Comprehensivist
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2008
- Messages
- 3,187
I have been a big fan of Fiddleback Forge knives for about 3-1/2 years now. Over that span of time I have bought, sold, and traded quite a few of them. Its fair to say that the Fiddleback Friday sales thread at 3:00PM eastern has become a regularly scheduled part of my week.
My goal has always been to determine which ones are my favorite users and pass on the others. Along the way to that goal, I have written a number of reviews and observational posts about various models over on the Fiddleback sub-forum. My typical review style is to provide objective data, lots of comparison photos with other knives, make observations, and finally offer an opinion about the features I like or dont like about the knife. That formula has worked well for me, but my reviews are typical typically very long (maybe too long.
)
At the Blade Show earlier this year, I had several conversations with knife maker Andy Roy about various Fiddleback Forge models. At one point, he asked me if I would be willing to write a short review of one of his knives for a magazine called A Sharper Life. The ground rules were that I could pick any model I wanted to write about, but the review had to be only five hundred words and five photos. I said OK and got going on the project when I got back home.
I chose to write about the Fiddleback Custom Shop Duke that was a more recent acquisition at the time. This is one of the models in Andys mid-tech production line of S35VN blades. The basic model comes with contoured and textured black or natural micarta. My knife has Desert Ironwood handles which it what makes it a Custom Shop version.
The first thing I discovered writing the review was that hitting the five-hundred word count was more difficult than I thought. I think my original draft was closer to a thousand. Editing it down took a lot of time and effort to condense my thoughts, but it was a good exercise for me in the end. This experience gave me a new appreciation for Mark Twains quote, I would have written less, but I didnt have the time.
My review did finally get published in the October issue of A Sharper Life on pages 4 & 5. I figured that knife fans here might enjoy reading too, so here is a link:
https://www.flipsnack.com/AD8589EC5A8/a-sharper-life-102016.html
Ill add another post with the full size draft that may be easier to read here.
I want to close by saying that I wholeheartedly recommend the mid-tech Duke to anyone looking for a versatile 5 fixed blade knife. The Custom Shop versions pop-up periodically on Fiddleback Fridays and with their select dealer network.
Phil
My goal has always been to determine which ones are my favorite users and pass on the others. Along the way to that goal, I have written a number of reviews and observational posts about various models over on the Fiddleback sub-forum. My typical review style is to provide objective data, lots of comparison photos with other knives, make observations, and finally offer an opinion about the features I like or dont like about the knife. That formula has worked well for me, but my reviews are typical typically very long (maybe too long.
)At the Blade Show earlier this year, I had several conversations with knife maker Andy Roy about various Fiddleback Forge models. At one point, he asked me if I would be willing to write a short review of one of his knives for a magazine called A Sharper Life. The ground rules were that I could pick any model I wanted to write about, but the review had to be only five hundred words and five photos. I said OK and got going on the project when I got back home.
I chose to write about the Fiddleback Custom Shop Duke that was a more recent acquisition at the time. This is one of the models in Andys mid-tech production line of S35VN blades. The basic model comes with contoured and textured black or natural micarta. My knife has Desert Ironwood handles which it what makes it a Custom Shop version.
The first thing I discovered writing the review was that hitting the five-hundred word count was more difficult than I thought. I think my original draft was closer to a thousand. Editing it down took a lot of time and effort to condense my thoughts, but it was a good exercise for me in the end. This experience gave me a new appreciation for Mark Twains quote, I would have written less, but I didnt have the time.
My review did finally get published in the October issue of A Sharper Life on pages 4 & 5. I figured that knife fans here might enjoy reading too, so here is a link:
https://www.flipsnack.com/AD8589EC5A8/a-sharper-life-102016.html
Ill add another post with the full size draft that may be easier to read here.
I want to close by saying that I wholeheartedly recommend the mid-tech Duke to anyone looking for a versatile 5 fixed blade knife. The Custom Shop versions pop-up periodically on Fiddleback Fridays and with their select dealer network.
Phil
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