Spyderco Forums

As most of you all who know me you also know that I'm a fan of Spyderco's Hawkbill blades. My very first one was one of the older MERLIN model ( late 90s) and I've been hooked on them ever since. The Spyderhawk has been in my top 20 knives of all time ever since I owned my first one in 2003.

Yesterday I was working in our neighborhood "community garden" and I was doing some pruning and weeding and other jobs in the garden using my H-1 Salt Series Spyderhawk as I have done on several occasions over the years. While I was working with the Spyderhawk there were some bigger jobs that I encountered where I was saying to myself "Wouldn't A Bigger Hawkbill Even Be Better Yet For Serious Gardening Chores?".

I really got to thinking about that so I was kind of wondering what you all might think of it. It goes without saying that several of you guys have discovered in recent times that bigger Hawkbill blades like the Spyderhawk make excellent gardening tools. I was thinking of a Hawkbill blade somewhere in the range of being maybe 1 & 1/2 times bigger than our current Spyderhawk blade. I'm really anxious to hear some input on this one. And please give us some reasons why.

I'd like a big ole hawkbill. Because why not?

Its called a sickle.

I don't know about bigger, but I would like to see a purpose built, or rather unique hawkbill design that uses it's own handle design instead of the Endura handle, that is designed to better enclose a hawkbill blade shape and squeeze in more blade and edge length into a similar length handle. Getting more edge into a handle that's also more compact when closed would make EDC'ing a hawkbill much easier.

https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/detail ... -Blade/279

And you're welcome!

VooDooChild wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 19, 2021 1:59 pm

Its called a sickle.

That is what I want, something like a half-sized sickle, but with a serrated edge and in a good steel. A kama-style blade is also okay. :cool:

Evil D wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 19, 2021 3:23 pm

I don't know about bigger, but I would like to see a purpose built, or rather unique hawkbill design that uses it's own handle design instead of the Endura handle, that is designed to better enclose a hawkbill blade shape and squeeze in more blade and edge length into a similar length handle. Getting more edge into a handle that's also more compact when closed would make EDC'ing a hawkbill much easier.

This.

I'd like to see a slight recurve. Like a Spyderhawk spliced onto the recurve of a Matriarch. A stockie 5" Matriarch.

I think the SuperHawk is about perfect size wise, perhaps go 1 additional inch in blade length....

Evil D wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 19, 2021 3:23 pm

I don't know about bigger, but I would like to see a purpose built, or rather unique hawkbill design that uses it's own handle design instead of the Endura handle, that is designed to better enclose a hawkbill blade shape and squeeze in more blade and edge length into a similar length handle. Getting more edge into a handle that's also more compact when closed would make EDC'ing a hawkbill much easier.

I like your input on the "handle" aspect of a new Hawkbill. I've been saying for at least 5 years now that it's just flat out time for a premium Hawkbill of some sort with a G-10 handle.

If they did come up with a bigger Hawkbill I would think that a G-10 handle would almost be necessary>> either G-10 or Micarta>> but the expense of the Micarta would probably make it cost prohibitive unfortunately.

I'm just thinking how good of a gardening tool that the SPYDERHAWK has been for me. I just know that a bigger Hawkbill would even be better yet.

JMM wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 20, 2021 2:21 am

I think the SuperHawk is about perfect size wise, perhaps go 1 additional inch in blade length....

Had they ever would have made the SUPERHAWK available in a Spyderedged blade I truly believe it would still be in the main line up. Only having it available in PE killed it from the start in my humble opinion. Truly Hawkbill blades and serrations go together so well that I would never even consider a Hawkbill model that wasn't available in Spyderedge.

The SUPERHAWK model in a larger scale with TEETH might be very interesting to consider.

I want to see 5-6 inch bladed hawkbill.

A 6 to 8 inch fixed blade would be pretty hard to pass up just for the fun of it.

jdw wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 21, 2021 5:47 pm

A 6 to 8 inch fixed blade would be pretty hard to pass up just for the fun of it.

I have been calling out for a "Fixed Blade Hawkbill" for at least 8 years now and at some point I'm going to raise the issue again down the road. Especially with all the guys who have discovered that bigger Hawkbill blades make excellent gardening tools it just stands to reason that a really rigid, stout, fixed blade Hawkbill would be great for vine control, pruning, grafting ect.

I've said so many times that if Spyderco would connect with a well known gardening catalog retailer like A.M. Leonard they would sell so many big Hawkbill blades that they would have trouble keeping them in stock. And again a really well made fixed blade Hawkbill would sure being in my box full of gardening tools.

JD Spydo wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 20, 2021 5:31 pm

I like your input on the "handle" aspect of a new Hawkbill. I've been saying for at last 5 years now that it's just flat out time for a premium Hawkbill of some sort with a G-10 handle.

If they did come up with a bigger Hawkbill I would think that a G-10 handle would almost be necessary>> either G-10 or Micarta>> but the expense of the Micarta would probably make it cost prohibitive unfortunately.

I'm just thinking how good of a gardening tool that the SPYDERHAWK has been for me. I just know that a bigger Hawkbill would even be better yet.

I'd prefer a folder so I could legally carry it, but this.

I'd take larger, but I'd settle for the original Spyderhawk for work on the farm. I'm kicking myself for not jumping on a sub-$200 Spyderhawk over the winter. There's nothing comparable to that currently on the market. So for now I use the Byrd Hawkbill and the Byrd Cara Cara Rescue. The safety tip on the Rescue is actually very nice for harvesting. Putting a safety tip on an extra-large Hawkbill wouldn't be a bad idea (although I imagine that would be polarizing among hawkbill buyers).

Kale wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 23, 2021 1:55 pm

I'd take larger, but I'd settle for the original Spyderhawk for work on the farm. I'm kicking myself for not jumping on a sub-$200 Spyderhawk over the winter. There's nothing comparable to that currently on the market. So for now I use the Byrd Hawkbill and the Byrd Cara Cara Rescue. The safety tip on the Rescue is actually very nice for harvesting. Putting a safety tip on an extra-large Hawkbill wouldn't be a bad idea (although I imagine that would be polarizing among hawkbill buyers).

I could settle for a beefed up version of the Spyderhawk myself. That is if we can't convince Spyderco to take a look at the possibility of a bigger model being profitable for them. A lot can be accomplished with a fully Spyderedged Hawkbill>> especially one the size of the Spyderhawk.

But I still say that a larger bladed unit and even a larger fixed blade would have some advantages. For doing gardening and other labor intensive chores I also believe that at least a really nice G-10 or Titanium handle would make for a more serious tool IMO.

Kale wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 23, 2021 1:55 pm

I'd take larger, but I'd settle for the original Spyderhawk for work on the farm. I'm kicking myself for not jumping on a sub-$200 Spyderhawk over the winter. There's nothing comparable to that currently on the market. So for now I use the Byrd Hawkbill and the Byrd Cara Cara Rescue. The safety tip on the Rescue is actually very nice for harvesting. Putting a safety tip on an extra-large Hawkbill wouldn't be a bad idea (although I imagine that would be polarizing among hawkbill buyers).

Great idea!

I see what you guys are saying and maybe for an emergency type blade for an EMT or first responder that would be great. However for chores I use Hawkbill blades for I find that the extremely sharp pointed end of a Hawkbill blade has a lot of advantages to it.

As an example the blunted end on the Spyderco ASSIST model does have some safety features to it for sure and you could implement something like that on a Hawkbill blade. Probably about 60% of the time that I use a Hawkbill blade I use the sharp point of a Hawkbill blade to either start the job or to open a package with.