Hawks run hot and cold here at the hide. Some folks love them and some folks don't. I always had an appreciation for them since back in the '60s when Bill Johnson of Golden Age out of Delaware sold me my first pole axe. That came after I saw my first hawk as I turned to see what the hell a friend had just done. He had sunk his hawk into a tree as a rifle rest. Rock solid. About a decade ago I first spoke with Ryan Johnson, a most remarkable and then quite young, 28. Ryan had started out operating under the pure passion and fixation of early hawk designs and in the beginning fashioned hawks for museum, collectors and woodsman. Ryan had a vision for a design that ended up being the first military contract extended for a fighting tomahawk since the revolutionary war. Eventually that design went on to be the Talon. Col. Stephen Bucci, the personal assistant to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, agreed and became a dedicated and encouraging advocate. Those of us saw immediately that hawks were coming back strong. Ryan went on to manufacturing a whole host of designs, each one a dedicated and focused solution to what the users saw as a need, a need accomplished by a tomahawk. Now, a decade later and with the Talon, the Crash Axe, the Kestral, the Shrike, the Loggerhead, the S13, comes a new a remarkable new design, the Jenny Wren. At only 14ozs (!) and consisting of a head of S7 hardened to 55rc and an interlocking G10 handle design, things have really come a long way. Details include handle reliefs to guide the hand in low light. Duracoat shot and Kydex sheathed in three variations, this is shoulder hang with the strap behind the back and neck. Here are a few shots of a rarely seen variant. Light, fast and small (11 1/2") designed at the request of speed teams. For those that can, enjoy a look at the Jenny Wren.
