A throwing hawk should probably have a blade without much temper, to discourage shattering on impact. A general purpose hawk would have a harder temper for edge retention. Some hawks have a soft iron head with a steel insert welded at the face, permitting the best of both worlds. but that method has largely disappeared due to the economics of cheap steel, drop forging, and mass-produced cnc blade making. My brother had a skatchet,



a survival tool designed to be useable as a knife, hatchet and hammer, but fitting a branch into the coarsely threaded socket resulted in an implement that was a great danger to the user. I like hawks, made one out of a shingling hatchet, and use it for all sorts of light woodworking applications in the shop. Most photos of old time folks carrying hawks have them tucked under a sash, unsheathed, which seems problematic in a number of ways. Maybe I should wear a sash more often...