Yes, I handled one at the Southern California Blades Knife Expo a few months ago. It was cool looking and fun to play with. It locked positively. I imagine that it would be sturdy enough for self defense applications. However, consistent chopping on something like wood would probably loosen the lockup. I know that when I do a heavy bag workout with my ASP, enough pounding will eventually loosen the lockup (and I imagine that a hard target like wood would loosen the lockup more quickly than a semi-soft heavy bag---but I'm just speculating on that).
One of the few things I didn't like about the ASP hawk is that the handle is round and the shaft segments rotate. As a result, unless you look at the hawk when extended, you can't tell by handle feel where the cutting edges are pointing. In other words, it doesn't easily index by feel like my other hawks will do (because they have oval or teardrop shaped handles).
Strider once did a proto of a combat hawk with interchangeable heads/tools. It was quite intriguing but Mick said that the manufacturing cost would simply be too high to give it a market.
