Used my Tasman SE today for some yardwork. Started off with trimming up a hedge that I'd let overgrow since last fall. Some of the branches had gotten rather thick and the trimmer would've had problems with them. The serrated edge chewed through the heavier branches without any problems. I was very impressed with how effective it was, so much so that I continued to use it for the entire bush instead of transitioning to the trimmer. The tasman cut through everything I threw at it and actually smiled back(it's true, I saw it
).
I then had to take out two large arborvitaes, which were about 15 ft. tall. I didn't use the tasman to cut them down (although that would've been really something. They were about 4-6 inches in diameter), but I did use it for limbing the lower area so that I could get the saw to the trunk. It was still gunked up from previous use, but this did not stop the tasman from performing. Once the two arborvitaes were down, the tasman was used to continue limbing the trunk so that it can be dried out for carving.
Once I was done, a simple run under some water with a light scrubbing and it was clean. The edge was still sharp and a couple of light passes on a stone brought it back to shaving hair.
All in all, I'm very impressed with the overall quality and performance of the tasman. I have several salt models(Tasman PE & SE, Pacific Salt PE & SE, Salt PE & SE, Rescue Salt SE, Dragonfly SE & PE, Ladybug Salt HB SE & the PE and SE USN versions, and Ark PE....what can I say? I have a problem!), but this is the first time that I have really put one of the H1 models to real world use. I've used some of the PE models for light utility/ food prep work, and they did the job. But the serrated hawkbill of the tasman raised it to another level.
If anybody is on the fence about H1, hawbills, or Salt models, please take my advice.
Get one, put it through its paces, and see for yourself.
John
Now I just need to get out and wet a line, use my Salts, and bring back some stories like 'gringos.