First up, I would like to sincerely apologize for no pictures. I have had a horrible weekend. Utterly shitty. Problems with just about everything I've done. I hit the "woods" (really just my small half acre backyard) today with a buddy of mine to chop some shit up, light some fires, feel the dirt, etc and bringing technology just wasn't gonna happen. I'll do some pictures later on.
I have a friend who I am coaching on his fire starting skills. Today was the first time he was able to start a fire with absolutely no help with flint and steel on the first try. We've had semi-successes before with my help when things went wonky. Today he did it all alone. I'm very proud.
That said, we both did everything today from harvesting fatwood, making fuzz sticks, chopping limbs, batoning and some misc whittling. He was using his BRKT Bravo-2 and I was using my Fiddleback Woodsman. We both tried each blade for each task. Both did a great job. The Woodsman was decided to be the winner by the two of us.
The Bravo-2 is appx 1.5" larger, mostly in the blade. This gave it a bit of advantage in batoning due to what we were trying to baton through. I have this huge oak tree in my back yard. Perhaps a year ago a rather large limb broke and needed to be cut out. This limb is probably 8 in in diameter. I had previously used a saw to cut it into 1 foot sections for my firepit. This wood has been seasoning for a year. It's hard. It's crazy, ridiculously hard. The Woodsman took a beating like a champ, but the extra 1.5 inches of blade made the Bravo-2 easier on the first split. After that, it was pretty much even. Both of them were spanked by my Browning Baker-Cromwell chopper, but it's like twice as large :jerkit:
We split the oak rounds into 8ths and then split each 8th twice more to have a fairly large pile of wood. Then we made fuzz sticks out of some fatwood from a pine stump in the yard. For a proper comparison, I used both knives. The Bravo-2 had the factory edge. The Woodsman came with a slight micro-bevel which I have smoothed out, so both blades were full convexed. That said, the Woodsman had a much more narrow profile and spanked the Barkie for fuzz sticks. Being a bit shorter made the Woodsman feel "handier" and more responsive to angle changes.
We then made a pile of "fuzz" from the fatwood by scraping it with the edge of the spine of the knives. Andy has a completely flat spine which leaves a crisp edge for scraping. The Woodsman clearly won in this section.
Since my friend was using my flint and steel, I went ahead and used a army model firesteel. The sharp spine edge really threw some sparks. Significantly more sparks than the Bravo-2.
From there it was a simple matter of fatwood scrapings, feather sticks and then oak to make two quick fires that were then pushed into one big fire and the scotch was broken out as we sat and marveled in our manliness at making fire. Fire good! Scotch good! Knives good! Spiritual calm returned. All is well.
The rest of the afternoon was spent chopping limbs, whittling a mallet for batoning, making fuzz sticks from various types of wood and telling lies around the fire. The Bravo-2 is a bit of a better chopper, but really not by much. It was much easier just using a stick as a mallet to baton through limbs rather than chopping.
It goes without saying that TF's sheath spanks the Bravo-2 sheath, but I'll say it anyways....wait, I just did.
The Woodsman looks much more "classic" with the heavy patina and wooden handle.
All-in-all, both are great knives, but the Woodsman was $100 less than my friend paid for his Bravo-2, looks better (my opinion), feels better in hand, cuts better and has a much nicer spiritual affinity associated with it since I was able to watch it grow from stock to finished product as it went through two great craftsmen.
I suppose when you get down to it, there is no comparison. The Bravo-2 is a great production knife, but my Woodsman is MY custom knife. There may be others similar, but this one is MINE. It's carved brisket for lunch at my son's 6th birthday party. It carved turkey, sliced sausage and boudin and prepped every meat at the family reunion which was the first time in 7 years that all of the "brothers" (my 7 uncles and my father) were all in the same place at the same time. It does every job I would want a knife to do that the Ladyfinger won't do and it could do half the jobs the Ladyfinger does if TF didn't make that damn sheath so freaking accessible on the Ladyfinger.
I honestly could be happier with my two knives or my choice for my custom knifemaker or sheathmaker.
I have a friend who I am coaching on his fire starting skills. Today was the first time he was able to start a fire with absolutely no help with flint and steel on the first try. We've had semi-successes before with my help when things went wonky. Today he did it all alone. I'm very proud.
That said, we both did everything today from harvesting fatwood, making fuzz sticks, chopping limbs, batoning and some misc whittling. He was using his BRKT Bravo-2 and I was using my Fiddleback Woodsman. We both tried each blade for each task. Both did a great job. The Woodsman was decided to be the winner by the two of us.
The Bravo-2 is appx 1.5" larger, mostly in the blade. This gave it a bit of advantage in batoning due to what we were trying to baton through. I have this huge oak tree in my back yard. Perhaps a year ago a rather large limb broke and needed to be cut out. This limb is probably 8 in in diameter. I had previously used a saw to cut it into 1 foot sections for my firepit. This wood has been seasoning for a year. It's hard. It's crazy, ridiculously hard. The Woodsman took a beating like a champ, but the extra 1.5 inches of blade made the Bravo-2 easier on the first split. After that, it was pretty much even. Both of them were spanked by my Browning Baker-Cromwell chopper, but it's like twice as large :jerkit:
We split the oak rounds into 8ths and then split each 8th twice more to have a fairly large pile of wood. Then we made fuzz sticks out of some fatwood from a pine stump in the yard. For a proper comparison, I used both knives. The Bravo-2 had the factory edge. The Woodsman came with a slight micro-bevel which I have smoothed out, so both blades were full convexed. That said, the Woodsman had a much more narrow profile and spanked the Barkie for fuzz sticks. Being a bit shorter made the Woodsman feel "handier" and more responsive to angle changes.
We then made a pile of "fuzz" from the fatwood by scraping it with the edge of the spine of the knives. Andy has a completely flat spine which leaves a crisp edge for scraping. The Woodsman clearly won in this section.
Since my friend was using my flint and steel, I went ahead and used a army model firesteel. The sharp spine edge really threw some sparks. Significantly more sparks than the Bravo-2.
From there it was a simple matter of fatwood scrapings, feather sticks and then oak to make two quick fires that were then pushed into one big fire and the scotch was broken out as we sat and marveled in our manliness at making fire. Fire good! Scotch good! Knives good! Spiritual calm returned. All is well.
The rest of the afternoon was spent chopping limbs, whittling a mallet for batoning, making fuzz sticks from various types of wood and telling lies around the fire. The Bravo-2 is a bit of a better chopper, but really not by much. It was much easier just using a stick as a mallet to baton through limbs rather than chopping.
It goes without saying that TF's sheath spanks the Bravo-2 sheath, but I'll say it anyways....wait, I just did.
The Woodsman looks much more "classic" with the heavy patina and wooden handle.
All-in-all, both are great knives, but the Woodsman was $100 less than my friend paid for his Bravo-2, looks better (my opinion), feels better in hand, cuts better and has a much nicer spiritual affinity associated with it since I was able to watch it grow from stock to finished product as it went through two great craftsmen.
I suppose when you get down to it, there is no comparison. The Bravo-2 is a great production knife, but my Woodsman is MY custom knife. There may be others similar, but this one is MINE. It's carved brisket for lunch at my son's 6th birthday party. It carved turkey, sliced sausage and boudin and prepped every meat at the family reunion which was the first time in 7 years that all of the "brothers" (my 7 uncles and my father) were all in the same place at the same time. It does every job I would want a knife to do that the Ladyfinger won't do and it could do half the jobs the Ladyfinger does if TF didn't make that damn sheath so freaking accessible on the Ladyfinger.
I honestly could be happier with my two knives or my choice for my custom knifemaker or sheathmaker.
