Plain Edged Hawkbills? What do YOU use them for?

J

JD Spydo

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Nov 20, 2004
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Without any fragment of a doubt Spyderco is thee undisputed "KING OF HAWKBILL BLADES" . That to me is undisputable by many standards throughout the industry. I've used one of many of Spyderco's Hawkbills as my main "companion" blade for some time now. I've probably carried either a Merlin, Tasman or Harpy for 99% of the past 8 years. AS of this very moment I'm carrying an H-1, SE Spyderhawk with a gorgeous yellow handle. It's a little bigger than what I consider ideal but until I find myself another G-10 Harpy that's what I'm going to be carrying for a while. Because I consider the Spyderhawk more of specialty and outdoor type of Hawkbill rather than a utility Hawkbill>> but I dearly love it just as much as I do all the others.

The reason I started this thread is because I'm having a hard time trying to figure out something. All of the Hawkbills that I've EDCed over the past 8 years or so have all been Spyderedged ( serrated) versions and for what I generally do work-wise I find an SE Hawkbill far more useful myself. But I talk to a lot of you and many of you who trade with me constantly ask me if I have a plain edged Hawkbill. As of this time I only own 2 PE Hawkbills>> I have one PE H-1 Tasman and I also have a holy grail PE, blue handled VG-10 Spyderhawk that I use for basically one job every fall.

My question to you all is this>> What cutting jobs do you all use PE Hawkbill blades for? Personally I've carried many Hawkbills and on a few occasions I've carried PE Hawkbills but rarely find any valid use for them. I have one job I use my big VG-10 Spyderhawk for and it's only in the late autumn that I use it. But myself I personally find dozens of more cutting jobs that an SE Hawkbill does much better IMO. Hey I'm here to learn like anyone else here on the Bladeforums and if I'm overlooking something I would like to know what it is. Now when it comes to plain edged standard blades I find hundreds of uses for them but not a plain edged Hawkbill. So what do you all use yours for? And why do you prefer a PE Hawkbill over a serrated one?
 
I use my PE hawkbills for paperweights. I'm with you, Joe. Serrated is the only way to fly with a hawkbill.
 
I like my PE Crossbill for breaking down cardboard boxes. I find with SE hawkbills I use just the tip to cut tape holding boxes together; with the Crossbill I use more of the blade. For pretty much every other usage, I like SE better on 'em.
 
yablanowitz said:
I use my PE hawkbills for paperweights. I'm with you, Joe. Serrated is the only way to fly with a hawkbill.
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Yeah I hear your sentiments YAB because I'm truly dumbfounded on this one and I am asking because I would truly like to know what people are getting from plain edged Hawkbill blades. I'm guessing that there are applications dealing with fishing nets or some other type of thin cordage where they might actually be advantageous. But it really baffles me when I talk to guys I trade with that highly prefer PE Hawkbills over SE Hawkbills.

But what's really also baffling is that a standard or convex/belly plain edge is truly indispensible for dozens of jobs whereas the PE Hawkbill or the blade designed in reverse has very limited uses it seems.

But sales don't lie and they do sell a lot of PE Hawkbills big and small. When they discontinued the Spyderhawk I tried to find a PE version just to throw in the collection as an investment so to speak they were literally impossible to find even when they had only been discontinued for a month or so. But there were a few of the Spyderedged versions laying in dealer's shelves for quite a while after they stopped production on them.

I did find my PE Tasman to work nicely peeling a bunch of apples last fall but other than that I haven't use it very much at all.
 
I use them for cutting stuff.
Cardboard, plastic, wood, tape...you know, stuff.

The Superhawk only came plain edged, and it works great.:)
 
A PE Tasman Salt has been my consistent EDC for several years now. I started with a SE one, but found that the serrations towards the tip wouldn't slice cleanly. Cutting cardboard, it would bind in the teeth. Cutting things like plastic bags (I use it for food prep at work) it would bind and tear rather than slice. Prior to using the Tasman I carried an Atlantic Salt SE and a Pacific Salt SE. They worked great. But when I went to the Tasman, I found that the plain edge version worked better for me. It's likely because of the way I use it. 90% of the cutting I do with it is with the first 1/3 of the blade. On the SE version, there's only a couple serrations that actually get used. Combine that with the chisel edge, and it's just not right for me.

I always wanted to try a Spyderhawk Salt (both SE and PE) but it's discontinued know and going for ridiculous amounts on ebay.
 
Anytime I choose to cut a net, it is an emergency so I want quick aggressive results....SE spyderhawk is what I carry for these uh oh moments...I have never chosen to cut a net other then to repair it, this is generally done with scissors
 
All of my hawkbills are serrated. My PE's I ended up getting rid of. I'm a convert to the school of serrated hawkbills.
 
Dodge said:
Box cutting, Limes for boat drinks (H1 FTW).
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Again I've used both my PE Hawkbills to peel apples and one time I used a PE Tasman to process a bunch of tomatoes. I'm thinking the peeling and slicing and processing fruit might be the jobs that PE Hawkbills are good for. There might be other pull cutting jobs that the PE Hawkbill might have advantage over.
 
Nothing. I back pocket my SE Tasman for years and never wished it was PE. Even when I carry a plain edge in my front pocket with it i usually just wave out my Tas since im always use to it being there. I carried my PE Tasman once when I went salt water fishing only because I didn't want to loose my favorite in case I accidentally drop it in the water. I have a swivel clip lanyard for when I go fishing now so no worries.
 
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