Camp FARR 2011 - A Knifestyle Thread

RogerP

RogerP

Joined
Feb 28, 2002
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The opening of deer season down south of the border has become one of my absolute favourite times of year. It means an escape from the corporate towers of downtown Toronto to the beauitful woodlands that surround Dan Farr's forge / hunting camp. It means kicking back with some really great guys who are really into knives, guns and the great outdoors. It also means that some quality steel will get put to use - which will be shown and discussed below.

While this post will cover the weekend in general (with some fairly minor dead critter content) I would invite anyone and everyone to add their own pics of their custom knives in use - whatever the knife and whatever the application, if you've used your custom knife please share your own knifestyle pics here.

A group tradition has evolved to make the Friday before season opening a wingshooting day. A great way to shake off the rust and bag dinner at the same time.

Matt (who shot a good number of the pics below):

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Dan:

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Yours truly:

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Evryone shot well, but the real stars of the show were Penny and Duke - two really talented bird dogs that live to hunt and make us all look good.

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Jesse's a seriously senior citized and not up to tearing all over creation for hours on end, but it just wouldn't be hunt camp without her, so she gets some props too:

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With a bunch of pheasants and a chukar in the mix, dinner was covered:

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Now, each year I take a custom hunter with me to put to use. I've taken one of my own pieces, a Burt Foster damascus knife - and tried out several knives by various makers that the others have brought along.

But I have taken no end of grief from Dan for not using one of his knives from my collection (though I had used SEVERAL from his personal rotation ;) ).

Anyway, this year I decided to not only make a Farr knife my carry piece, but take the fanciest one I have. Mammoth ivory? Check. Engraving? Check. Let's get it dirty. :D

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I wasn't going to touch up the edge, either. I told Dan that if this knife wasn't super sharp and ready to rock when he sent it to me, then HE'D get no end of grief.

No worries on that account:

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Just a great little knife.

Roger
 
In addition to the Russ Andrews piece that I posted on a separate thread, I also brought along the camp knife made by friend and fellow forumite Derrick Wulf.

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The making of this knife can be seen in a series of highly entertaining videos posted here by Derrick:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...ic-forged-camp-knife-video-WIP?highlight=camp

I have to give major props to my man here, this knife performed exceptionally well.

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While the Andrews piece might be described as powerful knife that is surprisingly fast, this one is a fast knife that is surprisingly powerful. The long, dropped handle allows you to rock back and deliver a surprisingly powerful blow. The long, slender blade whips through smaller branches and snicks away twigs effortlessly.

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And while full tang choppers tend to transmit more vibration than their hidden tang counterparts, this one really didn't exhibit that trait at all. Maybe the rounded walnut scales sitting just proud of the tang had something to do with it.

Dan knows a thing or three about camp knives and took the opportunity to take some swings with this one. He came away impressed. Dan isn't someone very easily impressed. Good show Derrick.

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Roger
 
Matt takes some time away from chopping to star in an episode of "stupid things to do in the woods". Give it a shake Matt!

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When he was chopping, though, he was putting his newest knife through it's paces - one by our very own Lorien:

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I have to say that what Lorien accomplished here with minimal tools available is very impressive. The blade finish was really good, and the steel was something beastly to finish out (3V, S30V? - can't recall). Overall fit and finish was really solid as well. I didn't get to whack with it much, but hopefully Matt will share his thoughts.

While the camp doesn't lack for kitchen cutlery, I felt a nostalgic need to bring a knife from my dearly departed fellow Canadian George Tichbourne.

That Lemon Meringue pie never stood a chance!

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Speaking of food, my courageous companions put their lives on the line by putting me in charge of dinner Sat. night.

I decided I'd better keep it simple to avoid potential liability issues, so we feasted on Mexi-Canadian venison tacos:

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Finally, Dan was kind enough to take shipment on my behalf of the custom display case from JW Winchester - www.jwwinchestercases.com - for my John White Legacy bowie:

Man, what a quality piece of work! The only downside to these cases is that they can make the rest of the furniture in your house look like crap.

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Dan checking out the interior detailing:

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Dan went above and beyond (as usual) in wrestling the huhyoooge shipping crate into his Jeep along with 3 dogs and assorted hunting gear. Many thanks again Dan.

He also took delivery of a package for me from one Michael Ruth Jr. - but that one will have to await my attempts to take some pics. :eek:

Great weekend.

Thanks for reading and feel free to add your own knifestyle pics!

Roger
 
Now THAT"S roughin' it...! :-)

Looks like you guys had a great weekend.....A good hunt, good friends, good weather

how much better doed it get...?!
 
Good for you, Roger! It doesn't take too long to shed the cobwebs of Corporate, huh? Carne Guisada tacos.....yum! Some frijoles refritos would have gone good with that too. Looks like you had a great time and I'm envious.

By the way what's the O/U smoke pole over your shoulder?

Paul
 
great thread! Wish I was there!
 
I'm jealous! Looks like you guys had another great weekend. Seriously what better way to enjoy the outdoors but with some good friends, sharp knives, and tasty eats!
 
Thanks for posting Roger... great to see you in full force head on action!!! ;)
 
Another year in which you guys have all the fun!

BTW, Roger, that case looks fantastic.

John
 
Great opening weekend. Wulf, your knife cut awesome. You hit the balance and edge geometry that made it fun to chop. I have to admit, I was just chopping because it felt so good. Really good cutter!
 
Thanks for sharing! Great pics. I've been known to devour a few chukars myself, but the pheasants are my favorite.
Glad you guys had a great weekend!
 
Dan prepped those birds up in his super secret method, and holy cow did they go down fast!!!! Roger's tacos were no slouch, either... I kind of remember eating one or two.

Camp Farr is a blast. Pheasant, chukars, dogs, poison ivy, deer, waterfalls, snow one day and 65 degrees the next - mass hysteria. I'm pretty certain I ate well in excess of twenty-five thousand calories in three days (I wish I was joking here). No deer taken there this year - yet - but lots of good times and bad jokes.

The chopper testing was a lot of fun. All three knives approached the task with entirely different philosophies, and each one had it's strong suit. Once you figured out what each one asked of you, it was easy to get it to really sing. The Andrews piece is weighty, but was balanced such that it breezed through it's arc and bit deeply into the downed oak we worked over. It seemed to love the tough stuff!
Lorien's chopper has lots of forward mass and a full convex, and just ate the medium-sized stuff like buttah, while not giving up any horsepower on the heartwood of the oak. Lot of fun to beat the heck out of!
Wulfie's knife was very different, and I really loved using it. The heft and balance was all speed, and it snapped hard and thoroughly into everything. It handled wild grapevine effortlessly, and seemed to be alive in the hand. All three of them had exceptionally well thought out and executed sheaths, too.

I love this shot of Rog in the long grass:

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Good times. Many thanks to Dan for letting us invade his space!!!!
 
a little agog, (in a good way!) at seeing that knife in this thread, to be straight up.
 
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Lorien, nice knife. I whacked everything in sight with it. Cool design, and great craftsmanship.
Dan
 
well it looks like you all had a very good time I have not been bird hunting since I was a young man but I would have driven all the way there just for the tacos and knife talk.
 
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