Fiddleback Secret Santa

[VANCE]

At the risk of having Andy post pictures of him enjoying "his gifts," I'll say that I had a very enjoyable evening tonight down in the basement rehanging my new vintage BSA Plumb hatchet. I was stunned at how thin the old handle was compared to the new one. Was wood that different back then? Anyway, I recently picked up this little Phiel Swiss draw knife at Woodcraft since it was on sale, but WOW, it's been a game changer and a tool I reach for more than I'd think. I don't know if it's "bushcraft" worthy, but it totally was a game changer for me when combined with a bench vise.

A little stain, pine tar & your intials "S.N." and you will be set.

the draw knife looks like its ready to do work!

 

[swonut]

A little stain, pine tar & your intials "S.N." and you will be set.

the draw knife looks like its ready to do work!

Yeah, I'm thinking I need to repurpose the handle with one of my Norwegian blades to capture the history.

Here's one I did a while back with a Helle Blade blank that I got from Ragweed Forge paired with a piece of an old axe handle.

The rock is my daughter's-- crafty little one she is....

 

[Mistwalker]

It was a little late arriving, but no worries there at all. The level of thoughtfulness in this group just never fails to impress, amaze, and humble me. Now I need to sort out stropping compound and get more serious with stropping

.

 

[TxSportsman]

Nathan,

thanks a ton for the Maxpedition pack and the waxed canvas fire kit pouch! Both things I will put to good use. I'll post an updated pic once I get the pack set up.

 

[Nbrackett]

Due to shipping during the holidays, customs, and coming all the way from Australia I just received my Secret Santa gift. Was it worth the wait...Heck Yeah. Considering the shipping alone was close to the recommended spending limit I think someone went a little over.

Thanks Abe! I'd bet there aren't many on here that can say they have a custom knife made in Argentina, resided in Australia and found a home in the States. Pretty cool.

 

[pertinux]

Wow, all boxes ticked(!), if by association when it came to the "Owls"-- beautiful bird feathers stood in. (Wild turkey, I believe, and _____ ?)

A sparkly-blue glitter-covered card, blue-packaged Oreos, the above-mentioned feathers, and an array of Kewl little things:

Incense, garnet mined by my Secret Santa, and a Keith Griffin/Combatbeads tag:

Oreo(s), megastuffed:

Thanks, Secret Santa!

I love the thoughtful specificity of the gifts, and am intrigued by the 'mined' descriptive of the garnet and would like to hear more.

Thanks, Secret Santa, and Justen, and everyone else who played along.

You're correct about the wild turkey feather, but I'm not sure about the other.

The garnet. Not far from me is a stable where one can rent a horse and ride the trails. The property includes an abandoned gem mine. My boys and I once spent a day riding and digging through the mine. I found that garnet just before we headed back. I have a thing for cool rocks, and I hoped you'd enjoy it!

Absolutely, and thank you again! Another look at the garnet:

Of the feather(s):

The longer narrower one on the left may be from a wild turkey, I have some of those too. The shorter wider one on the right looks like a Barred Owl feather o me.

I'll second this. I can't say what type of owl but by the size and especially the width I'd say owl for sure. If it feels softer to the touch than the turkey feather its highly likely owl.

I noticed straight off that the rounder feather felt totally different than the turkey feather (of which I've gathered several, through the years, some almost directly from the turkey , with more of a thick velvet feel to it.

That is, when I could find it. After the blur of opening and admiring the happy array of objects, I looked around and thought, "Wait, I thought there were two feathers in the box?"

And found the now-revealed-to-be OWL feather some distance away. Hunh.

Some time later, I went to gather up everything and put it in a safer location: "Where'd that other feather go, now!?"

And discovered it a room away from me, slightly disheveled.

The turkey feather evidently is not tempting, but the OWL feather has proved irresistible to us all, including a certain pair of swift black-clad thieves!

Oh now THAT would be perfect! Just perfect.

And perfect it was, all of it, but the feather is a tremendous cherry in the midst, almost more because you didn't know!

Thanks again!

~ P.

 

[Scotcha]

Due to shipping during the holidays, customs, and coming all the way from Australia I just received my Secret Santa gift. Was it worth the wait...Heck Yeah. Considering the shipping alone was close to the recommended spending limit I think someone went a little over.

Thanks Abe! I'd bet there aren't many on here that can say they have a custom knife made in Argentina, resided in Australia and found a home in the States. Pretty cool.

Nathan, you're welcome. Glad it finally got to you at least before the new year.

Hope you like it and put it to use.

BTW it's the 1st of Jan here in Australia so a very happy new year!!

 

[Southern Gent]

After being in Iowa since Christmas I've finally been able to enjoy my gift from Jarrett (Panthera tigris). For all you fantasy/sci-fi fans out there like myself you may be familiar with the incredible artwork of the husband wife duo of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell. Incredible composition and color are represented from cover to cover with 200 of their most masterful pieces hand selected for this work. No doubt I'll spend many an hour lost in the pages. I wanted to give a big thanks to everyone that participated in this past year's Secret Santa and for making it as easy as can be for coordinating everyone's efforts. Of the thousands of threads on this forum, I think this one sums up the tight knit community that has developed here over the years and shows truly what a remarkable place this little corner of the Internet is and the people that make it happen.

All the best to everyone in 2017!!!

 

[Southern Gent]

Ho, Ho, Ho...It's that time of year again, filled with thoughts of giving, eggnog (with bourbon of course) and all our good friends and family in this little corner of the Universe. My elf assistant Zing has graciously volunteered to help out with this year's Secret Santa, so I hope you are ready to get into the holiday spirit! It seemed appropriate to just carry this thread on into this year's festivities to pick back up where we left off, so whether you've been a regular these last months, lurking in the shadows, or just flat out busy with life, please feel free to jump on in and close out 2017 with some great fellowship, creativity, and of course some good natured ribbing. Just a couple of changes to this year's SS, so you can reference post #1 for most everything else:

1. You need a minimum of 100 total posts or 50 this year to be in the SS. I'm not going to monitor this, but you know who you are and this rule will save me at least one migraine during the process.
2. Sky's the limit on your gift. Obviously, if you look back through the thread this rule was blatantly disregarded, which was AWESOME!!!
3. I'm starting this a little earlier this year, so to give folks a little more time I'm closing submission on December 5th and will do the random drawing on December 6th.

As always, please PM me with any questions and even if you participated last year send me your contact info just in case there have been any changes in address.

Ready.....GO!!!!

 

[varga49]

Justin, I'm IN and Thanks for starting early...however, Your in box is full sir!

 

[SA Condor]

Well, I didn’t participate last year, I’d like to be in this year. I’m overseas, so a head start is a good thing. All I can say is be vague on the customs form and don’t show it as valuable and I’ll be good!

I love kitchen/cooking stuff, outdoors, and obviously Fiddleback and FF family.

 

[Southern Gent]

Awesome and Thanks for starting early...however, Your in box is full sir!

Inbox cleared. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Bmurray]

I'm in again

 

[VANCE]

im in

outdoors stuff or food related items would be appreciated

thanks!

 

[Odaon]

Heck yeah! I'm in for sure. Thanks for getting it going again.

My interests involve pretty much anything outdoors. Hunting, fishing, foraging, EDC, fire making, etc.

 

[Luca917]

I'm in. Wouldn't miss it!

 

[swonut]

I'm in-- Thanks for doing this again!

 

[Tim the Wizard]

In.

 

[madcap_magician]

I'd like to participate if I may.

I have no preferences, but I'm hoping to send out some sharp things and some local things. Hopefully some things that are useful, some things that are edible, some things that are enlightening or thought-provoking, and some things that are just plain funny. Would be nice to receive something similar, only ask is that some thought and some local flavor be included, and maybe a note explaining why you picked what you did.

 

[TxSportsman]

I’m in again