Collection Stats and What we look for in a knife

Warrior108

Warrior108

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Personal preferences obviously vary per person but can also change over time. It was January 2016 when I discovered Fiddlebacks, mid-March 2016 when I bought my first and although it seems like yesterday, I still feel like a newbie compared to others around here. I had not a clue of what my preferences really were but my research made me think that a Hiking Buddy or Handyman was the knife that I needed. I still remember pesting the crap out of Scotcha Scotcha @Comprehensivist @mistwalker and @VANCE with tons of questions on models, handles, blades, etc. :)

Nearly 2 years later, I've got 74 Fiddleback Family knives and have sold or traded out 81. Two of them I sold and bought back, so that makes a total of 153. Another all-time regret is a Desert Ironwood KEB that I wish I could convince prom52 prom52 to pry out of his Wife's hands and sell it back to me :D. (I'm still holding out hope and will offer a generous price - hint hint) Alas, quite a ridunkulous amount of knives .. many wives would think. Sometimes I wish I had the will power of Odaon Odaon and sometimes I'm ok with my insanity / sickness / addiction.

Anyway, after handling all of those knives I went through an initial big learning curve and then several phases of preference changes. The collection has definitely gone through a couple cycles. While I think I'm pretty honed in on my final preferences of 3/32" blade stock, mayyybe a 1/8" TT with a high grind and blade lengths in the 3" to 3 1/2" range, my preferences are still able to change going forward.


I'm not sure if its just bad timing (finding something I'd like to buy) or good timing (I save $$ and spend less) but the Fiddleback production trends changed around June/July '17 regarding blade stock thickness. Whether they're in Fiddleback Fridays or Dealers, there have been very minimal 3/32" blades being produced and it seems mostly 1/8" SFT. Absolutely gorgeous knives!! But I'm picky and to the point where I'll grumble with frustration and pass up a beautiful knife because I know that I just won't use it, given my personal needs. I'm not saying they don't pop up but they're just fewer and farther in between; like the 3/32" Osage over blue OS Karda and Esquire I landed in the past couple of months. And then there might be a 1/8" TT high grind knife that I just can't resist now and then. (and this might sound silly) But at the end of the day, that 1/8" blade will get stuck between fork tines if I hand it to a family member for them to cut up food with. If you haven't guessed, I just (unfortunately) don't have the time for bushcrafting and heavier use activities.


ANYHOOO, that thought process is how I came to be curious about the statistics of my current holdings. After putting things to numbers, I was pretty satisfactorily surprised with the outcome. Individually, if I just look at "What is the % of 3/32 blades?" or "What is the % of Tapered Tangs?" you don't get the whole picture. But looking at the mix where it is either a 3/32" SFT, 3/32" TT, 1/8" TT or 5/32" TT one can clearly see that my preference (88% of my inventory) is not a hefty blade with thicker stock or a full tang. Meanwhile, there is absolutely nothing wrong with other folks' preferences. Just consider this self analysis and sharing. :D


The reason for sharing is that this could be a fun topic for anyone to share their preferences AND it could also provide FREE Marketing Research for the Fiddleback Family Makers if any happens to present itself.

So what are my stats?
<insert drum roll>

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* Synthetic = Canvas, G10, Carbon Fiber, Pinecone, etc.

(Don't forget to share your stats and preferences)


Tag for the Fiddleback Family Makers
@Fiddleback @allen456 @Osprey Knife & Tool @Cohutta @Jarrett Fleming @Fletcher Knives @Appalachian

ps Dylan, I DO have a need for a 24/7. I just need to find time to think on the configuration. ;)
 
Jerry, this is an awesome analysis, and I too share the same preferences as you do. Even for heavier bushcraft work (which I do at least twice a week in the field), 3/32 is my preferred thickness, and a tapered tang makes it even sweeter. It's really cool that you are able to look at such an incredible sampling of knives and generate a table like this. Thank you so much for sharing!
 
Hey Jerry, agree 100%. I was talking about this with Russell the other night. The 3/32” stuff is usually the first blades that are sharked on Friday and the easiest to resale in the flea market. Also the Osage, Ironwood, Bloodwood, Blackwood, etc sell first. Micarta seems to have slowed down. I prefer un stabilized wood my self.

I have a beautiful KE Bushie in 3/32” that made me want to sell my brand new 1/8” tt Blackwood one, that just I bought a week prior from TKC. I also scored an awesome 3/32” bushfinger from Abe. These two are set in my collection of FB’s (unless a 3/32” ironwood bushfinger comes up). In the elegant styles of the 4” and under fiddlebacks, the 3/32” blade is perfect. Camp and choppers, who cares, the wood you’re beating on doesn’t.
 
varga49 said:
Did you write software for this? or did you do it Old School?
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Giant spreadsheet. Tab for current knives, tab for sold knives. Sell a knife, cut it from current and paste in sold. I just added another tab to do countif(range, value) and pulled these numbers in. Is that old school or are you talking older school? :p
 
Jerry:

You're right, that was an awesome 3/32" thick KE Bushie and a sweet deal at that !

I've got good news & bad news.....the bad news is that the KEB has taken a liking to SW Florida. The good news is that I have a 3/32" knife in bolstered Ruby Shadetree that I'd like to offer up to you at a similar sweet deal. Yes, it's from the batch that had rich coloration and no voids. Look for a PM with the details.

It's the least I can do to make good on the KE Bushie to beat all KE Bushies. No obligation, just a friendly offer.

Peter
 
WOW Jerry. That is some breakdown going on there. I would like to work on one myself (which will take some time), would you email me that spreadsheet!
 
As usual, interesting and insightful Jerry.

My preferences are heavily in favor of thin stock and smaller, lighter knives. My 3/32 OS Lady is about as big as I want. I've owned and used some larger ones, but I don't find any advantage in them over the Lady.

My daily carry knife is a Surls Patch in 1/8 which I like quite a lot, but I would be lying if I said I wouldn't prefer it in 3/32.

My exception to the 3/32 rule is when it's stainless, that stock is slightly thicker; somewhere between 1/8 and 3/32. My OKT Warthog and FB F2 are both this slightly thicker CPM and I quite like them.


Annndd... Speaking of KE Bushies, I'm just holding out hoping the make a couple in AEB-L like those Kepharts a couple weeks back. ;)
 
Choppaman said:
WOW Jerry. That is some breakdown going on there. I would like to work on one myself (which will take some time), would you email me that spreadsheet!
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Dude, you buy like 150 a month! I don't think Excel could handle that many entries. lol

I'll see what I can do. I need to remove some info (names emails addresses prices and such) to protect the guilty. ;)
 
Warrior108 said:
Dude, you buy like 150 a month! I don't think Excel could handle that many entries. lol

I'll see what I can do. I need to remove some info (names emails addresses prices and such) to protect the guilty. ;)
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You should be able just to copy over the formatting onto a new spreadsheet and share that. :thumbsup:
 
Warrior108 said:
Dude, you buy like 150 a month! I don't think Excel could handle that many entries. lol

I'll see what I can do. I need to remove some info (names emails addresses prices and such) to protect the guilty. ;)
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HA!! I better get my head checked!! LOL. It's no big deal, I can make a similar spreadsheet. No need to go through all of that. I know one thing, you have me outnumbered on the 3/32" Will be very interesting to see how the outcome is on my lineup. OR maybe frightening.
 
Choppaman said:
HA!! I better get my head checked!! LOL. It's no big deal, I can make a similar spreadsheet. No need to go through all of that. I know one thing, you have me outnumbered on the 3/32" Will be very interesting to see how the outcome is on my lineup. OR maybe frightening.
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I’m not sure you want to put that information into a format that your accountant can understand. Just keep it to “I buy a few knives on occasion”.
 
I have a 1/8" Pack Rat. SFT. Black bolster and spearmint g10. A2. I like it.

Boom - done.

For me, width does not matter so match. I am looking for pieces that speak to me or feel very good to hold. It's hard to tell from specs.

My wife has a bog oak kephart in A2. Also 1/8" sft. From blade 2016.

That's the entirety of our Fiddleback Forge collection - not that I don't want more, but these are excellent for now.
 
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My tastes have swung over the years, from unusual phenolics and funky stabilized woods back to my original preference of naturally stable hardwoods and basic micartas. Thickness wise I have no preference, each knife is taken on the combination of blade shape/height/length, grind height and intended use. Generally I prefer 1/8" for 3" blades and below - tapered tang doesn't bother me too much on smaller knives other than looking cool. 4" and above i like either 1/8" or 5/32" depending on model and grind, the tapered tang can make a difference here in handle shape and balance.
Currently my knives from the Fiddleback family would only get 3 days a year carry each if they shared duty! Unfortunately due to my work situation (lack thereof) I did not purchase any new knives in 2017 but passed a few on.
I have quite a nice excel spreadsheet with a few tabs detailing all the knives and purchase dates/sources including those sold.
 
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