Cold Steel Throwing Axe - Premium Camping Hatchet for Axe Throwing Competitions, Survival Gear & Outdoor Activities | Perfect for Camping, Wood Chopping, Bushcraft & Backpacking Adventures

This is the best axe for throwing! Made our own target, and have used many different axes, and this one I the best for ametures!Very nice axe ? I really like cold steel productsBlade dull but 2 corners are sharp. Very nice. More than expected.I bought this axe after joining an axe throwing league and realizing I was the only person using a borrowed hatchet. I asked around to see what everyone else was throwing, and most people had a cold steel.I picked the competition thrower. I wanted something that was ready to throw straight out of the box and I didn't want to mess around with cutting down the handle of the axe gang.The blade is nice and thin, so it sticks well. I have also had no trouble with the handle. I'd only gone to throw axes twice before I started using this, so it's taken a beating and hit the floor many times. It has a few little nicks in the blade, but nothing major and the handle is still in one piece. No issued here with durability.I will say it's a bit heavier than the axe I'd borrowed. It took awhile getting used to the weight of it, but after some practice it wasn't an issue. I usually throw two handed. But I've been trying a one-handed throw and I will say with the length and weight of this axe, it does feel a little unwieldy in one hand.I'm used to this axe with the handle as it is, so I don't want to mess with it. But I'm tempted to pick up an axe gang and try cutting the handle to experiment with different handle lengths.Over all, great axe. It's sturdy and throws well, and I'd definitely recommend itUpdated review 5/2021 - since the review a couple of years ago, I continuted to work with the competition thrower and axe gang axes by cold steel and I grown to love them. So I am amending my old review from 1 star to 4. For my past review, read below.Cold steel has made improvements to the handles. They working as they should without the worries of having them shatter when you stick your axes cleanly into the boards. I own several cold steel throwers and I am no longer having an issue with breakage nor worried that they will after a few throws.They are competition ready; you can throw in either the IATF or WATL with these axes because the size, weight and blade length are to league specifications.For the price, this was made to be beaten up. So think of this as a beginner axe but also one that you can throw without worrying about the nicks, scratches etc. I use these for WATL Duals competition and trick shots.Overall this ain't bad to start with, you can compete with it and you can learn with it. But yes, try not to go to crazy, handles to break if you intentionally want to kill your axe.Past review: Axe handles are horribly designed, inconsistent in its manufacturing, or fake wood. They are not solid wood, please see some of my broken axe photos. I am lead to believe after having 4 break relatively easy and my friends breaking theirs as well, that theres some type of catastrophic flaw.Cold steel's solution is to send you Axe gang handles as a replacement for you to do it, which is the predecessor of this axe. They should be making the repairs. It's only after I mentioned that it's all over social media how the axes are breaking that someone got back to me.I will be replacing the handles but it's a shame that after month of ownership, I was down that many axes.I am probably the only person to buy this for anything other than throwing. I bought this to use as an actual hatchet.I like the longer handle with the small head. It gives you a lighter weight with out sacrificing much swing power. The longer handle allows you to swing harder than it’s head weight would let on.The steel is decently hard. It stood up to chopping dry pine limbs without denting or rolling over. I removed the black enamel and the grind marks on the head are uniform.The handle grain was offset about 45 degrees from the bit. Acceptable for the price. Once the finish was removed and oiled, it became a nice handle for long use. I did rough up the area I hold to make up for the lack of fawns foot. I do the same with my tomahawks to great effect. The oval shape feels good in the hand and does not allow it to twist in your hand.The bit it quite thin. While it does stick into the wood more due to that, I prefer deep cutting hatchets. The long handle does make it more difficult to do single handed light cuts, but having more power in the swing makes up for it.My only gripe is the size of the eye. It is rather small and I worried it may not hold up long, but it has handled a few overstrikes without damage. My fear may have been unfounded.Overall, if you want an axe that splits the difference between a hatchet and boys axe, this is the ticket. Light enough to carry all day but heavy enough to cut whatever you come across cruising the wood lot. Would highly recommend.I love Cold Steel and always buy there knives so it came to no surprise when I was in the market for the axe I stayed brand loyal. I was a bit disappointed with what I received. The axe overall is good quality for the price of $22 but Cold Steel disappointed me with how dull the axe was. All my knives came razor sharp out the box but my axe was butter knife sharp. After a wet stone session this axe quickly turned into the cold steel quality I'm use to.Bought this for throwing. The head meets NATF standards, but the handle is too long. If you cut it down to size (most people like the 14-15" range), it's a great throwing axe. It sticks in hard boards and cuts through knots with ease. My average score is up about 8 points since changing to this axe.This axe also has a sturdier handle than the Cold Steel "Competition Thrower", which means it's not going to snap on you. If you're trying to decide between the two, spend the extra money on this one unless you want to spend the time replacing the handle on the CT. (Darker handle in the picture it's the axe gang, lighter is the competition thrower)This is the first competition throwing axe I ever purchased and I am very pleased with it. I am also currently in my first IATF season and I saw major improvements once I started using this axe. I was told by many experienced IATF season participants that this axe is one of the best for beginners and even intermediate throwers, and also a great all-around axe for the value.My first one: Super sharp, well balanced, and absolutely improved the quality of my game.The quality of the axes has started to go down hill. My first one was a nice tight fit into the head and beautifully balanced. The latest has a huge gap because the handle was too narrow and the balance is off which means it tends to lean sideways on a throw and it's making accuracy more difficult. I'd have to pay extra to have it balanced properly. Originally 5 stars, right now down to 3. I wish my other one hadn't broke as it was just perfect.The axe comes dull, but is easily sharpened. It has a nice, thin profile. The head had a bit of play between it and the handle, but that’s easily remedied by snugging the two torx screws. It is well balanced, and once sharpened, will stick across the grain of the target without much force. It may not be the best axe to learn technique. The handle will suffer. If you can stick it in the wood, it’s a good buy for the price.I bought this axe with the intention of replacing the handle. This is very similar to the pricier "axe gang" hatchet which is a very good throwing axe but the handle is too long for NATF rules. I would recommend buying that one and cutting the handle down if you don't have the tools or time to change the handle on this one.I gave this 3 stars because the head is great, but an axe that's meant to be thrown should have a sturdier handle. For some reason they decided to taper this one at the head, which causes them to break pretty quickly. The axe gang has a uniform thickness all the way up (the darker one in the pictures).The competition thrower has a very well secured handle, so it's going to take a bit of work to get it off. I was unable to get the "staple" out, which made things more difficult.All in all, I expect this to be a good throwing axe like the axe gang, but not without spending extra cash on a new handle and doing some extra work.