There's an awful lot of cool things you can do to dress up a nice hawk like that! Get you a catalog from
Crazy Crow, they sell all kindsa beads, tacks, feathers, and other neat things to personalize your hawk, knife or gun.
Dixie GunWorks has some cool stuff too. Both catalogs/sites are just plain fun to read through.
I'm partial to forced patinas, I would sand it down to bare steel and start messin' with mustard and vinegar and cold blue.
If you don't mind non-traditional materials, 550 cord makes a great durable, grippy surface for wrapping a hawk handle. Drill a small hole near the butt end and oil/finish the haft however you want. Run your cord thru the hole and straight up along the handle (on the "finger" side) as high as you want; I use electrical tape at the beginning, middle and end of the first line of cord, to keep it lined up straight. It won't show when you're done. Then wrap it around all the way back down. Go back thru the hole and tie off to the beginning end and/or make a wrist loop there.
Soak the 550 cord in hot water first, and wrap it tight as you can. It will stretch a little when wet, and tighten as it dries, almost like rawhide, but it won't loosen up or get mushy if it gets wet, like rawhide does.
Have fun! Hawks are great fun to customize and use!
