Spyderco Hawkbill: A Utility Dream Blade

J

JD Spydo

Joined
Nov 20, 2004
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There's been a lot of talk in the past two months about Hawkbills being known as great blades for marine uses ( which they are) but I think many people have overlooked the potential for Hawkbill blades as being great for many utility purposes. I've carried a Spyderco Hawkbill model for years now but I mostly use it for utility purposes and as a companion blade for my main EDC>> which is usually a Spyderco PE folder.

With the advent of H-1, rustproff steel it has really defined Spyderco's Hawkbills as being great blades for marine uses. But sadly Spyderco's Hawkbills gets overlooked for many other cutting jobs that they are good for. When you take the Spyderhawk model when it was re-introduced into the H-1 Salt Series many people discovered how great of a utility knife it is. I had a lot of landscapers and other tradesmen tell me how efficient the Spyderhawk model in both SE & PE was on the job. I just don't think many knife users have given the Hawkbill a chance and if they did you would see many more of them sold.

I would like to chat with some of you all to see what you all use your Spyderco Hawkbills for. And please tell us which model you're talking about. The G-10 Harpy is my all time favorite. Since I've been using one of Spyderco's Hawkbills as a companion folder it's made my workload easier.
 
well ; JD . I have 2 spyderco Hawkbills : A G10 handled Spyderco Harpy with an ATS-55 serrated blade. And a plain edge stainless steel Japanese market Harpy with A V-10 blade. The G-10 Harpy is used by me for :
1) Cutting rope and netting on my yacht.
2) Cleaning and Gutting fish.
3) Gutting Deer and Rabbits ( The Hannibal Effect )
It's also been used in a self defense application against a mugger which l would rather not discuss here. But take my word ; The knife saved me.
The plain edge Harpy ; though never saw any actual use. Don't get me wrong. I actually tried using it for the stuff l used my G-10 Harpy for. It didn't rope and netting AS well as the SE version. The gutting required more force. The fish cleaning was also significantly harder. I'm sure plain edge Hawkbills have their uses. But l haven't found many yet. Oh ; they do make a nice pizza cutter.
 
carbonsteelfan said:
well ; JD . I have 2 spyderco Hawkbills : A G10 handled Spyderco Harpy with an ATS-55 serrated blade. And a plain edge stainless steel Japanese market Harpy with A V-10 blade. The G-10 Harpy is used by me for :
1) Cutting rope and netting on my yacht.
2) Cleaning and Gutting fish.
3) Gutting Deer and Rabbits ( The Hannibal Effect )
It's also been used in a self defense application against a mugger which l would rather not discuss here. But take my word ; The knife saved me.
The plain edge Harpy ; though never saw any actual use. Don't get me wrong. I actually tried using it for the stuff l used my G-10 Harpy for. It didn't rope and netting AS well as the SE version. The gutting required more force. The fish cleaning was also significantly harder. I'm sure plain edge Hawkbills have their uses. But l haven't found many yet. Oh ; they do make a nice pizza cutter.
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I can echo most everything you've said>> now I've never had to use any of my Hawkbills for self defense but I did use one of my Spyderco Military models for such an event and all it took for the coward to see what kind of blade I had and he took off running like the coward that he was. But I have no doubt that any of Spyderco's great Hawkbill blades could be used effectively for SD in a pinch.

Using my Harpy as a companion blade I've covered about everything you've mentioned except the rabbits >> mainly just because I haven't gone rabbit hunting in quite a while. I will admit that my uses of a plain edged Hawkbill are quite limited. But I have found a couple of viable uses for them. To use a Spyderedged Hawkbill like the Harpy along with a premium plain edged blade is truly about a perfect EDC combo.
 
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I love the serrated hawkbills, I worked in a research greenhouse for a few years and used my se spyderhawk for all kinds of stuff. Underrated blade design.
 
I really like my tasman salt PE. Most of the time it is my EDC complimented by a classic SAK. I work outside in rain, snow, or whatever comes up and I like not having to oil it up ever time it gets wet. I've never really found anything it wouldn't cut. But I have a question. Can you get yours back to that factory hair-popping edge? I use the sharpmaker and get my knives shaving sharp. Well except the tasman. It'll cut paper and serves me well in that condition, but I just can't seem to go that extra step. And I do have the UF rods.
 
I wish I had a rounded diamond stone for my hawkbill blades...not the narrow rods but a convex stone. If I had that I think I would use my hawks more.
 
There's a reason that the Harpy C08 is still in production. The classics never die. Many of Spyderco's early knives were geared towards marine use and they have all delivered. I would love to see some kind of spring Harpy in H1. The Tasman pretty much fills that slot but the Tasman is just not the Harpy.
 
legato1 said:
I love the serrated hawkbills, I worked in a research greenhouse for a few years and used my se spyderhawk for all kinds of stuff. Underrated blade design.
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Interesting because I've heard many people chime in here and on the Spyderco.com forum testify about using the SPYDERHAWK model for gardening, landscaping and agricultural use in general. And I've heard testimony about the Spyderedged models and plain edged models both in regards to valid Hawkbill gardening uses.

It sort of surprises me in a way that many would gravitate to the Spyderhawk model for agricultural uses>> because the HarPY model has good uses in that area as well.

That's mainly why I started this thread just to let people know that marine uses of the Hawkbill blades is just one out of several uses for them. Again I've found the Harpy to be a great companion blade to my main EDC which is uusally a plain edged Spyderco folder.
 
JD Spydo said:
Interesting because I've heard many people chime in here and on the Spyderco.com forum testify about using the SPYDERHAWK model for gardening, landscaping and agricultural use in general. And I've heard testimony about the Spyderedged models and plain edged models both in regards to valid Hawkbill gardening uses.

It sort of surprises me in a way that many would gravitate to the Spyderhawk model for agricultural uses>> because the HarPY model has good uses in that area as well.


That's mainly why I started this thread just to let people know that marine uses of the Hawkbill blades is just one out of several uses for them. Again I've found the Harpy to be a great companion blade to my main EDC which is uusally a plain edged Spyderco folder.
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Hey ; here is just a thought. What do you think about a Hawkbill model in 440c ? It's been a while since l've seen any spyderco models in 440c.
 
JD Spydo said:
Interesting because I've heard many people chime in here and on the Spyderco.com forum testify about using the SPYDERHAWK model for gardening, landscaping and agricultural use in general. And I've heard testimony about the Spyderedged models and plain edged models both in regards to valid Hawkbill gardening uses.

It sort of surprises me in a way that many would gravitate to the Spyderhawk model for agricultural uses>> because the HarPY model has good uses in that area as well.

That's mainly why I started this thread just to let people know that marine uses of the Hawkbill blades is just one out of several uses for them. Again I've found the Harpy to be a great companion blade to my main EDC which is uusally a plain edged Spyderco folder.
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They're great with anything fibrous, it just eats through plant material no problem, and the other greenhouse/landscape knife chores usually involve opening sacks of fertilizer, herbicide etc or opening boxes that trays of baby plants come shipped in, they're also wrapped in protective netting, hawkbills do some serious work.
 
carbonsteelfan said:
Hey ; here is just a thought. What do you think about a Hawkbill model in 440c ? It's been a while since l've seen any spyderco models in 440c.
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If you like 440c blade steel then Spyderco has a new fixed blade called the Serrata and it has a cast 440C blade steel and I've heard most of the guys say that it's a good knife. As far as using 440C in a Hawkbill I have at least 5 other blade steels I would rather see them use IMO. As good of results as I've had with my XHP and M390 Military models I would like to see a SPYDERHAWK with one of those blade steels.

From what I've heard about M-4 blade steel I would love to see a Harpy made with it. But with all of that aside the H-1 Spyderhawk and the VG-10 Hawkbills they currently have available are great. VG-10 is truly one of my utility favorites>> I've never had a VG-10 Spyder I didn't like. One of the older blade steels that the used to make the Harpy with was ATS-55 and I had great luck with that blade steel as well.

But the possibility of a G-10 handled Harpy is higher on my list than just about anything at this time. That was a great thread you launched!!
 
Serrated h1 is perfect, it has crazy performance, I almost want to say better than my s90v and cts204p knives but se vs pe is kind of apples to oranges.
 
People complain about tip thickness on the matriarchs and hawkbills, but i see no problem with it. Once it looses that initial needle point, just sharpen a new one, eventually it will reach a point where its a good balance of pointieness and thickness. Im not sure about the P'kal.
 
HotRodColt said:
Do the matriarchs have to thin a tip for utility work?

What about the P'Kal?
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With the advent of the Lil Matriarch I think they may have changed or altered their original target market for the Reverse S tactical blades. Because originally the Civilian and Matriarch both were meant to be tactical self defense knives for undercover law enforcement officers. For almost 10 years Spyderco never really advertised either model to the general public. Also there is usually paperwork that comes with both models disclaiming using them for everyday cutting and declaring them only for self defense purposes.

It's only been fairly recently that any substantial number of people have claimed to have used them for EDC or utility uses. I've heard that the VG-10 units didn't have as many tips break as the older ATS-55 and GIN-1 models did.
 
I think mine is a Harpy (it's AUS-8 with a zytel handle). I carry it in my BC pocket, attached to a lanyard, in case I drop my primary dive knife into the murk while trying to cut myself free of an entaglement (it happens).
 
I was just looking for a spyderhawk or superhawk last night. Ended up ordering one of these Opinels:
OPC8.jpg


Now I just need to figure out how to add a thumbstud
 
JD Spydo said:
With the advent of the Lil Matriarch I think they may have changed or altered their original target market for the Reverse S tactical blades. Because originally the Civilian and Matriarch both were meant to be tactical self defense knives for undercover law enforcement officers. For almost 10 years Spyderco never really advertised either model to the general public. Also there is usually paperwork that comes with both models disclaiming using them for everyday cutting and declaring them only for self defense purposes.

It's only been fairly recently that any substantial number of people have claimed to have used them for EDC or utility uses. I've heard that the VG-10 units didn't have as many tips break as the older ATS-55 and GIN-1 models did.
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Oh ; trust me. The VG-10s also had lots of tip failures. The design of the civilian itself prohibits it from utility use.
 
tang1510 said:
I think mine is a Harpy (it's AUS-8 with a zytel handle). I carry it in my BC pocket, attached to a lanyard, in case I drop my primary dive knife into the murk while trying to cut myself free of an entaglement (it happens).
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I don't ever recall a HARPY having AUS-8>> now I do believe that the MERLIN models had AUS-8 at one point. If there ever was a HARPY with AUS-8 I'm not aware of it and I've owned quite a few of them over the years. I've owned Harpy models with GIN-1, ATS-55, and VG-10.

When you mention that you have a ZYTEL nylon handle then I'm pretty sure you have a MERLIN model which is basically a HARPY with Polymer handle material. I've also been recently told that there were even a few MERLIN models with ATS-34>> but again I've never owned one so I can't say for sure. But if they ever had a Harpy with AUS-8 then that's a new one on me.
 
carbonsteelfan said:
Oh ; trust me. The VG-10s also had lots of tip failures. The design of the civilian itself prohibits it from utility use.
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I'm sure you're spot on and you may indeed be 100% correct. But here lately the Matriarch and the newer Lil Matriarch are being touted for all kinds of different uses>> it's only been in the past two years that I've heard guys from here at BF and over at SPYDERCO.com forum where I personally frequent more than I do here have just given tons of testimonies as to how good the Matriarch and Lil Matriarch are for various utility and EDC tasks.

OK with that being said you would think that with this newly found popularity that Spyderco would capitalize on it and start marketing the Matriarch and Lil Matriarch for the EDC crowd. With that being said I would think they would want to bolster the tip and make it significantly stronger>> and I think that would even give the law enforcement customers even more confidence in them as well. Personally I'm not nearly as much of a fan of the Civilian as I am with the Matriarch>> my hand fits the Matriarch almost perfectly and the Matriarch does well with FRN handles IMO.

Yeah I'm seeing the Matriarch and Lil Matriarch becoming rival models to the Harpy which sort of baffles me in a way because the HARPY is a super ridgid and iconic Hawkbill model and the jobs that it does well it does really well IMO. It is an interesting development taking place for sure IMO.
 
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