Spyderco Forums

Hi everyone,

I'm considering the Tasman Salt Hawkbill for gardening (clearing weeds, harvesting and cutting line/zip ties). I believe that's the biggest Spyderco hawkbill available. The H1 is nice, since it will spend a lot of time wet (and possibly not cleaned until the end of the day). The bright yellow scales are helpful as well. The hawkbill blade shape is awesome for gardening and Spyderco is the only quality maker I have found.

My big concern is sharpening. I'm so far struggling to sharpen even knives that are considered very easy to sharpen. I know that Spyderco will sharpen for a reasonable $5 fee. But I am wondering how often this would need to be done. The knife will see something like 1 hour of hard use per week, averaged-out over 6 months per year. Could I get away with sharpening 1-3 times per year? I know there are no guarantees, but any guesses? I really have no idea.

Background: I run a community garden in the northeast US. Thanks to the whole pandemic situation, we've become much more active, which I expect to continue after the pandemic goes away (more people with a DIY mindset). Because this is a volunteer thing, I need to be efficient and having the right tool is a big part of that (that's where the Spyderco Hawkbill comes in) Learning about Spyderco, I have been very impressed... I'm now planning to get a small Spyderco EDC, but that's a separate topic :)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Kale

Welcome to the forum. :)

I’d invest in a Spyderco Sharpmaker, and call it money well spent. Used properly, it’ll have benefits for all of the kinds of edged tools used around the home and garden. And it’s safer to have a sharp tool at hand than a dull one.

If you wanted to go minimalist, you could use a ceramic honing rod, but the SM is more versatile.

Good choice of knife too. I use the serrated Tasman Salt, and it’s an indispensable garden tool.

As said, the sharpmaker is a great tool and makes it easy. Great choice on the Tasman for gardening. For the life of me I can't figure out why they don't make an H1 SE Spyderhawk Salt as a production knife and try to market it to the gardening and landscaping community selling through online gardening purveyors?

Please Sal make the Spyderhawk Salt SE a production knife. Updated scales to the Pacific Salt 2 handle and hardware would be great if possible.

Sharpmaker NOW, says this gardener who uses H1 hawkbills of various sizes without thinking twice when out in the garden. Especially if your edges are Spyderedges, which they should be. :D

You can sharpen a SE tasman salt like a wharncliffe.

All the serrations are parallel to one another so you want to sharpen it this way. If you tried to follow the curve of the blade you wouldn't sharpen it as effectively.

I would echo the advice of obtaining a Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker as well. However for an ultimate gardening tool I would take a Spyderhawk ( Spyderco's biggest Hawkbill to date) over the TASMAN any day. Now the Spyderhawk is temporarily discontinued but they do pop up on websites from time to time and even on Ebay. A Spyderedged/serrated version of the Spyderhawk can do about everything you need in a garden or almost any other outdoor cutting chore for that matter.

If you do go with something the size of the TASMAN I would personally recommend the HARPY model for several reasons. It's a bit more solid and somewhat thicker than the TASMAN and they are a good hard use Hawkbill blade. Keep us posted and let us know how it all works out for you :)

Kale wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 13, 2020 5:16 pm

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Kale

Get yourself a Sharpmaker and read up on the recent SE sharpening threads, there should be plenty to help you get started.

Hawkbills are all I use for veggies/vegetation.

Welcome to the forum! :)

As said already: No problem at all to sharpen SE with a sharpmaker, I highly recommend getting one (usefull of course also for PE ) - it comes with an instructional dvd anyway plus I always recommend this thread by Vivi viewtopic.php?t=84544 - the very first post there (including two vids) should more than just get you started on sharpening SE.

Welcome to the forum Kale. I would like to say I have some additional information about your hawkbill needs, but the members above have given you all the bits of input I have.
Get the Tasman, but keep an eye out for the orange Spyderhawk sprint that is in David's hand above. It stopped showing up in online showrooms a while back, but they didn't fly off the shelves. They can still be found with patience.
Other than that, the 204 Sharpmaker would help you keep that new knife in tip top condition.

One other consideration is perhaps the SE Wharncliffe Endura which will give you very similar edge measurements to that larger hawkbill. I would thing that even something like the new Swick 5 in SE could serve your needs. I enjoy using the Swick because I retain the knife close at hand while still allowing me use of all my fingers. Just my $.02

Welcome to the forum! Trust the many hawkbill enthusiasts here (myself included): you won't regret getting a serrated edge (SE) hawkbill for gardening. I also frequently use a SE Pacific Salt in the garden, and I absolutely love it. All my fingers and toes are crossed that Spyderco will release another run of the Spyderhawk model mentioned above - what an incredible garden/yard work tool!

steelcity16 wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 14, 2020 10:44 am

As said, the sharpmaker is a great tool and makes it easy. Great choice on the Tasman for gardening. For the life of me I can't figure out why they don't make an H1 SE Spyderhawk Salt as a production knife and try to market it to the gardening and landscaping community selling through online gardening purveyors?

Yeah, it seems strange that some of Spyderco’s more specialised designs are not more well known as high quality tools in the trades and activities that they are perfectly suited for.

The area where I live in Victoria has very good soil, so plant nurseries are the primary industry. Often the businesses which supply materials to the nurseries have perspex wall units of the specialist Victorinox gardening knives. But I’ve never seen a Spyderco being used in a plant nursery. I can only imagine how popular the H1 SE hawkbill knives would be among professional plant growers.

(Two of my brothers run a nursery, and use a combo edge blacked out Delica and a SE byrd Rescue as their work knives of choice, but that’s slightly different, as I introduced those knives to them.)

I’d definitely get a Spyderhawk if another run were made too.

As others have said, the Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker is a great investment for sharpening serrated knives (and virtually anything else). If you need an inexpensive, portable sharpening solution, you might also consider the Lansky Spyder Sharpener. It’s a triangular rod like a Sharpmaker stone, but each corner is shaped differently to fit perfectly into the grooves of the large and small scallops of Spyderco serrations. It’s small enough to carry in a pocket, but big enough to get the job done.

The single-beveled edge of Spyderco serrations is wide enough that you can feel it click into place against the stone, so it’s easy to free-hand sharpen the serrations. I hold the knife in my left hand and the sharpening stone in my right (either the Tri-Angle Sharpmaker rod or the Lansky stone). I place my light source in front of me so that the knife edge casts a shadow against the sharpening stone. I then rotate the edge of the knife toward the stone until the shadow disappears, at which point I know the serration is flat against the stone (and I’ll also feel it click into place at this point). I move the knife back and forward on the stone without lifting it, applying moderate pressure on edge-leading strokes (the motion that mimics cutting into the stone) and very light pressure on edge-trailing stroke (the motion that mimics spreading butter on the stone).

The Byrd Hawkbill is also a good option and hard to beat at $30

Definitely go with a serrated hawkbill like the Tasman salt. Spyderco released its bigger brother, the spyderhawk a few years ago but I believe most retailers are sold out so if you want a larger hawkbill in the same rust proof package keep an eye out on the secondary market. A serrated hawkbill will work the best for what you described. Get the sharpmaker for sharpening and I won’t be surprised if you realize with that combo it’s actually easier to sharpen serrations than a plain edge once you get used to it.

BornIn1500 wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 15, 2020 3:50 am

The Byrd Hawkbill is also a good option and hard to beat at $30

The Byrd Crossbill is one model that might break my personal boycott of the Byrd models. I've yet to ever own one but the Crossbill is very tempting being I'm a big fan of Hawkbill blades.

But again in that size range I don't see how the Harpy can be beat. It's solid, rigid construction makes it a super dependable tool for whatever you might want to use it for. A G-10 Harpy being brought back to the main line up would be perfection IMO.

Hi Kale,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

A Sharpmaker and Vivi’s serrated edge sharpening video are all you need. It is extremely easy to do. I taught my wife in a few seconds, literally.

https://youtu.be/Ptmx1iJELhU

I have the 2018 sprint run of the Spyderhawk Salt with the orange handle and I love it. I would really like to see a Spyderhawk 2 released at some point with the same improvements that we see in the Tasman Salt 2 (4-way clip, bi-directional texturing, thicker scales, etc.). I’d also love to see some jimping added to the thumb ramp to improve the grip for wet hands.

Takuan wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 15, 2020 9:52 am

I have the 2018 sprint run of the Spyderhawk Salt with the orange handle and I love it. I would really like to see a Spyderhawk 2 released at some point with the same improvements that we see in the Tasman Salt 2 (4-way clip, bi-directional texturing, thicker scales, etc.). I’d also love to see some jimping added to the thumb ramp to improve the grip for wet hands.

Absolutely this. A Spyderhawk 2 would be awesome. Especially with the Pacific Salt 2 handle and added jimping like you said. I'd honestly like to see it with a neon GITD pink scales to make it easy to see in the grass and have it glow when it starts getting dark outside.

While I like hawkbills I think any thin serrated blade will do. I have a Tenacious SE that I abuse in the yard a lot. Lots of blade and the serrations make quick work of plant material.