The reigning mall-ninja authority on tomahawk fighting is lynn thompson, cold steel renaissance man...and lots of native americans, spec ops warriors, and martial arts instructors. Axes are venerable weapons: celt means axe and named a whole culture of pre-armor axe-wielders. It is probably reasonable to throw a hawk, if you are carrying several, similar to knife-throwing logic, and having an axe thrown at you is probably discouraging. One theory of hawk fighting involves having a knife in the other hand, which would overcome some of the weakness of using a hafted weapon. The strengths of the hawk are probably extended reach and increased torque, tho it could be fought using short sword technique. There was a canoe camper guru who habitually carried a light belt hatchet in lieu of a knife, contending that the axe did everything a knife could do, and lots more besides. Tools are just tools, and any tool can become a weapon, and a scheme for fighting it can be devised: I have seen frightful damage wrought upon wayward men with frying pans of hot grease.