The Tomahawk or Trade Axe.

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The tomahawk was the 18th century Trade Axe, traded to whites & Indians in the New World by the English & the french. Copies of the oval & round eyed axe are still made today for Living Historians, & in France it is still the standard common axe & is still being made commercially.
The main advantage of this belt axe is that no wedge is required to secure the head to the helve. The eye is tapered as is the top of the helve, & the helve fits into the head in the same manner as a mattock or pickaxe. This means that the helve is much easier to make & fit than the helve of a modern hatchet.
The tomahawk is lighter than the modern hatchet, weighing roughly about 1 lb. But with a longer handle than the common hatchet you have plenty of cutting power. Larger tomahawk heads make good half-axes, & lighter tomahawks are good for youths.
There are a range of different polls on tomahawks, including spiked, pipe (for smoking), & hammer poll. The spiked poll is good for fighting, the pipe tomahawk is okay if you want to smoke tobacco. The hammer poll I found tends to split wooden stakes when driving them into the ground. The round poll is the most commonly used hawk because it is very practicle, lighter than the other axe heads & you can use the poll to drive wooden stakes in.

A round poll tomahawk.

This is a square poll tomahawk & the one I carry.

The larger of the two axes is a round poll belonging to my wife. The smaller one is the one my boys used from about the age of five years until they could handle a full size tomahawk.

Pipe Tomahawk.

Hammer poll tomahawk.

Civilians usually carried the tomahawk in the back under the waist belt, but military, Rangers & sometimes militia used a carrier like this one. This frog also carries a bayonet for use with a Brown Bess musket.

Here is another type of frog that fits on the waist belt.

An axe with a steel pipe handle which I use for training purposes.

My half-axe which I carry tied to my blanket roll when I have heavier construction work to do.

 

beautiful tools all of them.