The "Cobra" as designed by the late great W.E. Fairbairn was a hawkbill like fixed blade design which Fairbairn developed a fighting system around. There's a web site address about this with photo of the prototype knife (never produced, as I understand it) on the Forum. Clearly Fairbairn knew something way back when about the effectiveness of the downward curved sharpened edge!
When Spyderco came out with the Civilian, Ernie Franco (one of FK's original staff members and a valued advisor to Spyderco as well as other quality specialty companies) told me after he'd seen the prototype that the knife was meant for one thing...offensive knife work.
Ernie was right. FK addressed the Civilian early on and I was happy to see it featured as the cover for my video program on bladework, and to include some of the first information on application(s) for the Civilian in both Battle Blades and the video noted.
I've seen a number of similar thought processes since but believe the Civilian is still the King of the Highway.
The Spyderco Harpy is light, small, and deceptively wicked in trained hands. And it's a lot less expensive than the Civilian. It is a great seatbelt cutter, or static line, or anything else of similar nature. A practical and effective design.
The Matriarch is really a nice blend of the Civilian and Harpy. Smart design. Decent price. Very durable and efficient in trained hands. A good choice.
The Parrot's Beak from Alan Elishewitz and myself was our best shot at a military grade hawkbill. Good SD features and good utility attributes. Rugged knife, liner locking system. The reverse load was a purely military model for sentry removal and close in fighting. I still hear good things about the PBs that folks got while Alan was making them.
Emerson hawkbill designs are way functional, too. Ernie was experimenting with this thought process early on in the trend, and in fact started the trend along with Spyderco where a tactical grade hawkbill was concerned.
I need to check out a SeaHawk from Columbia River Knife and Tool. Anyone got a photo they can post of this model?
Tactical hawkbills are inclined toward hooking, tearing, cutting, piercing, lifting and manipulating the opponent, and scaling. In trained hands a tac-hawk is a fearsome SD knife regardless of blade length. FK, according to Alan E., really opened the doors on tac-hawk designs and applications. But we had great insight from the pros in the field and good instructors willing to experiment and discuss. James Keating was one of the first such knife instructors to really explore the hawkbill (via the Civilian) up front and personal.
If I were to recommend a tandem set it would have to be a Harpy (for primarily utility type applications) and the Matriarch (for SD, both offensive and defensive applications). Roughly $100 to $125 for both with careful shopping, high quality construction and materials, superb design(s), easily replaceable, and easily carried in variety of places (clip carry / lightweight).
