Untill recently, hawkbill blades never appealed to me. But, of late I think that the new Civiliian (G10/ATS-55) is growing on me. I have some questions that I couldn't find right away using the search function in the archives. What is the Civillian's blade geometry? I don't own many Spyderco serrated knives, except for a brand new fully serrated police model (ATS-55 blade). Those serrations are truly "vorpal"(sp?). Anyway, how does the serrated Civillian slice (apart from its tearing and ripping qualities from its hawkbill blade shape)? Is the slicing and cutting performance similar to my serrated police model? I realise that the many curves on the Civillian's blade should slice different compared to the straight Police blade, but I hope it's clear what I mean. I was also wondering how the Civillian was tested by Spyderco during the designing process? Was it tested on dummies and various clothing pieces or something similar? Since it was designed as a defensive knife, I guess testing and evaluating must have been unusual. Can anyone who owns a Civillian tell me if they ever experienced the blade getting caught when trying to slash a piece of fabric (clothing)? Is the Civillian prone to getting caught on clothing, or will it cleanly cut its way out?
Mr. Blonde - Spyderco's in-house testing was done on cardboard, clothing (loose & stuffed) and various foods. Subsequest testing (that we've been informed about) done by others outside have confirmed its slicing aggression. I always recommend that the Civilian not be used for anything and kept always razor sharp. The effectiveness of the shape diminishes as the blade becomes dull. It is unlikely that if you use the Civilian all day to harvest vegetables and don't sharpen it that it would be as effective as it would be razor sharp. sal
