Fiddleback Bushcrafter Passaround

i got it today, and the review should be up on saturday, then i'll get it out monday (hopfully) so we can keep things going at a lively pace. Impressions are great so far, great work andy :thumbup:
 
TF, i plan on doing a review of just the sheath, would you rather me put it in this thread or in a new one?

Okay, here we go.

First off, thank you Andy for letting me participate, I have really enjoyed this oppertunity. Secondly, amazing work on the knife; fit and finish are superb and the knife is a fantastic performer.

Initial impressions included:
-Wow, this is one pretty knife.
-This handle is really comfortable.
-The logo is very clear and easy to see, even in some of my mediocre photos.
-That lanyard hole is nifty.
-The knife feels really tough.
-This knife could be a little sharper.

The handle really fits my hand well (i guess my hands are different than TF's in that i didnt see the need for any change in the handle whatsoever). The detail on the handle is really nice; on most knives, it is good to see a liner or somthing between the blade and scales, but andy took that a step further. he has red liners, then a light wood, then a rich dark wood. the contrast between the materials really makes the handle pop ( not a verb i use often, but this handle couldnt be descibed any other way). The logo is really well done, you dont have to have the knife in just the right light to see it, and it shows up with extreme clarity. I know this is a really minor detail, but it is somthing that i really like. The lanyard tube is pretty cool to, i like that it adds yet another color to the handle, making it look even better. The stock is some pretty thick stuff ( i am not sure of the exact thickness) and feels like it could take a real beating. The primary negative i found was that it wasnt as sharp as i would like. dont get me wrong, it was definatly usable and sharper than your average knife, but i thought it could have been a tad sharper. this, however, is a minor geometry probablem and could be easily fixed without removing much material. If this were my knife, i would have done this upon receival, and it would have probably only taken a few minutes, so no big deal there. I'll discuss the other negetive a little later, because it will require a photo to fully explain (it is incredebly minor). Its been riding on my belt since i got it on thursday (except at school, for obvious reasons) and i couldnt be much happier with its performance. Today i got to play with it outside for a while, and through extended use, I really like this knife.


okay, now for what you really care about, the pics :D. I am going to start with some glamour shots, then i'll move on to the usage.

my favorite photo:
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now, onto some usage pics.

Fuzz sticks were and enjoyable task with this knife. I couldn't seem to stop making them:
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then i went on to some fire-prep type of tasks.

some light splitting:

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more on the way!
 
Barber,

Put my review in a new thread if you would. Sorry for being a pain.

Also - I agree on the geometry issue. Before I shipped it - it would shave hair - so the EDGE is sharp - it is just a slightly steep edge geometry which makes it feel duller than the edge is.

I thought the photo's were just fine. I am glad to hear that it may just be my odd hands that felt the handle was weird.

Thanks,

TF
 
After splitting some wood sown into smaller kindling, i cross-grain batoned some other branches. although i am sure this knife could take on some much bigger stuff, i stuck with the small branches since this is not my knife.

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then i fluffed up some pecan bark to get the fire started:

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fire starting implements (about this time, it started to drizzel):
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The Fiddleback had a very square spine, and i am sure it could have sparked the firesteel well, but, again, it isnt my knife so i didnt want to risk denting the spine or anything)


the fire getting started:
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and then after it got a little farther along:
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a trap i made:
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some drilling I had to do this on the porch, since it started to rain a little harder):

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for size compairoson.
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and a handle pic, you can see the tapering tang in this photo:
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and an in hand shot:
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ill get the sheath review up shortly ( i require a typing break). and i have one more pic to put up to show the second minor issue.

I hope you all enjoyed the review, and Andy, i hope i provided some useful information.

~Brendan
 
here is the second issue. this is incredibly minor, but i was really hard pressed to find any other negetives, so i figured i would include it. it is visible in this pic:
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I dont really care for the little exposed part of the tang at the gaurd area. It poked my hand in a few postions, so if i were to order one, i would have this area either removed or covered with handle. But, again, this is minor. i could use this knife for the rest of my life and this probably wouldn't hamper the knife's function at all, it is just a comfort thing.

oh, and here is one more pic that i couldnt fit into either other post:
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Leather review in progress, should be up shortly.
 
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Normally, i dont pay to much attention to the sheaths on passaround knives, but the extreme quality of this sheath warrants a review all its own. That, and the fact that no one has really reviewed TF's leather yet are the primary reasons for this seperate reveiw.

The sheath:

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TF's leatherwork is quite a surprise to most people. He started working leather maybe a month ago, and it is already better than my sorry attempts at leathercraft, which i have been doing for a while. So, TF has obviously got a nack for this leather working stuff.

The sheath has a very solid tight fit. once the knife is in there, i dont think the knife will slip out. The Way he treated the leather makes the knife click in, very much like kydex.
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He had also encorperates a couple of different carry options: a drop loop, and the more traditional belt carry. I used the drop loop the whole time because that is just my preference, but i am sure that the other method is equally comforable. To swich between carry options, all you have to do is undo the chicago screw on the back; a simple and functional design.
One of my peices of advice would be to make the belt loop on the back a little wider. I tested my 2 belts and neither would fit. But i wear wide western type belts, so that isnt really a huge surprise.
The carry options:
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The sheath has an intigrated fire-steel loop, like alot of the modern bushcraft sheaths tend to. It sturdily holds the standard LMF army firesteel, and would probably hold other styles of similar thickness.

The sheath is very well finished and the sides are very smoothed out. Great attention to detail.
smooth edges:
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two other bits of advise; one would be to add a drainage hole. nothing major, but i would like the sheath to have one. the other thing is visible in the pic below. see how the two end stitches go on the outside of the beltloop? this is somthing that i would try to avoid. This would probably never cause any issues, but the exposed thread seems much more likely to get cut or snag on somthing. i dont know if this explaination makes any sense, but tell me if it dosent and ill try to explain better.
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Not much else to say really. The sheath is beyond fantastic, and its quality is quite comparable to the knife it houses.
 
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Great review on my sheath. Thanks SO MUCH.

The stitching going beyond the belt loop is what Al Stohlman recommends. It adds horizontal strength... but you are right it may be able to be snagged.

It is SO funny that you mention belt width. I have made almost all of my sheaths to accept 2 inch belts - but I made this one at 1 3/4 because so FEW people wear the big un's! ;) Of course, you HAVE to be a hoss and wear the western stuff! Point taken and I will change that in the future.

The drain hole is always controversial in my research. But for a bushcrafter I would agree - it is probably a must have.

I am listening with wide ears - it is great to have a review of the leather work.

TF
 
Great review on my sheath. Thanks SO MUCH.

The stitching going beyond the belt loop is what Al Stohlman recommends. It adds horizontal strength... but you are right it may be able to be snagged.

It is SO funny that you mention belt width. I have made almost all of my sheaths to accept 2 inch belts - but I made this one at 1 3/4 because so FEW people wear the big un's! ;) Of course, you HAVE to be a hoss and wear the western stuff! Point taken and I will change that in the future.

The drain hole is always controversial in my research. But for a bushcrafter I would agree - it is probably a must have.

I am listening with wide ears - it is great to have a review of the leather work.

TF

Glad i could help :) . i just had a thought on the stiching beyond the sheath: what if you cut a little groove for the outer thread, so it would be flush with the strap? that would erase any worries of snagging for me.
 
great review and pics Brenden..:thumbup: i really liked this knife... it was super comfortable...
 
Thanks for the review. That guard area is kinda variable with each knife. This one I was unlucky, and knocked off a chunk of the handle there. So the current configuration of that one is a fix...

Edited to add: I'm having Rayban send me his address now. I'll get it to you ASAP.
 
Some great pics and a great writeup Barber, lots of good information there. :thumbup:

I'll be really interested to check out this new handle version.
 
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