Spyderco Forums

I ordered 2 Merlins from the SFO website. One to carry and one to keep since it has been discontinued and the price was super. I tried to use one as an EDC for a week and it just didn't work! The Merlin is to specialized. It is great for cutting and slashing briers, rope, fish nets etc. I have gone back to the Delica PE as an EDC. I plan to use the Merlin as a backwoods knfe and as secondary carry. Just my 2 cents worth. Any opinions?

Carried the SE Harpy for a week. Found it to be a good back up for tough cuts(rope, webbing, etc.) but found I still needed to carry a PE more conventional style blade to compliment it. I agree they are a bit too specialized. Was it a PE Merlin? Nice score though anyways. Take Care!!!

"everything else is just a jeep"

I also have two Merlins and a Harpy. The Harpy was bought with a specific purpose in mind, which it works for perfectly, but I decided it was too heavy and got the Merlins. They are nice to carry but not really my idea of an EDC as I prefer PE with "straight" edges (Delica, Native etc). Also hawkbills are very much sheeple unfriendly especially SE.

"Better gear than good sense a traveller cannot carry."

Although I carry my PE Merlin quite often I cannot say that it can be an all-in-one EDC. It is useful for opening DVD and CD wrappings, snack bags, and those tough plastic bubble packaging. Another knife is usually needed as a backup for certain chores.

Awhile ago, I suggested that Spyderco make a modified "Dyad" with Harpy and Delica blades. I never heard anything more about it so I guess there would be insufficient demand for the knife and/or it is an engineering impossibility.

fredswartz/Jerry -

I have both Merlin & Harpy, but what I now
do is carry a SE Cricket <img src="wink.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0> & PE MeerKat 440C

For "fear factor" I'd carry the SpyderHawk!<img src="tongue.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0>

AET <img src="wink.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0>

"All that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke ( 1729-1797 )

Just curious...what doesn't the Merlin/Harpy do for you that a straight blade will? Whittling? or maybe poking/stabbing stuff? Oh, I know...scraping paint!

....Skinning fur bearing animals?

I am what I am, and that's all that I am. Popeye

Hawkbill, for me typically it's slicing sandwiches in half that I usually reach for a "straight" blade. Granted, it can be done with the Merlin but not very efficiently and not without dulling the point pre-maturely. Perhaps, it may be because I haven't yet learned the proper technique--any suggestions?

I like curved, claw knives, and carry one or more with me just about all the time, but my "primary" EDC is a Gunting, a "straight" blade. Does EDC mean it has to be an only, lonely knife? I like to have both types of blades with me all the time.

Nothing wrong with an SE Merlin until it starts staying clipped to your jeans most of the time instead of being used. I still carry the Merlin sometime in addition to my Delica. Simple things liked cleaning my nails etc. proved "unhandy" for me using the SE Merlin. I could probably learn to use it for everything but at this point in my life I don't see any point in being retrained. If a hawkbill works for you, great! I'll use mine for cutting vines, rope and briers.




Edited by - fredswartz on 2/19/2004 10:03:02 AM

I used to feel the same way about hawkbills.Then I spent 6 weeks recovering from surgery at home wearing running shorts and sweats.This meant a lightweight knife and I used my pe Merlin,which never saw much use before.

Great edc, really!Opens mail and packages great.The tip works great for getting into small places imho.Cutting paper it shines for me.I "drop" the tip on the paper like a record needle(remember them)and pull back.

Cutting jerky,checking thick steaks on the grill,popping a stone out of my boot bottems,prying open battery compartments on the kids electronic stuff,breaking down boxes are a few of the things I remeber doing with it.

That's what has kept me from buying a hawkbill blade - just the fact that it only seems to serve a particular niche. I just don't feel like it could take the place of a "straight" blade as an all-purpose EDC. However, I like the idea of getting one and suplementing my Millie with one for EDC for those times when the curved blade might come in handy.