As regular readers may know, I am a big advocate of the kukri. I am also, however, a big fan of Horace Kephart’s
writings so am interested in tomahawks too.
Last year I acquired a copy of “The
Fighting Kukri” by Dwight C. McLemore. There is nothing wrong with this work
but I personally found his techniques “over-systemized”. I can understand the
reasons for his approach and recognize the influences, but it was not to my
personal taste. This may be because I have my own ideas about using a kukri, as
readers of Attack, Avoid, Survive or Crash Combat will know.
One technique I did note was a defensive/
ready posture that had the forearms in a sort of pyramid configuration. If an
enemy has his own kukri or a similar weapon I’d not like to leave my forearms
as such a tempting static target. If he has an inferior weapon then my arms are
going to be moving and letting my kukri bite!
Yesterday I got to look at a copy of “The
Fighting Tomahawk” by the same author. I found this quite informative.
One advantage a kukri or other knife has
over a tomahawk is that it can more rapidly and more smoothly be brought into
action. A knife is generally worn so that its handle can be grasped first. A
tomahawk is generally worn so that the first part grasped is the head or the
shaft just under it. How do you move your hand to the end of the handle in a
combat situation?
You can, of course, flick the tomahawk
upwards and catch the end. Or you can let it slide down out of your hand and
catch then end. There is a significant chance that you may fumble this and lose
your tomahawk! McLemore’s solution to drawing and readying the tomahawk will be
the subject of today’s blog. It has applications for other implements such as
hammers or entrenching tools.
I call this technique “Brace and Slide”
or “Slip, Brace and Slide”.
- Grasp the tomahawk just under the head and pull upward to clear it from your belt.
- Brace the butt of the handle against your hipbone or another convenient body part.
- Slide your hand down the handle and grip near the end.
It is possible that an enemy will have
rushed your before you have the tomahawk fully drawn and readied. I have often
stated, you should defend or avoid an initial attack before attempting to draw
a weapon. That said, a tomahawk or hammer gripped just beneath the head can
still be used to augment your unarmed techniques.
Tomahawks and similar small axes usually
come with a protective cover. Typically such covers feature belt loops or some
other means to attach the cover to your belt. When carried in this way smoothly
and rapidly drawing a tomahawk to defend yourself becomes very difficult. A
better option is to use the cover just as a cover and rig another means for
carrying the tomahawk. A tomahawk or axe with a sheathed head still works
pretty well as a club!
Many photos of WW2 German soldiers show
them with entrenching tools slipped through the front of their belts rather
than in the belt-mounted carrier, which was worn on the left side. The
intention was to make the entrenching tool more readily available as a weapon.
If used only as a cover many tomahawk
sheathes are probably over engineered and have a lot of unnecessary weight and
bulk. The photo below shows a rather elegant alternate edge protector. Such a
thing could be easily constructed from materials other than leather.
Cops often carry their nightsticks by a
simple belt ring. Workmen carry hammers slung from a cloth loop. These methods
can be adapted to carry a tomahawk. A diagonal strap can be added to prevent
the tomahawk being lost when climbing or crawling and this provides greater
security than simply slipping it through a belt.
The Books
