Fiddleback Forge Knives, Really Not As Fragile As You May Think. (Photo Hvy)

varga49 said:
Ps I was once poisoned by a woman. But that's another story!
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You will NOT get away with leaving this hanging out there, bud. I'll accept you telling it privately around a campfire someday...but no way you're getting away without spilling the beans on this one! Unless there's a possible felony charge with your name on it, or the statute of limitations hasn't expired...

For my part, I actually fought this woman once. She was going out on a blind date she felt was questionable, and came to me for a few pointers on how to handle herself if the guy turned out to be a nut job. We played out a few scenarios standing and on the ground, and before we were done both of us were bruised, scraped up, and pretty bloody. Things got a bit interesting...we essentially beat the crap out of each other, but nobody was going to choke her out after that afternoon! We still laugh about it - she showed up at the date and there was no freakin' way the guy was going to mess with her when she told him she gave just as well as she got getting busted up like that! Of course she omitted the reason why...she just told him she'd been in a pick-up fight. She still jokingly blames me for that turning into a very short date. Hence my suspicion she's poisoning me...

Did I just break the first rule of Fight Club?
 
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Luca917 said:
You will NOT get away with leaving this hanging out there, bud. I'll accept you telling it privately around a campfire someday...but no way you're getting away without spilling the beans on this one! Unless there's a possible felony charge with your name on it, or the statute of limitations hasn't expired...

For my part, I actually fought this woman once. She was going out on a blind date she felt was questionable, and came to me for a few pointers on how to handle herself if the guy turned out to be a nut job. We played out a few scenarios standing and on the ground, and before we were done both of us were bruised, scraped up, and pretty bloody. Things got a bit interesting...we essentially beat the crap out of each other, but nobody was going to choke her out after that afternoon! We still laugh about it - she showed up at the date and there was no freakin' way the guy was going to mess with her when she told him she gave just as well as she got getting busted up like that! Of course she omitted the reason why...she just told him she'd been in a pick-up fight. She still jokingly blames me for that turning into a very short date. Hence my suspicion she's poisoning me...

Did I just break the first rule of Fight Club?
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LOL You got me on that one! Well no sir, no felony charges.... on me at least, but the FBI was looking for this crazy woman...It would best told around a camp fire and not so privately anymore [which definitely ups the ante on me coming to Track Rock or some other outdoor gathering of the FF folks]...It's a tale, albeit a misbegotten one, of the early days of internet romance and the dangers that did lay therein!
 
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mistwalker said:
pertinux said:
Could you please explain more about your preference for thicker stock? Is this specific to certain patterns, such as the Kephart mentioned here, or a more universal default for you?

Thanks!
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More about me personally and some of my past experiences in life than anything else...but also because I prefer 5/32 on the knives I use in the field for my experiments and teaching wilderness skills due to the repeated abuses of experimentation and instruction versus the occasional abuses of personal use. I'm fine with 1/8 and 3/32 in the kitchen and on day hikes, but since I am more comfortable with 5/32 with a high grind in the kitchen than I am with 3/32 and the idea of extended woods stay or extensive experiments, I tend to go for the 5/32 when the opportunities arise. Both of my Handymen are 3/32 as is my one Raptor, My Bushboot is tapered 1/8, and I am fine with all of those. But my Gaucho, Lonestar, Bushfinger, and Big Sneaky are all tapered 5/32. My Recluse that catches the most abuse is tapered 3/16. When I finally land a Protagonist it will be tapered 5/32 at minimum, and hopefully tapered 3/16 like the first ones.
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(Belated) thanks for your response.

First, I'll say again that I'd love opportunities to increase my knowledge and skills with my knives. Let me know if you ever venture into the MidAtlantic states with a notion to teach "You and Your Backyard." :)

Second, thanks to Warrior108's generosity and trust, I'm currently evaluating a number of knives previously unfamiliar to me, an incredible opportunity to compare and learn. A surprise revelation: I love the weight of tapered 5/32" vs. a 1/8" SFT in the same model/pattern.

So, I'm starting to 'get it.' :cool: I mean, I may decide that 5/32" is still thicker than I'd prefer overall (and am wondering if 1/8" TT might be a sweet spot for me), but I'm very taken by the balance of the 5/32" TT knives I'm currently handling.

~ P.
 
No problem, glad to answer any questions as I know I am not the norm, and likely far from it. Normal is one thing I do not believe anyone has ever called me :) I just figure my thoughts may help others find some contexts. I should have also mentioned the balance and I am glad you brought that up. For long term knife uses in repeated experimentation or demonstrations, balance (as long as the grind is sufficient to do the job and with my Fiddlebacks they always have been) balance and weight distribution weigh in a good bit more heavily for me than pure slicing ability, and so far the 5/32 and 3/16 tapered have had the best balances for me personally on the models I have liked most. A 1/6 thick paring knife has excellent slicing ability, I know this from my love of cooking and decades of doing into over a stove and over a fire, in a fireplace, over kerosene heaters, and over cans of sterno. I grew up the son of a Marine who loved to cook. Having grown up being taught how to live off of whatever land we were currently living on by him, and having been both inspired to and taught how to cook by him, my role in my life on the streets was to see that others out there did not go hungry. For nearly five years I went where soup kitchens could not. But I also learned there, that for my over all uses, I error-ed to the side of thicker blades. My knives have always had to do so much more than food prep. These days I have a luxury I did not have back then. I have a safe home to store my tools and things in, and I don't have to carry everything I own on me to keep it safe. So specialized tools are more of an option for me. These days I do tend to go with a trio of cutting tools, in three different masses. Back then I had no choice but to error on the side of durability. I have prepared a LOT of pretty complex meals with a pilot survival knife. Andy says I am one of the few he has ever seen do gourmet meals in the woods over a fire. That goes back 36 years to when my mother was murdered and I found myself alone on the streets at age fifteen refusing to trust the system enough to become a part of it. The man who had just murdered my mother and caused me to take his life was my stepfather. The person I had gone fishing with, and camping with, had worked on cars with, and had sat across the dinner table from off and on for seven years. I was unable to trust strangers while I was a sleep anymore. I had to sleep alone in a place I could defend. So on one hand it is a case of it being a trauma bond with heavy-duty knives. I actually have an extensive collection of pilot survival knives, and several others I have had made for me to my specs. One of my favorites is by Paul Brach, whom I am thankful that Andy introduced me to. So old habits die hard. Later on, as I started teaching people how to fend for themselves in the woods I learned that heavier-duty knives survived the abuses better. Thus, to this day if I am down to one knife, it has to be a substantial blade. Now... I agree with Andy, and it's from long term personal experiences, there is no real workable one knife option and be able to achieve anything remotely resembling cutting efficiency. But because for several of my most formative years there were so many times that my world changed so drastically (usually violently or with some sense of urgency) from the moment I fell asleep till the next time I woke up, I lack the capacity to believe that won't ever happen again, and I always approach it from a position that I may very easily find myself back to having only one knife. I know from personal experience that if that does indeed happen, I will need that knife to error on the side of durability.
 
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