Plain edge versus Serrated Hawkbills

[JD Spydo]

Now for those of you here who do know me you all know that I am a bonafide Hawkbill Fanatic I've been a big fan of Spyderco's Hawkbills for some time now. Spyderco's Hawkbills IMHO are the very best of the best. What I've really learned here of late are the completely different uses for plain edged Hawkbills versus the fully serrated ones.

With the new H-1 Spyderhawk now on the market I think it's high time we discussed the different intended uses and what we individually use our Hawkbills for in the PE and SE variants. Personally I find myself using my serrated Hawkbills a lot more. I actually find a serrated Hawkbill to be more useful and aggressive than a serrated conventional blade.

Now for controlled pull cutting I find plain edged Hawkbills work like a charm.

Please share with us what different jobs you use PE & SE Hawkbills for. Also which do you like best and why. I hope to hear from owners of the new H-1 Spyderhawk especially. But I also want to hear from long time Hawkbills users as well. Most of all I really want to hear from you all in the Fishing industry. OK Let's talk

 

[yablanowitz]

JD, it's good to see you on the boards again.

I use my serrated hawkbills a lot more than PE. I find them especially useful for landscaping, pruning, trimming and weeding. My H-1 Spyderhawks just arrived this morning, so I haven't had a chance to give them much of a workout yet, but the Crossbill just got retired.

 

[white cloud]

this is an interesting question. i wonder which one is more useful. i have both s.e. and p.e. tasmans. with the tasmans i always went s.e. for edc. my girl friend really likes using the s.e. tasman for general use.

i recently obtained two p.e. spyderhawks. i had to touch one of them up on the sharp maker but so far they are pretty awesome. they are great for general yard work and doing stuff in the woods.

 

[JD Spydo]

JD, it's good to see you on the boards again.

I use my serrated hawkbills a lot more than PE. I find them especially useful for landscaping, pruning, trimming and weeding. My H-1 Spyderhawks just arrived this morning, so I haven't had a chance to give them much of a workout yet, but the Crossbill just got retired.

Good to be back now that I found a bridge to live under This is interesting because I'm hearing more and more about Hawkbills being used in "landscaping" type jobs. I certainly used my own G-10 Harpy a lot in the garden this summer.

I think the best way to find out what uses are ideal for Hawkbills is to just use them and EDC at least one of them daily. When you EDC one on a daily basis you will soon find yourself using one a lot.

I'm hoping that a few of you will chime in and tell us about some "survival related" uses for them. Even though when Spyderco launched the original Harpy model they were target marketed towards the fishing industry I think that there is untold practical uses for them that we haven't even touched on yet.

 

[Haze]

I'm a fan of the plain edge hawk bills my self but the serated blades would defo. be handy in some situations.

I do like the nice subtle curve on the superhawk blade.

But I do like the nice pronounced curve on the CF Harpy blade too though.

Not to mention the best of both on my reprofiled Dodo. :thumbup:

 

[yablanowitz]

As far as landscaping goes, when constructing planting beds I always use weed barrier fabric and the hawkbill lets me cut the fabric while it is laying on the ground without dragging the knife edge across the dirt. Just hook the tip under the fabric, rest the spine on the ground and pull. It also works well for cutting the outside of the rootball when you pull a plant out of a plastic pot. Need to get vines off a chainlink fence? Hook them with the hawkbill and pull. Cutting sappers away from the base of a tree trunk, pruning small branches at arm's length and trimming grass along vinyl siding where a string trimmer would cause damage are all thing the hawk shines at.

 

[Haze]

I used a kerambit quite often on arboriculture jobs for just that sort of stuff. It's not a blade shape I would
have had much use for on a regular felling job but was very handy indeed for using about gardens and the like.

 

[gunmike1]

My SE Spyderhawk is tremendous at cutting up vines and doing gardening, as I just helped my wife rearrange some stuff in our front and back yards. Previously I used my Superhawk to good effect for that, but the more aggressive curve and very aggressive teeth make the Spyderhawk SE a real beast. "Sink in the tip and let her rip" definately applies. The Superhawk is still better IMO at cardboard cutting with it's PE though as the aggressive teeth of the Spyderhawk are prone to causing a some tearing on cardboard, and it definately can make real clean cuts and is easily brought to hair whittling sharpness on the 204. I'm going to get some practice on my Pro Files with the Spyderhawk SE, and hopefully I get the knack for those hones soon so I can get the Spyderhawk back to the factory tree topping sharpness.

Mike

 

[JD Spydo]

My SE Spyderhawk is tremendous at cutting up vines and doing gardening, as I just helped my wife rearrange some stuff in our front and back yards. Previously I used my Superhawk to good effect for that, but the more aggressive curve and very aggressive teeth make the Spyderhawk SE a real beast. "Sink in the tip and let her rip" definately applies. The Superhawk is still better IMO at cardboard cutting with it's PE though as the aggressive teeth of the Spyderhawk are prone to causing a some tearing on cardboard, and it definately can make real clean cuts and is easily brought to hair whittling sharpness on the 204. I'm going to get some practice on my Pro Files with the Spyderhawk SE, and hopefully I get the knack for those hones soon so I can get the Spyderhawk back to the factory tree topping sharpness.

Mike

Gunmike I'll give you a big "high five" when battling VINES The first time I realized how great my SE VG-10 Spyderhawk was is when I took it by mistake to go to work on a wetland project I used to work on. I had meant to take an old SE Endura but I grabbed the Spyderhawk by mistake. Best mistake I ever made I was in an area where there were many vines and that Spyderhawk just blew right through them. I used my Cold Steel Gurkha Kukri to do the bigger ones with.

But needless to say I was amazed at the cutting power of the Spyderhawk. I am so very glad to see it back in the lineup with H-1 blade steel. I have a feeling if it continues to sell well we will see it arounnd for a while.

 

[randomlooker]

My experience is that serrated works great for clearing vegetation (Used my Barong and SE Tasman the other day to prune back some blackberry vines; unfortunately my new SE Spyderhawk H1 is in a box at home; didn't arrive in time for this trip I'm on.), plain edge is better for opening packaging. It depends on the style of cutting: Just grab and pull to rip something up, serrated. More precise point-heavy cutting, plain.

 

[Planterz]

I've been EDC'ing a H1 Spyderco since they came out as a 2ndary blade for "wet" use at work; a blade that I can get wet, greasy, gunky, etc, and not worry about it rusting up.

First I had a Pacific Salt SE. I liked it, but felt it was too big, so I got a Salt 1. Too small. When the Atlantic Salt came out, I jumped on a SE one and carried it until the Tasman Salt came out. I liked the way the straight edge on the Atlantic worked on draw cuts on cardboard and slashes through plastic bags, so I figured a hawkbill would be even better. The serrations on the Pacific and Atlantic would rip right through whatever I wanted it to (finesse work is left for my main, PE EDC knife).

I used a SE Tasman for a while, but found that the serrations on the hawkbill, unlike the Pacific and Atlantic, would bind in cardboard, and tended to snag and pull on plastic bags.

Eventually I bought a PE Tasman to try, and I've never gone back. It's easily the most used, and most worn knife I own. It rips through everything cleanly and efficiently.

I think the reason is that the vast majority of cutting with my Tasman is done with the tipmost 1" section of the edge, particularly about 1/2" from the tip. Right where there's the 2 small serrations on the SE Tasman. I've often wondered if the knife would cut better if it had a large serration in that spot instead of the 2 small ones, but that might leave too narrow a section of blade material, making the tip likely to snap off.

If I were working on a boat or something, I might prefer a SE Tasman (for getting through rope/lines), or perhaps just a SE Atlantic. But for my uses, the PE is far more efficient and useful.

I've often been tempted to pull the trigger on a CF Harpy or Superhawk (or Matriarch), but there's really no use I'd ever have for it. PE or SE.

To summarize:

Blade with belly: SE
Straight edge: SE
Hawkbill: PE

 

[JD Spydo]

Most people don't realize the extra leverage you can attain on different cutting actions with a Hawkbill blade. Now I'll be the first to admit that Hawkbill blades are not for everyone and it truly depends on what cutting chores you are faced with as to whether a Hawkbill would truly benefit. But if you work daily and use knives on a daily basis as I know many of you do it won't be too long before you encounter a cutting job in which a Hawkbill will truly be advantageous.

Cutting any twine, rope, canvas or any rough/fibrous material it's hard to beat a serrated Hawkbill for those. Any jobs in which you need to pull as you cut you will quickly realize how great Hawkbills can be. Also serrated Hawkbills are always better for cutting extremely tough materials like garden hose, radiator hose or any kind of rope or twine. They are advantageous for that type of cutting due to the angle of cutting you have at your disposal with Hawkbill blades. And nobody even comes a close second to Spyderco with Hawkbill blades.

Now on plain edged Hawkbills I find them especially nice for a controlled type cut. Because after all the original linoleum knives are Hawkbills and they do controlled cutting much better than a conventional blade. To attain g reat cutting power on plain edged Hawkbills it is particularly important to keep the blade tip very sharp. Because the tip on either plain edge or serrated hawkbill blades is a very important aspect of it's cutting ability.