Myke Hawke Gear

I think this thread is funny. First off, "tacticool" is a mentality. Not a knife. Hawke doesn't have a tacticool mentality. I've talked to him personally at Blade last year and he talked to everybody ahead of me in line the same way, down to earth. He's a great guy. Hawke has a survival instinct period. That's the vibe I'm getting from him, which is good. He is cashing in on what's popular and surviving. You can't blame him. We need to make a living somehow in order to survive the life we choose to live. Especially, if we expect to retire at 60. He'll invest and retire comfortably.

As for the Hellion, I believe it's a sound design. It has it's ups and downs like any other, but the concept is there. The goal of the knife is to serve an all around purpose in survival and it does that effectively (I've seen the Hellion in action) even as a tanto.

I use a tanto all the time as a maintenance director. You shouldn't knock them. They have their place. If anything you should be buying a tanto yourself and experimenting with it, becoming familiar with it just in case that's what you end up being stuck with in a scenario. Because you never know. Pride goes before the fall.
 
MH was the guest celebrity survival instructor on a "Bizarre Foods" survival episode. [You know, the fat bald headed guy that travels and eats weird stuff]--It took MH ONE HOUR to get a fire going with a fire steel and coconut fiber/natural tender. He held the fire steel 21/2 to 3 ft from the tinder bundle and couldn't figure out what the problem was.His answer was that perseverance was a needed survival characteristic.:rolleyes:--KV
 
TheGent said:
I think this thread is funny. First off, "tacticool" is a mentality. Not a knife. Hawke doesn't have a tacticool mentality. I've talked to him personally at Blade last year and he talked to everybody ahead of me in line the same way, down to earth. He's a great guy. Hawke has a survival instinct period. That's the vibe I'm getting from him, which is good. He is cashing in on what's popular and surviving. You can't blame him. We need to make a living somehow in order to survive the life we choose to live. Especially, if we expect to retire at 60. He'll invest and retire comfortably.

As for the Hellion, I believe it's a sound design. It has it's ups and downs like any other, but the concept is there. The goal of the knife is to serve an all around purpose in survival and it does that effectively (I've seen the Hellion in action) even as a tanto.

I use a tanto all the time as a maintenance director. You shouldn't knock them. They have their place. If anything you should be buying a tanto yourself and experimenting with it, becoming familiar with it just in case that's what you end up being stuck with in a scenario. Because you never know. Pride goes before the fall.
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I have also used and own a few tanto knives. I don't this is a tanto for survival/bushcraft knife issue. Those tools go beyond tanto into silly IMHO. Also this isn't about if Hawke is a good guy or not, those tools look silly. I mean like freaking silly.
 
I doubt he even EDCs those. Probably carries whatever he wants on his personal outings when the camera is not rolling. They're silly, sure, but that's the point. We are the minority here. He needs to market to the masses. That's what I would do if I were in his shoes and retire early.
 
There must be something to these knives.... Some of the issues talked about in this thread I know are being worked on and fixed as some of the models will have a second generation of them to follow. I personally have never been stuck in a "survival" situation but my guess is that alot of people who end up in one would be alot better off with one of these tools and the knowledge of how to properly use all the angles/grinds rather than just a flat/hollow grind drop/clip point blade that most people have to offer at the same price point as these "Hawke" blades. Grant it, alot of knife enthusiasts are turned off by radical designs such as these but if I do ever find myself trying to survive with a knife, I'm really not gonna care if it fits my ideas of an attractive blade.
 
First and foremost, I'll survive in the woods with a sharpened rock if I have to. People in the knife comunity are not "turned off" by such radical design. IMO there turned off by a self proclaimed "survival experts" putting together poorly designed knives with more thought put into making the blade look cool and "look how black the blade is" coatings than actually sitting down and designing a funtional tool for the outdoor enthusiust. It's the same quantity over quality, Make it look tactical and guarentee it's gunna hold up to stabbing a bear ( who the F is stabbing beArs in a survival situation!!!) then sell 30000 of them to mall ninja nation for 400 a pop. All the while you'll probably never see myke use the damn thing on a show because of how impractical the design. In a survival situation having a dependable cutting edge is better than having a knife with gimmicks hanging all over it.

Would I use it if I had to in a survival situation? Hell yes thank you very much. Am I going to rush out and buy that god awful thing? Ummmm no. I'll save my money, use my awesome 10 dollar mora and invest the remaining 390 bucks on more useful gear. (I don't know the price, it's a example)

It's late I'm tired. Rant off
 
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Sharp_newbie said:
First and foremost, I'll survive in the woods with a sharpened rock if I have to. People in the knife comunity are not "turned off" by such radical design. IMO there turned off by a self proclaimed "survival experts" putting together poorly designed knives with more thought put into making the blade look cool and "look how black the blade is" coatings than actually sitting down and designing a funtional tool for the outdoor enthusiust. It's the same quantity over quality, Make it look tactical and guarentee it's gunna hold up to stabbing a bear ( who the F is stabbing beArs in a survival situation!!!) then sell 30000 of them to mall ninja nation for 400 a pop. All the while you'll probably never see myke use the damn thing on a show because of how impractical the design. In a survival situation having a dependable cutting edge is better than having a knife with gimmicks hanging all over it. Would I use it if I had to in a survival situation? Hell yes thank you very much. Am I going to rush out and buy that god awful thing? Ummmm no. I'll save my money, use my awesome 10 dollar mora and invest the remaining 390 bucks on more useful gear. (I don't know the price, it's a example)It's late I'm tired. Rant off
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I think between you and TheGent we are starting to drill down to something interesting:..............................I too get irked by the rash of “self-proclaimed survival experts” and the stuff they try to peddle, but I don't think that's a sufficient account of what is going on. A guy can stand there in sandwich boards calling himself Survival X-man, Jesus Christ, Santa Claus, Abu Hamza, or the Grand Wazoo, whatever, and proclaim that he is “king”, or “president”, or a “survival guru”, or that the end of the world is nigh, it is that other people swallow it that determines whether that person gets to advance toward their goal states. David Icke tried it on and the masses wouldn't go for it......................... Similarly, I think the number or would-be but failed survival gurus is huge. I can't begin to account for all the factors that would need to meddled with on the path of self-promotion to run a successful “I'm a survival guru too campaign”, but I do identify that whatever they are they are they are as nothing unless they encounter malleable minds that can be persuaded into promoting them. That's the elephant in the room, not the signaller, the recipient......................In hindsight, I know I've been guilty of placing too much emphasis on “the trier” as the target of my contempt, probably because the whole business is usually irritating. I guess I get bugged by it the same way as a lecturer gets when dealing with undergrads; “What do you discover and what do you think?” is met with the vacuous “so and so thinks so that's what I think”. Grrrrr...........................Having given this a bunch more thought now I've come to the conclusion that “the so and so”, the “trier”, the would-be guru, is not where I should focus any antipathy I may have for silly ideas and rubbish merchandise, they are just people trying to get ahead exploiting whatever resources are available to them..................I don't know if anyone has noticed it here but I can think of at least one knife forum that has been exploited for personal advancement in a similar way. Joe Bloggs starts as just another member of the general population posting fairly regularly and then he sees a niche a goes for it. He sets himself apart, self-proclaims, self-promotes, and starts to punt out knives for better or worse to those that are willing to be complicit. Very rarely is that person seen again contributing as he once was amongst the regular mortals. He's gone all elite and nobody cares because everybody portends to hate the “crabs in a bucket” model, and self advancement is seen as desirable. As for the knives, well of course objective merit needs to come second to what will sell. Ideally the two will coincide nicely but if push comes to shove woe betide him that gets that arseways round. I have a hard time differentiating any of that from what these TV people are up to.
 
baldtaco-II said:
I think between you and TheGent we are starting to drill down to something interesting:..............................I too get irked by the rash of “self-proclaimed survival experts” and the stuff they try to peddle, but I don't think that's a sufficient account of what is going on. A guy can stand there in sandwich boards calling himself Survival X-man, Jesus Christ, Santa Claus, Abu Hamza, or the Grand Wazoo, whatever, and proclaim that he is “king”, or “president”, or a “survival guru”, or that the end of the world is nigh, it is that other people swallow it that determines whether that person gets to advance toward their goal states. David Icke tried it on and the masses wouldn't go for it......................... Similarly, I think the number or would-be but failed survival gurus is huge. I can't begin to account for all the factors that would need to meddled with on the path of self-promotion to run a successful “I'm a survival guru too campaign”, but I do identify that whatever they are they are they are as nothing unless they encounter malleable minds that can be persuaded into promoting them. That's the elephant in the room, not the signaller, the recipient......................In hindsight, I know I've been guilty of placing too much emphasis on “the trier” as the target of my contempt, probably because the whole business is usually irritating. I guess I get bugged by it the same way as a lecturer gets when dealing with undergrads; “What do you discover and what do you think?” is met with the vacuous “so and so thinks so that's what I think”. Grrrrr...........................Having given this a bunch more thought now I've come to the conclusion that “the so and so”, the “trier”, the would-be guru, is not where I should focus any antipathy I may have for silly ideas and rubbish merchandise, they are just people trying to get ahead exploiting whatever resources are available to them..................I don't know if anyone has noticed it here but I can think of at least one knife forum that has been exploited for personal advancement in a similar way. Joe Bloggs starts as just another member of the general population posting fairly regularly and then he sees a niche a goes for it. He sets himself apart, self-proclaims, self-promotes, and starts to punt out knives for better or worse to those that are willing to be complicit. Very rarely is that person seen again contributing as he once was amongst the regular mortals. He's gone all elite and nobody cares because everybody portends to hate the “crabs in a bucket” model, and self advancement is seen as desirable. As for the knives, well of course objective merit needs to come second to what will sell. Ideally the two will coincide nicely but if push comes to shove woe betide him that gets that arseways round. I have a hard time differentiating any of that from what these TV people are up to.
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Now that's to-the-point sharp, and around these parts, sharp is a good thing.
 
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I am the farthest thing from a survival expert... I just love and enjoy knives. I do not own a Myke Hawke design, but I have listened to him, and the company that is behind this project, explain the blades and his thoughts that went into their design. In my mind AUS-8 is a decent blade steel especially at the $40-$50 price point. Maybe an unexperienced survivalist like myself is easily fooled by a survivalist turned knife designer but maybe not? At any rate if these designs cause more people to purchase more knives, I am all for it!
 
llecardu said:
I don't get why he thinks a sharp back of his machette makes it chop better.....:confused:
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The sharpened back edge, makes it slice through the air as you raise the blade up, taking less effort and therefore giving you more strength for the downswing.

:)
 
Honestly I really can't see how the "Talon Hole" is able to be supposedly patented and I doubt it would stand up in court if someone really wanted to press the matter (I suspect cases of infringement have only ever been settled out of court.) A hole in a short forward guard on a knife or sword almost CERTAINLY exists someplace historically. For a patent to hold up it actually has to be NOVEL. I'm pretty sure that a little research could dig up tons of "prior art" that would invalidate the Talon Hole. Probably no one wants to bother, though. Does anyone have a link to where the Talon Hole is patented? The only thing I was able to turn up was THIS ornamental design patent and to my understanding that's not going to hold up unless we're talking about full-blown counterfeits or knock-offs of the total design. For a design patent to be truly infringed the offending item must be "substantially similar" and simply having a forward lanyard hole located in a short integral guard isn't enough, especially since the feature is a functional one rather than purely decorative.

I'm possibly wrong about all the above, as I'm no patent lawyer, but it kind of irks me when I see all the hullabaloo about "OMG TALON HOLE--TAKE IT TO COURT" and I don't see any real evidence that anything is actually being violated.

Edit to add: By the way, I'm not pointing fingers at anyone in specific with regard to the whole Talon Hole thing. It's just something I've seen a lot of over the years.
 
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