Fiddleback Forge Mid-Tech Kephart. CPM S35VN Done Very Well (Photo Heavy)

[Mistwalker]

Great review, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and looking through the excellent photographs.

Beautiful curls on that featherstick, and that roast chicken is making me hungry.

Thanks man, I'm glad you enjoyed the post. Yeah, I love the taste of hen roasted over an open fire

 

[Herlock]

Very nice review :thumbup:! Truly enjoyed to read it through and wonderful pictures as usual . This is a very interesting knife, well performing and I like its design and smart solutions a lot. Fiddleback Forge products are not yet very popular around here and not very easy to source but I hope they will become more and more available (and affordable )! Thanks for posting!

 

[NoFair]

Nice review Brian:thumbup:

 

[Mistwalker]

Very nice review :thumbup:! Truly enjoyed to read it through and wonderful pictures as usual . This is a very interesting knife, well performing and I like its design and smart solutions a lot. Fiddleback Forge products are not yet very popular around here and not very easy to source but I hope they will become more and more available (and affordable )! Thanks for posting!

Thanks Herlock, I'm glad you enjoyed the post! I know it deviates from the "norm" of Kephart designs, but I like it and how it performs very much in bushcraft and in general utility in the field. Which I couldn't say for the more traditional versions. I also like this steel very much, and I like that the edge geometry is thinner than a lot of the other comparable options on the market. It's a great cutter. I just took a look at their website, and sadly no they don't have a purveyor handling their knives in Italy, but they do have one in Finland if that helps... The price their didn't seem too bad. Looks like their mark up on it would likely be less than shipping across the pond. I think the price is great for the quality of the tool. I've paid more for knives in this steel that didn't perform as well as cutters or general utility, and didn't have as good of ergonomics.

Nice review Brian:thumbup:

Thanks man, and yeah I am still envious of your hand made Fiddlebacks in CPM S35VN. I'd suggest holding on to them. Andy said straight up that the chances of him doing any more was highly unlikely.

 

[DavidCAndersen]

Brian, what model is that lunchbox with the cutting board lid? I may have to acquire one of those!

Edit: Nevermind, I found it.

Also forgot to mention, great pics and review as always!

Do you eat your smoked oysters straight, or on somthing?

 

[Mistwalker]

Brian, what model is that lunchbox with the cutting board lid? I may have to acquire one of those!

Edit: Nevermind, I found it.

Also forgot to mention, great pics and review as always!

Do you eat your smoked oysters straight, or on somthing?

Thanks David! Yeah, I have had the lunch box several months and love it. How I eat them all depends...sometimes plain straight out of the tim, other times on crackers. I like them both ways

 

[LG&M]

Very nice review. As I have said before your reviews have a way of making me look at knives I might have not gave much thought to before.
I find knives this size most useful for general use.

 

[Mistwalker]

Very nice review. As I have said before your reviews have a way of making me look at knives I might have not gave much thought to before.
I find knives this size most useful for general use.

Thank you. I try to show them in different uses and from different angles. Always hard for me to tell much about a knife in the few pics on a website.

Me too, I think it is a great size and shape for general purpose cutting.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Nice Brian, that looks even handier than the Hiking Buddy, glad to see them using the hidden lanyard hole on more knives now too.
G2

 

[Mistwalker]

Nice Brian, that looks even handier than the Hiking Buddy, glad to see them using the hidden lanyard hole on more knives now too.
G2

Thank you Gary. The Kephart is definitely my favorite of the mid-techs so far. He may have to mid-tech the new Protagonist to top it I'm glad they are too. The next batch of Bushfingers will have it too.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Thanks Brian, I ended up with one with black scales, arrived today and I concur with your findings too, a very handy knife size with excellent grip on the scales, even better grip when wet as I did take mine to the sharpening stones. It arrived fairly sharp but I typically will tune the edges of most knives I get. Blade shape and grind are great, edges as you noted are ground down thin, mine measured about .020" at the shoulder of the edge bevel making it a good slicer.

The scales have diagonal grooves milled in across which provides excellent texture while the outer edges are chamfered extremely well making it a very sure grip during use, no sense that the knife will twist or spin while you are gripping during cutting. The sheath is the leather one and holds the knife secure, I did add a short fob on there, my usual bob tail fob, two diamond knots with a celtic bead snug between them which works great for retrieving the knife from the sheath.

Great job Fiddleback Forge team!

G2

out in the wild today with some mighty big mushrooms in our yard! I think they are called Dryad’s Saddle

Kephart by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

changed photo to my Flickr one, you can now view it full sized on Flickr

 

[Mistwalker]

Thanks Gary, I thought you might like this one. I am going to pick up a couple of extra ones to have on hand for students to use in the field learning knife skills. It is one of my favorite designs out there, and done very nicely in my favorite steel.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

I do indeed Brian, waiting on mine to return from the Great State of Texas where it is getting fitted up for a kydex sheath for me, your review thread helps make the weeks go by a little easier

G2

 

[Mistwalker]

I do indeed Brian, waiting on mine to return from the Great State of Texas where it is getting fitted up for a kydex sheath for me, your review thread helps make the weeks go by a little easier

G2

Make sure you post pics of it when you get it. I'm going to have kydex made for mine too, just not sure which style yet.

 

[VANCE]

Make sure you post pics of it when you get it. I'm going to have kydex made for mine too, just not sure which style yet.

"Hale Storm" on here made me a Taco sheath at my request for my Production Duke. Rick Lowe (who is also a remember here) made my leather wrapped kydex sheath for my Production Hiking Buddy.