ‘hawk. More
usefully, you can use the head of the tomahawk to hook and claw as a cat does
when it lashes out with its paw.
If you happen to grab the tomahawk reversed,
you might choose to gouge underhand with it in a motion that mimics pulling a
nail with the claw of a hammer. This really decreases the efficacy of
the weapon, however, so don’t wield the tool underhand by preference.
James Keating, in
an article on Tomahawks in Knifeforums: The Magazine, commented on the
usefulness of the point of the ‘hawk. This is a viciously effective
piercing tool that delivers great penetration. Just as ancient war
hammers with pointed spikes were used to pierce armor, the point of the
tomahawk can be driven through the target with all the momentum one can
generate with the elbow and shoulder.
Basic striking with the tomahawk is, as you’ve
already figured out, intuitive. You can strike to the inside or backhand
to the outside. You can also strike down and hook up. It is
relatively easy to rotate the tomahawk in the hand (another movement
specifically mentioned by Jim Keating in the article mentioned previously),
but doing this under stress is inadvisable. Take a strong grip on the
tomahawk and use it as you’ve gripped it.
The mechanics of wielding the tomahawk as a
weapon may be easy, but just how does one apply the ‘hawk to personal defense?
Provided you are not in danger of being hauled off to jail for carrying one
concealed, tomahawks — while not the most concealable of personal weapons —
can be carried in packs, on your belt, or even under a coat in shoulder rigs
(such as this excellent adjustable rig from
Survival Sheath,
below). They are excellent camp tools, too, which means they can do
double duty if you’re worried about personal safety while far from
“civilization.” As a close-quarters weapon for most of us, though, the
‘hawk is best kept at home in some readily accessible location, where it can
be used for self-defense against intruders.
Many weapons require quite a bit of training to
be used effectively. The tomahawk is deceptively simple, but it still
requires education and practice to be used to its full potential. Like
any weapon, it’s not a magic wand and it’s not capable of doing good or evil
unless it is held by a human being.
Give this intuitive tool the
consideration it deserves.