UPDATE: I've been using this regularly as a woods tool and am still super impressed with it on that front but discovered recently a major flaw in the sheath system: you can damage or dent badly the edge if you pull this out a certain way and are yanking really hard on it, if you pull straight down or axe edge first the edge will hit the bottom rivet in the sheath, the damage on mine, while minor and fixable on a stone, did occur in the same spot shown in the pics on the other reviews here. You should pull it out spike first, kinda rotating the handle forward but that's not easy to remember when under pressure, like in a tactical situation and your trying to get it out asap. It's still a great axe, until this a hadn't even needed to sharpen it after half a dozen woods trips, so just be aware of this issue and careful of how you pull it out, you'll see exactly what I mean once you get it.Bad to the bone. What else can I say? Super tough, top notch fit and finish, came sharper than most knives, unbelievably sharp actually, supreme feel and balance, excellent design, a great sheath/carry system and made out of a steel I've really come to like. I got this as a "the world's ending" tool but it's so nice that I actually use it as my belt axe when I go out into the woods, yeah you can use it for that, no one will take away your bushcraft membership card. It is a BEAST at chopping wood, I'd put this up against any knife or similar sized axe, yet it's light and handy enough to do small tasks. In retrospect had I known how damn good it is at hatchet work I would have gotten the chogon version but it's not like the spike gets in the way or is some big drawback as a woods tool, you can turn it sideways to pound in stakes and such and you can do the double bit axe trick of reverse battoning to split wood with it because of the spike. Besides this yes it would be a fearsome close quarters weapon, most people I show this don't want to touch it ( a little bonus there, hate borrowing out axes).The only very small gripe is that the handle does have a hotspot on your pinky finger when doing some serious chopping, I double wrapped grip tape around the end to eliminate this though and this is miniscule against all the good aspects of this little gem.Out of the 40+ pieces of cutlery that I own, from 1.5 inch slipjoint folding knives to 6 foot spears, this may the best and most favorite one. If you like or need a tactical tomahawk this is THE one to get, maybe those $300+ ones are better but I sure can't afford those and if you can you shouldn't be reading this.