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This Marine Vet's Tomahawks Were Designed For 'Maximum Power With Minimal Effort'

Jared Keller
June 11, 2018 at 09:30 AM Gear
Spyderco’s Warrior Hawk
Spyderco

If you purchase something through a post on our site, Task & Purpose may get a small share of the sale.

There are plenty of fine-lookin' blades out there in the world of tactical gear, but there's one thing that distinguishes Marine Corps veteran-turned-renowned bladesmith Laci Szabo's distinctive weapons: a focus on ergonomics, on making each tool as efficient as humanly possible.

"I want my weapons to be the extension of the arm or to deliver the maximum power with minimum effort," Szabo said in an interview way back in 2009, early into his collaboration with knifemaker Spyderco. "You lose fine motor skills in a fight — my weapons do not require a user's manual, they just fall into place when you pick them up."

Case in point: the titular SzaboHawk and brand-new Warrior Hawk from Spyderco, slick modern tomahawks forged from .300-inch D2 tool steel that both prove appealing alternatives to other hand axes.

Spyderco

Spyderco’s SzaboHawk

While both axes are remarkably lightweight, the original SzaboHawk's curved handle "places its center of balance approximately midway along its length, making it faster in the hand than conventional head-heavy designs," in the company's telling.

But in contrast, the Warrior Hawk was designed explicitly for more tactical situations from breaching to perforating, outfitted with a 3D-machined G10 handle featuring a solid grip. While the classic SzaboHawk checks the utilitarian boxes of a tomahawk, the Warrior Hawk was designed with the application of force in mind.

Spyderco

Spyderco’s Warrior Hawk

You can buy a SzaboHawk for just under $230 and a Warrior Hawk for just under $315, but if tomahawks aren't your thing, you can peruse some Laci Szabo knives at the Palmetto State Armory.

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the blotter

An ex-sailor allegedly bought guns with a military discount, then resold them to criminals

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Photo: US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

A former sailor who was busted buying firearms with his military discount and then reselling some of them to criminals is proving to be a wealth of information for federal investigators.

Julio Pino used his iPhone to record most, if not all, of his sales, court documents said. He even went so far as to review the buyers' driver's license on camera.

It is unclear how many of Pino's customer's now face criminal charges of their own. Federal indictments generally don't provide that level of detail and Assistant U.S. Attorney William B. Jackson declined to comment.

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feres doctrine

The Army allegedly missed this soldier's cancer diagnosis for 2 years. The VA found it within days

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Photo illustration by Paul Szoldra/Task & Purpose

It all began with a medical check.

Carson Thomas, a healthy and fit 20-year-old infantryman who had joined the Army after a brief stint in college, figured he should tell the medics about the pain in his groin he had been feeling. It was Feb. 12, 2012, and the senior medic looked him over and decided to send him to sick call at the base hospital.

It seemed almost routine, something the Army doctors would be able to diagnose and fix so he could get back to being a grunt.

Now looking back on what happened some seven years later, it was anything but routine.

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iraq to the future

The US military now has to ask the Iraqis for permission before giving close air support to troops in combat

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U.S. Army Cpt. Katrina Hopkins and Chief Warrant Officer 2 James Rogers, assigned to Task Force Warhorse, pilot a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during a medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) operation at Camp Taji, Iraq, Dec. 18, 2018. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Javion Siders)

U.S. forces must now ask the Iraqi military for permission to fly in Iraqi airspace before coming to the aid of U.S. troops under fire, a top military spokesman said.

However, the mandatory approval process is not expected to slow down the time it takes the U.S. military to launch close air support and casualty evacuation missions for troops in the middle of a fight, said Army Col. James Rawlinson, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.

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honor the fallen

Pentagon identifies Army reservist who died in non-combat incident in Saudi Arabia

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Army Spc. Clayton James Horne

Army Spc. Clayton James Horne died in Saudi Arabia on Aug. 17, making him the eighth non-combat fatality for Operation Inherent Resolve so far this year, defense officials have announced.

Horne, 23, was assigned to the 351st Military Police Company, 160th Military Police Battalion, an Army Reserve unit based in Ocala, Florida, a Pentagon news release says.

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unsung heroes

Army Lieutenant accused of taking an APC on a joy ride found not guilty by reason of insanity

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Joshua Yabut/Twitter

The soldier who was arrested for taking an armored personnel carrier on a slow-speed police chase through Virginia has been found not guilty by reason of insanity on two charges, according to The Richmond-Times Dispatch.

Joshua Phillip Yabut, 30, entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle — in this case, a 12-ton APC taken from Fort Pickett in June 2018 — and violating the terms of his bond, which stemmed from a trip to Iraq he took in March 2019 (which was not a military deployment).

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