(Article originally published on Breach Bang Clear)

Review: Gerber Downrange Tomahawk
RJ Radachy

After a week on a creek in the middle of the White Mountains of Arizona with Fred Osuna at Greenside Training, I was tasked with finding a couple of vehicle-based mounting solutions for a Gerber Downrange Tomahawk. I’m up for the task, being that I’m the owner of RJR Customs LLC, an Off-Road Vehicle based automotive design and Fabrication business.

During our weeklong tour of the woods, we used this Tomahawk for a couple of camp tasks. We split firewood, hammered on“horseshoe” stakes, and made a handful of bows and arrows for the youngsters. The tool was ready and willing every time. It could use some sharpening if it was going to be used more for smaller yet typical Tomahawk tasks, but this thing is intended to be abused and is designed with edge retention in mind. It stood up well to Fred throwing it at trees (he’s crazy like that) and the youngsters chopping rocks! The “gills” on the handle are a bit sharp for an ungloved hand, but once again, by design.

This home-wrecker is a pretty useful tool around the shop and on the trail. A couple of days after  being handed the tool, we had a stuck hydraulic cylinder pivot pin on the shop’s Bobcat Skid Steer that needed to be removed. The tool already had found a use: it was the only prying device in the shop that had a thin enough working end to slip in between the pin and machine frame to pry this pin out! This pin was stuck from debris and rust, and with the handle built into the axe head we could comfortably put some force on this thing. It was tough, and I’m surprised the tool didn’t bend.

Continue reading on Breach Bang Clear

Images courtesy of Breach Bang Clear