Book excerpt: Join Jack Vargo as he explores a popular tool and weapon in Colonial North America in The Spike Tomahawk. This book discusses the origin, methods of manufacture, distribution and importance of a tool and weapon during the colonial period. Vargo's intention in writing this volume is to provide readers a comprehensive study of just one type of trade artifact, a small hatchet having a metal head with a cutting bit at one end and a pick or spike at the other, known by most as the "spiked axe" or "spike tomahawk".