I'm fortunate enough to have a Terrasaur from Brian and from Andy. One of them totally sucks the other is excellent. Unfortunately I can't figure out which is which, but I'll try to compare them for you.
While I don't think there is any one "ideal" bushcrafting knife, Joezilla's Terrasaur comes as darn close as any. I've always liked a bit of a drop point and Joe's modification of the Bush Tool seemed like a natural idea to me.
I don't have a lot of field time with either of these knives, but I have used them both a bit--the Fiddleback more than the Off The Map. By the way, Andy's Fiddleback is the one with green micarta, Brian's OTM is the one with natural micarta.
Let me start with the
sheaths; sheaths are important:
The Fiddleback came in a good quality JRE sheath with a firesteel loop. I'm not a big firesteel loop guy, but sometimes that's a nice feature. I think I top coated the sheath with some Montana pine-pitch blend. Brian made his sheath from nice 7-8oz (?), wax-impregnated leather. Both sheaths fit well, Brian's is a bit snugger. I'd like both sheaths to be another 1/2" higher, but I'm paranoid about losing my knives, so you may not care.
In comparison, I like Brian's sheath better; it's a top quality sheath. I've never been a big fan of JRE sheaths. When I get my next Fiddleback Terrsaur, I'll ask Andy to send it to Tal or Noah for pants. Nevertheless, the JRE sheath is a good quality sheath. Edge goes to Brian here.
Blades:
In terms of their physical dimensions, you can see that they are very close.
Brian's blade is slightly, very slightly, shorter. His spine is straight until the mid point and then begins to drop. Andy begins his drop more gradually and about a third of the way from the ricasso. Andy also drops his point a bit more. Both knives are wicked sharp and the grind angles seem pretty darn close. I didn't have a way to accurately measure the grind angles, Brian's might be slightly more obtuse, i.e. larger. Brian's does become a little more obtuse at the tip, but the picture above is misleading--just a trick of the light. Both grinds are near perfect.
Andy's blade is slightly narrower than Brian's. Since the blade shapes are so close in profiles, I don't think there is a real difference. It may come down to subtleties of preference with regard to the depth of the point drop and blade width. And we are talking
subtleties. Edge, and it is a really slight edge, goes to Andy's blade shape. (And this is completely personal preference!)
Handles:
Here is where the knives separate out more.
Brian's handle is thinner and a wee bit narrower, conversely Andy's is a bit thicker and a bit broader (at least at the midpoint). Brian's handle is actually a bit longer, but with the exposed pommel (my request) it feels slightly shorter. Brian left his micarta a bit rougher which makes sense for wilderness use. Andy's is more highly finished and feels like it could be slick. But it is contoured micarta and I have no worries about dropping it.
One important difference is the way the handles are finished at the ricasso: Andy has a slight chamfer on his handle and Brian left his square. Here I have a real preference. The chamfer is more comfortable when using a chest-lever grip. The squared-off handle looks sharp, but it also
feels sharp. This is a somewhat subtle difference, but I've been thinking about taking the Dremmel to Brian's handle.
Even Andy's handles could use a bit more chamferring.
Brian's handle fills my hand a bit better, but even so, edge goes to Fiddleback for chamferring the blade end of the handle.
Overall impressions:
Both of these are excellent knives and you couldn't go wrong with either. I haven't been much of a scandi fan, but these knives have converted me. Brian's Terrasaur has a shorter and stouter feel. It's a bit wider, the handle feels a bit shorter, and somehow that adds up to a 'stocky' feel. The rough micarta also gives it a rugged feel. Andy's Terrasaur has a slimmer and more elegant (can I use that word in W&SS?) to it. I think the combination of a deeper, longer drop point and a slimmer, smoother handle combine for this effect.
You couldn't go wrong with either I think, and you definitely need at least one. I suspect that Brian's is a little more true to Joe's design specs and that Andy's is slightly 'interpreted'; but both are genuine, wood-chomping Terrasaurs.
i think i may have to get back on his list soon... i really like his knives a lot...
