Spyderco Forums

The dragonfly salt was my first spydie and the one that got me hooked. Brilliant design that epitomizes the "little big knife" idea. With a handle that great it's a shame we don't have more blade shapes available. My vote would be for a reverse "s". I think it would be slightly wider than the lil matriarch blade but not nearly as "stubby" as the cricket. I think the dragonfly handle would accommodate a very functional edc reverse "s". I know the idea of a hawkbill dragonfly has come up here on multiple occasions but I find a well executed reverse "s" to have a lot of the cutting ability of a hawkbill in a shape that is much more versatile for everyday use.

**Not to mention a reverse "s" Dragonfly would look really bitchin! :D

Anybody else?

I've yet to try any of Spydercos reverse S blades, but use and love hawkbill blades. I have been tempted by the Lil Matriarch, and of course the Dodo, just haven't pulled the trigger on either yet. I really like the idea of reverse S Dragonfly though, it would be a nice alternative to the often requested hawkbill Dragonfly, and for pretty much all the reasons you've mentioned. Very well put! I'd love to see it in the Salt series, with both SE and PE versions!

and yes, it would be one bad *** looking knife!

Mushroom wrote:I've yet to try any of Spydercos reverse S blades, but use and love hawkbill blades. I have been tempted by the Lil Matriarch, and of course the Dodo, just haven't pulled the trigger on either yet. I really like the idea of reverse S Dragonfly though, it would be a nice alternative to the often requested hawkbill Dragonfly, and for pretty much all the reasons you've mentioned. Very well put! I'd love to see it in the Salt series, with both SE and PE versions!

and yes, it would be one bad *** looking knife!

I would LOVE to have a Salt version of that knife! I would carry one everyday on the water! I carried the Tasman Salt for a few months on the kayak and though it worked very well for certain tasks, i ultimately found it too limiting. Some of my most common tasks like cutting tag line are very cumbersome with a HB. Whether I'm trying to cut line on a flat surface or holding my thumb against the side of the blade, a reverse s is a far more functional shape. On the other hand, the jobs at which a HB excels (scoring skin on heavy scaled fish, gill cutting and bleeding, cutting though netting) are all accomplished just as easily with a reverse "s".

Dragonfly Hawkbill Salt would be amazing. :)

I would give it a try. Are you thinking PE or SE? And I would like it as a salt for the first go if possible.

I would like to see Hawkbill, Reverse-S, and Wharncliffe. Preferably PE and ZDP. LC200N is my second steel choice. Dragonfly is one of the best platforms in the catalog, it is crying out for more blade shapes.

That really is an excellent idea.

TBH even the Lil'Matriarch is a bit scary for most people around here, so a cute yellow version with 80% + of its utility makes a lot of sense.

II don't really get the reverse S shape. The belly part seems useless to me. How would you bring that part into play whilst using the knife? The hawkbill part I get. I have a Cricket, and have used it and wondered this.

I'd much rather have a wharncliffe Manbug.

I carry both a PE Cricket and a PE Lil' Matriarch.

As long it is PE and not H1 I would be interested in a Reverse S Dragonfly.

I'm in.

I'd be in (obviously :D ), as the Salt knife I less use and carry is my Dragonfly, barely sees any carry time...



while my Tasman, Spyderhawk and Matriarch are my daily/weekly tools in the garden and at work



So that's the gap I need to fill!



***my wallet also will need to be filled soon at this pace of new models and Salt knives for 2017

Heck yeah I'm in!

bearfacedkiller wrote:I carry both a PE Cricket and a PE Lil' Matriarch.

As long it is PE and not H1 I would be interested in a Reverse S Dragonfly.

+1 in this. PE Reverse S blades are awesome and I think the Dragonfly would make a perfect platform. Please no H1 though. It is extremely popular for good reason but think about us folks where it's arid 90% of the year. It's even arid the primary places that I hike.

Love the idea, Surfingringo!

Jazz,

The Reverse-S's inner belly adds more slicing goodness before the user enjoys the tightly-curved hawkbill portion. It's not much, but it makes Dodos and some Meerkats lots of fun to use.

ThePeacent wrote: while my Tasman, Spyderhawk and Matriarch are my daily/weekly tools in the garden and at work

What's the story with the zip-tied nut?

Jazz wrote:II don't really get the reverse S shape. The belly part seems useless to me. How would you bring that part into play whilst using the knife? The hawkbill part I get. I have a Cricket, and have used it and wondered this.

I'd much rather have a wharncliffe Manbug.

Hi there Jazz, the belly on the reverse "s" definitely isn't useless. It may not be as versatile as the belly of a conventional blade but offers a much broader range of use than the cavity that would occupy that space on a normal hawkbill. Here's a few examples where I find a reverse "s" more functional than a HB.

- Cutting tag line (or anything) on a flat surface. Yes, you need to find a table corner or a narrower surface like the gunnel in my kayak, but the belly of a reverse "s" will lay flat against a flat surface for this type of cut where as with a HB you are simply out of luck...corner or not.

-Cutting string or line that is held against the blade with the thumb. This is another very common task for me and the reverse "s" does it much better. It offers a portion of the blade that is aligned with the handle just like a traditional blade so it will make these cuts just like any other knife. With a HB these cuts are certainly possible but they feel awkward. When you hold the string (or whatever) against the blade and twist the knife, it is hard to get leverage to make the cut because of how the edge lines up with the handle. Possible, but awkward. Win goes to the reverse "s" again.

-Whittling, notching or other push type cuts. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to sell the reverse "s" as a bushcraft blade, but it is perfectly capable of these types of cuts. HB? Not so much.

-Want to chop a carrot? You can do it with the lil Matriarch (though you might have to spin the carrot at the end). How about peel an apple or potato? Once again, possible with the reverse "s" and nearly impossible with the HB.

Don't misunderstand, I am not claiming that the reverse "s" is the best knife for any of these tasks. What I'm saying is that it is much more capable of making these cuts than a hawkbill. Both blade shapes excel at a certain type of cutting and in my use I see no real advantage to either when making pull cuts. That is because when making the type of cuts where a HB excels, I am typically using the last 1/2-3/4" of the blade...the tip. I get the same functionality from a reverse "s" that I do from a hawkbill, but where a HB is a bit of a "one trick pony" I can get the majority of my normal work done with a reverse "s".

To leave you with an motorcycle analogy, the HB is a bit like a drag bike that goes very fast in a straight line and is not allowed to leave the track. The reverse "s" is a street legal sport bike that will still hang with the drag bike on the track. You probably don't want to ride either one of them across the country but one of them is definitely a better "around town" bike than the other. I'm not sure if that's a fair analogy but it matches my experience with the two blade shapes.

I'm totally on board with a Dragonfly with a reverse-S blade (or hawkbill or wharncliffe or any other blade shape, for that matter). Regarding reverse-S though, I'm wondering if the choil will make it trickier than doing that bladeshapes on, say, a Ladybug or Delica.

Apologies in advance for pulling info from another message board, but I'm thinking of Boomer52's Li'l Para Delica thread on bladeforums and this post where he shows those scales on a Li'l Matriarch and the CAD drawing overlay that details the difference between a regular Delica blade and the Li'l Matriarch. When with scales that mimic a choil, when the knife is open, the choil is less rounded than it would be otherwise, and when closed, the pivot isn't completely sunken. Or is that just because the Delica and Li'l Matriarch don't have the blade half of the choil, which wouldn't be an issue for the Dragonfly that does?

Sorry if I'm too far in left field. I'm just trying to figure out the mechanics of how those blade shapes would work on a knife with a choil, because I want one *g*. I'd also be all for a reverse-S Salt Saver and/or Atlantic Salt, but that's a topic for another day and another thread.
Has Spyderco ever done a hawkbill or reverse-S with a choil? If so, can someone let me know so I can hunt one down? :p

The belly on a reverse S isn't gonna let you use the knife on a cutting board like a regular knife but if you are cutting things that you are holding in your hand it gives much more versatility than just a hawkbill. It let's you make carving and peeling type cuts much easier. I also like that the hawkbill part of the reverse s is more subdued. It still functions like a hawkbill but has more precision and is less aggressive. I mainly use my Lil' Matriarch in the garden. I am an avid vegetable gardener ( gonna have 18 4x12 beds full of veggies this year) and find that the plain edge lil matriarch is hands down the most useful knife I own for the things I do out there. It is also easy to get that fine tip behind just the stem you want to cut when harvesting some things like cucumbers. You can easily cut only what you want to cut and there is just enough hawkbill and just enough reach that you only need to use the very tip of the blade.

The Dodo and the Cricket are actually shaped a lot different than the Lil' Matriarch. I love the Lil' Matriarch and didn't like the Dodo. The Cricket is a nice small EDC and it is hard to compare it to the Lil' Matriarch. The Cricket has way more belly and way less hawkbill and a less pointy tip.

I have a DragonFly in HAP40.
I just cannot say what a "powerhouse" she is lol.
Man, I LOVE that knife. She goes everywhere with me.
She in the left front and mainly my Millie in 204p in the right front.

If you have seen the Reverse S Meerkat, it would be about that size but less stubby- in my mind's eye