schmittie
Gold Member
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2009
- Messages
- 2,963
Deer season for me is just around the corner. My time is very limited and a friend invites me down for the late season to hunt the "best" three counties in the state. I can't wait. I could care less about trophies, you can't eat the antlers IMO. Filling the freezer is my goal. All my gear has been checked over and ready. But what to do with my FB had me stumped. I had been back and forth on whether or not to send in my FB Hunter. From last season alone, the wear and tear, washing in the creek, etc, had removed Andy's stamp and that honestly irritated me a bit. Also, this is my first convex knife and I have learned that there is a little more of a learning curve than I thought when it comes to resharpening it. I believe I have inadvertently ground off some of the secondary bevel when I tried to resharpen it. Its not that big of a deal, but the edge (when I finished with it) was probably a little too "thick" from my lack of experience. Don't get me wrong. It still field dressed and butchered like a knife should, but not what it would have had it been in the hands of an experienced sharpener. Here's the knife I'm talking about:
So I finally bit the bullet and asked Andy if I could send it in. Mainly for a restamping (I don't know why that is so important to me) and maybe if he could give the edge a little attention. It wasn't ruined, but could use a helping hand. Gracious and patient as always, Andy took a minute out of his afternoon, and after he got his mask off, he chatted with me for a few and said he would take care of it. What a guy!
Well, the doorbell just rang, and look at what the mailman had. A new an improved Hunter!!
Holy cow!!! I was hoping to see a little sharpening, but not a new grind!! I have to admit, I am full of mixed emotions. The "shallow, appearance" side of me is saying, "what happened to the saber grind? It looked so cool."
But then again the "function" side of me is saying, "THIS THING CUTS LIKE A LASER!!!!!"
Fuzzie any one?
I think it's safe to say, this is NOT the same knife it used to be!! I am really impressed. The "function" side of me already sliced up the "shallow" side so there are no complaints here. Andy, I can't say thanks enough!!
So many of us go on and on about Andy's handle contours. Don't get me wrong, that's what put him on the map! It's what drew me and probably you to Fiddleback Forge. But I really think we very, very often overlook his talent with steel. Do you guys realize what a task this was to reprofile the grind on steel that is already HT'd?? This was no butter soft annealed metal to just grind away on without much thought. The care that MUST have gone into keeping the edge from getting too hot......well, I can't wrap my mind around how long this must have taken. I am really impressed. And I'm excited. Even more so, lookout deer. Here I.....here WE come!
So I finally bit the bullet and asked Andy if I could send it in. Mainly for a restamping (I don't know why that is so important to me) and maybe if he could give the edge a little attention. It wasn't ruined, but could use a helping hand. Gracious and patient as always, Andy took a minute out of his afternoon, and after he got his mask off, he chatted with me for a few and said he would take care of it. What a guy!
Well, the doorbell just rang, and look at what the mailman had. A new an improved Hunter!!
Holy cow!!! I was hoping to see a little sharpening, but not a new grind!! I have to admit, I am full of mixed emotions. The "shallow, appearance" side of me is saying, "what happened to the saber grind? It looked so cool."
But then again the "function" side of me is saying, "THIS THING CUTS LIKE A LASER!!!!!"
Fuzzie any one?
I think it's safe to say, this is NOT the same knife it used to be!! I am really impressed. The "function" side of me already sliced up the "shallow" side so there are no complaints here. Andy, I can't say thanks enough!!
So many of us go on and on about Andy's handle contours. Don't get me wrong, that's what put him on the map! It's what drew me and probably you to Fiddleback Forge. But I really think we very, very often overlook his talent with steel. Do you guys realize what a task this was to reprofile the grind on steel that is already HT'd?? This was no butter soft annealed metal to just grind away on without much thought. The care that MUST have gone into keeping the edge from getting too hot......well, I can't wrap my mind around how long this must have taken. I am really impressed. And I'm excited. Even more so, lookout deer. Here I.....here WE come!
