No G10 hawkbill? No problem!

Discuss Spyderco's byrd knives.
agony
Member
Posts: 108
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 6:53 am
Location: WV

No G10 hawkbill? No problem!

#1

Post by agony »

My favourite Byrds are the disco'd Crossbill with the G10, and the smaller FRN hawkbill.
However, as far as I know there was never a G10 hawkbill.
I love hawkbills.
I love G10.
So I did a blade swap between a Meadowlark 2 G10 and the FRN Hawbill.
Here are the two knives before they gave their innocent lives for my own selfish pleasure:
Image
Image
Last edited by agony on Mon Dec 17, 2018 10:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
agony
Member
Posts: 108
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 6:53 am
Location: WV

Re: No G10 hawbill? No problem!

#2

Post by agony »

Then I started to take them apart.
These knives were pretty nasty on the inside...lots of grime and oil and dirt.
Cleaned every little nook and cranny, then started playing with the parts to see if a blade swap would work.
Here's the G10 meadowlark after cleaning and starting to put together again:
Image

And here's the FRN Hawkbill before cleaning:
Image
Last edited by agony on Mon Dec 17, 2018 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
agony
Member
Posts: 108
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 6:53 am
Location: WV

Re: No G10 hawbill? No problem!

#3

Post by agony »

The biggest problem I had was the clip screws on the G10 Meadowlark2.
They were definitely loctited in place. Had to use a soldering iron to heat up the screws. Two of the three came out unscathed, but one had to removed with a vise grip rendering it unusable again.
I don't know how much of the threads actually catch on the liners but it isn't much. It seems a bunch of loctite was needed to hold the screws in place more securely. Also, the screw sizes aren't standard 2-56 like most Spydercos so I don't have a spare.
Image
agony
Member
Posts: 108
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 6:53 am
Location: WV

Re: No G10 hawbill? No problem!

#4

Post by agony »

The finished product....A G10 scaled Hawbill, and a FRN Meadowlark 2 with hawbill labelled on the scales. :)
Image

The G10 hawbill works great. Good strong detent, smooth opening, and no blade wobble or lock rock.
I did swap not only the blades but also the locks.

The G10 hawkbill's backlock will need to be smoothed down a little bit, as it isn't completely flush to the liners. Not too much work, but it needs done.
I'll post more pics in a few days when I do this. I'm also going to switch out the teeny little bronze washers to larger ones. I did this already when I put the FRN meadowlark together. I also had to bend the spring steel lock spring a bit more acutely to get it to work well with the meadowlark in the hawkbill FRN scales. However it fit well and won't need any more boogering. The lock is nice and snappy and rock solid.

I'll also need to procure a screw for the clip on the FRN knife.
Image

I love the steel backspacer, just like the larger G10 Crossbills.
Image

More pics in a couple days.
User avatar
anagarika
Member
Posts: 1687
Joined: Sun Jul 15, 2012 5:59 pm

Re: No G10 hawkbill? No problem!

#5

Post by anagarika »

Thank you for sharing this. I had to use soldering iron too on my Cara Cara SS clip, but one won’t budge (I have two of them). :(
I’m still with my FRN Hawkbill and they make a good pair!
Image

I’d suggest emailing Charlynn at customer service, she may help you with the clip screw. The diameter is bigger than Endura clip screw, as it won’t pass through the holes on the Endura clip.

I still dream of Byrd without the horrible excessive white loctite. The last 6 knives I received had them. :mad:
I’m getting a Vamplier to try getting them out. It may work on exposed screw head, but not on the recessed ones like on the body of scales, without ruining the scales.
Chris :spyder:
User avatar
rwasham
Member
Posts: 133
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2011 8:48 am

Re: No G10 hawkbill? No problem!

#6

Post by rwasham »

Would love to see G10 hawkbills come back as production knives!
agony
Member
Posts: 108
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 6:53 am
Location: WV

Re: No G10 hawkbill? No problem!

#7

Post by agony »

anagarika wrote:
Tue Dec 18, 2018 1:29 am

I’d suggest emailing Charlynn at customer service, she may help you with the clip screw. The diameter is bigger than Endura clip screw, as it won’t pass through the holes on the Endura clip.

I still dream of Byrd without the horrible excessive white loctite. The last 6 knives I received had them. :mad:
I’m getting a Vamplier to try getting them out. It may work on exposed screw head, but not on the recessed ones like on the body of scales, without ruining the scales.

Thanks, I'll email Charlynn to see if I can get some new clip screws.

Never heard of a Vamplier, just checked them out. Pretty cool tool, I'll have to get one!
agony
Member
Posts: 108
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 6:53 am
Location: WV

Re: No G10 hawkbill? No problem!

#8

Post by agony »

I emailed CS, and they are sending replacement screw. I did have to send them a pic to prove that I actually owned the knife lol
User avatar
anagarika
Member
Posts: 1687
Joined: Sun Jul 15, 2012 5:59 pm

Re: No G10 hawkbill? No problem!

#9

Post by anagarika »

agony wrote:
Thu Dec 20, 2018 5:04 pm
I emailed CS, and they are sending replacement screw. I did have to send them a pic to prove that I actually owned the knife lol
Glad they do .. ! :D
Chris :spyder:
agony
Member
Posts: 108
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 6:53 am
Location: WV

Re: No G10 hawkbill? No problem!

#10

Post by agony »

I finally got around to grinding down the back lock to make it more flush with the handle. Also the distal edge where it contacts the tang of the blade was a bit sharp so it needed smoothed down as well. Here's what it looked like before:
Image
Image

And here it is afterwards. Not perfectly flush but much better. I simply ground down with my bench sander, then some finishing wih 80, 180, 400, 800, 1400 wet sandpaper.
With the blade deployed:
Image
Image

And with the blade closed. It is a little more flush when opened,but I'm done messing with it. This is good enough for me:
Image
Image

I also tried sourcing better PB washers from my stash, but I don't have anything small enough.
Either way, a great little knife and a fun/easy project.
crazywednesday
Member
Posts: 642
Joined: Tue Jun 27, 2017 8:32 am
Location: Pacific Northwest

Re: No G10 hawkbill? No problem!

#11

Post by crazywednesday »

Nice work. I would definitely buy a g10 version.
Justin
User avatar
anagarika
Member
Posts: 1687
Joined: Sun Jul 15, 2012 5:59 pm

Re: No G10 hawkbill? No problem!

#12

Post by anagarika »

anagarika wrote:
Thu Dec 20, 2018 6:46 pm
agony wrote:
Thu Dec 20, 2018 5:04 pm
I emailed CS, and they are sending replacement screw. I did have to send them a pic to prove that I actually owned the knife lol
Glad they do .. ! :D
Just to update, SFO sent me the replacement while I’m waiting for my Vamplier. Cannot get better than that!
👍🏻.
Thanks Collin!
Chris :spyder:
User avatar
Ngati Pom
Member
Posts: 341
Joined: Sun Dec 17, 2017 1:37 am
Location: Middle Earth

Re: No G10 hawkbill? No problem!

#13

Post by Ngati Pom »

Nice to see the update, thanks.
'The future is already here;it's just not evenly distributed'
William Gibson
User avatar
anagarika
Member
Posts: 1687
Joined: Sun Jul 15, 2012 5:59 pm

Re: No G10 hawkbill? No problem!

#14

Post by anagarika »

The vamplier worked great. Just grab those button head screw, grip, turn. Didn’t need to heat them. Of course there’ll be notches by the plier teeth. But it works perfectly like advertised.

Got the idea from this thread
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/ooo ... s.1535557/
Chris :spyder:
User avatar
Sonorum
Member
Posts: 451
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2016 1:05 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: No G10 hawkbill? No problem!

#15

Post by Sonorum »

Now I need to buy a g10 meadowlark and pimp my hawkbill!
/ David
User avatar
steelcity16
Member
Posts: 5351
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 11:34 am

Re: No G10 hawkbill? No problem!

#16

Post by steelcity16 »

rwasham wrote:
Tue Dec 18, 2018 12:51 pm
Would love to see G10 hawkbills come back as production knives!

+1 Need the G10 full SE Crossbill to make a return! Maybe bring it back in orange G10 as an amazing yard work knife!
:bug-white-red CRU-CARTA THE SEKI MODELS! :bug-white-red AND BRING US THE DODO-FLY! :bug-white-red
Post Reply