Why No GOLDEN, CO Hawkbills?

J

JD Spydo

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Nov 20, 2004
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With Spyderco being the number 1 source of premium grade Hawkbill blades in the commercial knife world it has always baffled me as to why they never made one of their sterling Hawkbill models at the GOLDEN, CO USA Earth plant :confused:

You would think that there would be at least one Sprint Run of a Hawkbill folder or even a maiden run of a fixed blade Hawkbill done at the GOLDEN plant??? With not even one commercial knife company even being a close second to Spyderco in the production of premium grade Hawkbill blades it just seems weird to me that we haven't seen at least one from the good ol' USA, GOLDEN Plant.

Personally I don't care if it would be a folder or fixed blade but it would be so cool for a new or even older Hawkbill like the SUPERHAWK ( Spyderedged next time for sure) or even on a dare to use the GOLDEN plant to launch a really beefy, rigid fixed blade Hawkbill which I know the fishing industry would just love.

So why not a Hawkbill from GOLDEN, CO USA Earth??? Oh yes a USA blade steel would be cool too. And maybe even G-10 or better scales as well.
 
Why not? Maybe because they have better things to do with their limited production capacity than taking a header off the high dive into a glass of water. Hawkbills are a small market.
 
115Italian said:
I was thinking the same thing yablanowitz yablanowitz . The market is probably smaller than people realize.
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And you two may have a point to consider>> but what about some of the not so popular items that have come from GOLDEN like the Swick model for instance. My thinking is that if they did a really premium fixed blade or folder Hawkbill it might just raise the interest and kindle more people to try them as a companion blade. It wasn't until I actually used one on a very difficult job when I realized how much potential these knives have.

I think at one time serrated blades were a very small, specialized market. But a company called Spyderco raised the bar and raised the quality of their serrated blades and truly changed the landscape. I was just kind of wondering if that couldn't somehow be done with Hawkbills as well?

Quality will usually sell a product on it's own merits without a lot of fanfare. But even at that you have to try the product and see how well it performs. I didn't like serrated blades at all until I got my first Spyder i.e. Stainless SE Mariner model circa 1995. Then after seeing first hand what a quality serrated blade would do totally changed my outlook on them. I just think it would be cool to see a premium quality Hawkbill made at the GOLDEN plant.
 
Why do you want it made in Golden so bad? Are you unhappy with the current hawkbill offerings from China and Japan? And how come you keep putting "Golden" in all caps?

What if a higher end hawkbill blade was made overseas? G10 or CF with say S35VN or S90V?
 
JD, did it ever occur to you that the lessons learned from not-so-popular models like the Swick might be reason enough to NOT take a flyer on a new hawkbill? I'm pretty sure Sal has a bunch of data on hawkbill sales over the last thirty years. If I remember what a hit the Superhawk wasn't, he probably does as well.
 
Well I certainly don't expect everyone to think it's a good idea. But I do like a lot of the GOLDEN made models which I find very few of the Japan made or Taiwan made models to compare with. The C-36 Military and Para models both have become icons of Spyderco's superior quality in the commercial knife market. And I do realize that not all share that opinion. And I'm kind of fan of many of the Japan made Spyders as I own quite a few of those as well and have no plans on trading or selling any of them anytime soon.

As far as lessons learned there was a time ( which wasn't all that long ago) among knife users you couldn't even hardly give away a serrated knife>> until a company named Spyderco took that concept to a higher level and thus made the best serrated knives on the market today. But I'm sure they didn't explode on the sales charts overnight. I just simply thought it would be cool to see GOLDEN make a superior grade Hawkbill folder or maybe even a fixed blade Hawkbill. Also to hopefully pique the interest of people who may never have taken the plunge and tried them as a companion blade.
 
Hi JD,

As I mentioned on the "other" forum. We never thought to make one. Whaddayouwant?

sal
 
While hawkbills can perform most tasks /almost/ as well as a more traditional blade shape, they really shine in niche applications, which I personally think is part of the reason they don't have a particularly wide appeal. I know I like them, but that's because I spend a fair amount of time either on the water or in horticultural settings where a hawkbill blade excels- anyone who hasn't used them in those settings might not see the use. Also, IMO, pretty much every role in which a hawkbill is more useful than a PE blade involves involves some element of corrosion- be it water or plant material- and generally those kind of applications favor toughness over edge retention. I don't really see the use of a hawkbill in a more EDC-oriented steel- maybe LC200N (though I don't know much about how tough it is) or something like BD1 that's fairly stainless and easy to resharpen.

Speaking of, and only mildly related, I'd love to see a budget-oriented horticultural knife- something stainless that could easily be opened and closed one-handed, and that retains well while working on other tasks. Our farm crew are not particularly satisfied with their Opinels- when I had them demo a few of my knives they really liked the Swick 4 and DPX HIT- the fingerhole on both were a big hit as they made for really safe retention even when not using the knife, and the lock on the HIT does not require repositioning one's hand to open or close. Not a lot of love for backlocks, as they were deemed too cumbersome for a lot of the small, repetitive tasks we have to do. I know Perrin's fixed blade designs originated from his work as a roofer, I think a lot of tradesmen could still be well served by the adaptation of some of his designs to more everyday applications.
 
Sal Glesser said:
Hi SaintZe,

What would be your ideal budget hawkbill?

sal
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Something akin to the Emerson version of the La Griffe with a longer, serrated blade and a thumb ramp- I'll attach a picture of a rather odd knockoff knife I found while back that got me thinking about the idea. I think the thumb ramp and relatively mild angle of the blade curve to the handle would be useful for a more control/detail-oriented knife.
The retention hole is what originally drew me in- when I'm, for example, pruning tomato plants, there are various tasks I need to stop to perform non-cutting related tasks that require me to put down my knife, close it, or try not to drop it as I work on a different task.

http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp304/HattoriHanzo2009/Spyderco-La-Griffe-Small.jpg

All that said, while I really want this kind of knife, I'm frankly not sure if it would have much of a market appeal to it.


In terms of folding knives thus far the Byrd hawkbill is just about the best budget hawkbill I could imagine, especially as price-wise they're competitive with Opinels and the Victorinox gardener, which are the two most common knives I see used around the farm.
 
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Maybe a Swick 5 with a longer shallow hawkbill, or one with a decreasing radius to the tip like the Superhawk we made a few years ago.

sal
 
We've got several Wharnie Delicas and a Wharnie Endura coming.
How about a Spyderhawk Endura. I never see Spyderhawks those who have them keep them.
 
Sal Glesser said:
Maybe a Swick 5 with a longer shallow hawkbill, or one with a decreasing radius to the tip like the Superhawk we made a few years ago.

sal
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That sounds pretty great! A really budget version- even something like the Mule in 9Cr18Mo would be interesting. Farmers like good tools, but it's hard to get them to spend money, especially on blades of any kind, which are largely treated as disposable.

5-by-5 said:
We've got several Wharnie Delicas and a Wharnie Endura coming.
How about a Spyderhawk Endura. I never see Spyderhawks those who have them keep them.
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There's a Spyderhawk salt sprint run with orange scales on the horizon. I'm pretty excited!
 
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I'm with ya JD. I would like to see how a Golden hawkbill would turn out. Although im happy with Japanese made knives, it still makes me smile to have USA, EARTH on the side.
First thing that pops up in my mind is a durable, beefy(but not too beefy) hawkbill, with g10 handles, ss liners. Like a pm2/manix2 with a hawkbill instead.

But since we are throwing out ideas, i would like to find a hawkbill that is short in terms of height (spine of blade to back of handles when closed). I find this is the most important factor for a comfortable folder along with thinness. That is one of the hawkbills biggest downfalls. The blade sits right on top of the handles and can't sink into them any.
 
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