Get to know your fellow sharks

Its been a pleasure getting to know the great group of people on here the past few months and I'm glad Simon/Guhul gave this cool thread a bump. We're a pretty varied lot but I like to think we have a decent core in common. Simon felt bad writing a novel so I told him I'd help a brother out ...


Hi, I'm Jerry. At this writing I'm 48 and have 3 daughters who are 6 yrs, 5 yrs and 5 weeks old. Got a late start with marriage/family but I was picky looking for a great mom. My plan is they'll keep me active and young, perhaps change my diapers some day. :D Met my wife on a work trip and moved from PA to TX in 2008. I've been in Healthcare IT for 24 years (yikes) and am coming up on 13 years being with 3M. I work from a home office as a field-based employee and that can have its pros/cons. Used to travel 3 wks a month minimum and missed a lot of family time when my oldest were infants. That was a kick in the butt so I switched to a no-travel position. Family is more important than moving up a ladder or $$.

Lived in Colorado for 6 years where I began a motorcycle enthusiasm 16 years ago. I've had mostly cruisers and couple sport bikes, currently ride an FZ-09. The wife rides an FZ-6R and we're both Rider Coaches. She's scaled back teaching with the newborn but I usually teach the MSF course about two weekends a month; one locally and one over towards Houston. Its fun and feels like getting paid to do community work.

Besides that, I have no shortage of hobbies - guns, hunting, fishing, billiards, wood working, kydex holsters/sheaths and of course, knives - anything expensive it seems. Just not much free time these days for hobbies/outdoor recreation. Fixing fences or a windmill, chasing animals or throwing hay in July/August ... got time for that. lol I greatly miss the mountains and hiking so I really soak up your posts/pictures with the outdoors and bushcrafting putting the Fiddlebacks to use in their element. My current uses are more light duty, tactical, EDC-ish.


Just one last note: We all know these knives are each a work of art that we may or may not connect with. I'm in my buy/try phase so if I happen to snag something meaningful to you, by all means drop a line and let me know. It could be my grail but if its something I just wanted to try and its your grail knife, I'd surely consider passing it on.

Have a great day or night & good luck sharking
 
Tony here. Really enjoying this thread.

I live in North Carolina (Asheville area), by way of birth in Virginia, and four years in Montana. I'm about to hit 55 years old, divorced about ten years ago, with a 17 and 14 year old son. I raise them primarily as a single dad, and I'm completely devoted to them - I enjoy being a full time dad. Before marriage and the kids I spent 15 years tooling around on my Harley - now as a dad I've given that up for a Ford pickup and time with my boys. Had to - my knees are torn up! Got a classic Bronco in my sights as well.

I have spent the past 22 years teaching adjudicated youth, special ed, and regular ed kids in social studies and American history/civics. All 7th and 8th graders. I'm going into semi-retirement from middle school teaching this year. Moving to an adjunct college position and possibly back to teaching at a residential treatment program for youth offenders.

Me and my boys have a crumbling farm house on 15 acres about 30 miles north of Asheville, just about on the Tennessee line. We spend our free time hiking and camping, building fires in the yard, shooting guns, running our go-kart around in circles, or generally getting in some sort of mischief.

My screen name is dedicated to my youngest Luca, who was diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumor at 12 years old. He survived it like the champion that he is, and inspires me daily to live with courage, passion, and integrity. He's my hero. Not to mention a far better marksman than I am! Both boys are.

Been shooting and collecting guns since I was a kid, but just lately picked up the Fiddleback bug. I have a thing for the smaller knives, and my absolute favorites are my 3 finger Karda and a beautiful bog oak Huntsman made by Allen.

Thoroughly enjoy this forum and people I've conversed with. Tremendous community of people!

Tony
 
I've been meaning to throw a post up here for the last couple days. Thanks for bumping this, cool to see who everyone is.

My name is Orion, yes like the constellation, yes I have a belt, a few of them actually. I'm 26 years old, and live in Fort Collins, CO with my wonderful girlfriend that puts up with all of my outdoors hobbies and actually joins me on many of them. I was born and raised in Santa Fe, NM but moved to Fort Collins for college (Go Rams!) and don't really plan on leaving. I work at the State Forest Service Nursery as the Field Production Manager growing bare root seedling trees for conservation purposes.

I grew up fishing and spending a lot of time outdoors and it has always been a passion of mine, though I took a little hiatus in college. I still love fishing, though I don't do it as much any more, now my outdoor time is split up between hunting, fishing, mushroom hunting/foraging. If I'm out in the woods it's usually for a reason, I don't often just take hikes to go on a hike. I also really love cooking, especially with killed or foraged materials. My other main hobby, though it seems like a strange mix is playing boardgames. We host a weekly game night out our house with several of our friends.

I don't do a ton of knife collecting, I like all of my "toys" to have a purpose. Guns, I can usually talk myself out of buying one that I like because I wont put it to use. I've stuck to the same mentality with knives, so far... All of these awesome knives that these guys at the Forge put it make it difficult sometimes.

I like to check in here fairly frequently so you'll definitely see me around! Definitely an awesome group that hangs around here! :thumbup:
 
I'm 41 years old. I own and operate a small business here in Atlanta. I'm married and have three kids, a son who plays travel baseball and daughters who both play softball. I am very involved in youth sports and very much enjoy trying to create and maintain a good environment for the kids to grow up in.

I got into knives more through hunting than anything else. My uncle introduced me to custom knives with his favorite brand, a Randall Made knife. He also made knives and gave me a few that really piqued my interest in knives and knife making. I started making a few knives here and there, as well as collecting Randalls, and the other makers, always trying to find the sharpest knife with the best craftsmanship. The search led me to try a Fiddleback. Great quality and super sharp at a fair price. That's hard to beat.
 
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Interesting reads in this thread, so I guess I'll throw mine in too. I'm 26, born and raised in WNC. I lived in Scotland for a period of years during which I was an archaeologist and traveled in Europe and the Middle East for work and fun. Back Stateside in the mountains for now, working in an outdoor gear shop, but feeling the itch to move again soon so who knows. I've always been into the outdoors and knives. I actually sharked my first knife today which has felt like a bit of an initiation into the community though I have been hanging out on the forum for a while now. I own a couple of FB knives but I don't normally have the finances to buy them brand, spanking new but I now understand the allure of sharking. Its exciting and I feel perhaps very, very dangerous...

Cheers guys, enjoying the community!
Todd
 
Welcome aboard Todd. That Terrasaur is a sweet first score. Glad you got it. :thumbup:
 
Thanks Onedog! Seemed a bit like fate after you taunted us all with your scandi Terrasaur beauties early this week...
 
tgfencer said:
Interesting reads in this thread, so I guess I'll throw mine in too. I'm 26, born and raised in WNC. I lived in Scotland for a period of years during which I was an archaeologist and traveled in Europe and the Middle East for work and fun. Back Stateside in the mountains for now, working in an outdoor gear shop, but feeling the itch to move again soon so who knows. I've always been into the outdoors and knives. I actually sharked my first knife today which has felt like a bit of an initiation into the community though I have been hanging out on the forum for a while now. I own a couple of FB knives but I don't normally have the finances to buy them brand, spanking new but I now understand the allure of sharking. Its exciting and I feel perhaps very, very dangerous...

Cheers guys, enjoying the community!
Todd
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welcome

it's quite addictive, the knives and the rush
 
Man it's cool reading about all the new guys and the old ones who are taking a break from the family! Man, this is a great group! Fiddleback and the passion really grow on you! I love the little things that reignite the Fiddleback spark... Several weeks ago, one of the family sent me a handyman to use and abuse. I have a bunch of Scout trips in the near future and just itching to share the fun with this handyman. I couldn't wait to call Rick Lowe and order some special leather. He's making me a fully tooled (both sides) sheath. I'm not sure if I'm looking more foreward to the first trip next weekend or talking the Fiddleback Scouting. :) Fiddlebacks sure are special!

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Hi all,

Justen here, and most of my friends either call me J or JC. I grew up in Atlanta with a 6 year stint in South Carolina during my graduate and post graduate schooling. Moved back to ATL after school and I've been here ever since. I work as a third party real estate agent leasing high rise office buildings. My time growing up was always outdoors either in the woods or on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico. Below is a picture of me (in the middle) with my cousin and one of his buddies after a grouper trip we took. I'm married and have a 5 year old who is looking to take over the world, or at least get to decide when it's time to go to bed. Although I have carried some sort of knife on me since I was probably 5 or 6, I wouldn't say I became any sort of a "knife guy" until only a little more than a year ago. I like to spend my free time off on different adventures of sorts and after attending a 3 day survival course on Jeff Randall's farm was introduced to the ESEE forum. There I saw the post started by Bush.Hacker titled "let's see them Fiddlebacks". From there the rest is pretty much history. My fixed blades are now almost exclusively Fiddleback family knives and I typically have a CRK, GEC or one of a few other folders in my pocket. It's been a great time this past year getting to have the opportunity to meet and get to know the good people at the Forge, which has made it easy to thin out most of my other knifes to replace with a Fiddleback...and another Fiddleback...and another...you get the idea. I've also been grateful to meet and get to know some of the great members and contributors to this community such as Brian, Danny, Bill, Tony, Phil, Blaine and my good ol' buddy Rick. Looking forward to catching up with those I already know and haven't met yet sometime in the not too distant future. Speaking of GTG, Dylan, how is the itinerary coming along for the Grind In (insert whip cracking sound)?

Cheers,

JC

4574f9c301ffc2fd1db82aced3fa97fa.jpg
 
Great thread. Nice to learn a little something about you guys that interact on the forum. Thanks to Eric (emoney2277) for starting this thread over 2 years ago. I was unaware of this thread until Simon (Guhul) recently bumped it. (thanks Simon)

My name is Paul and I'm probably close to the oldest person on this forum or at least this thread... only Peter (prom52) states a greater age in this thread (by a tad). I am 63, lived my entire life in Georgia and an alum of UGA. Grew up in Marietta (land of Blade Show) but have now lived in south Georgia for 38 years. I am a retired physician and surgeon (urologist) so I used sharp objects my entire career. I have a loving wife of 36 years and three grown children, all terrific adults in their own right. I love college football (Go Dawgs and Go GSU Eagles), the outdoors and knives of course.

I've been interested in knives all my life but the interest grew after I retired and had some free time. Initially I collected folders (any ZT, some Spydercos, discontinued Benchmade models, some traditionals) then got interested in fixed blades, mostly Bark Rivers. Funny, since I scored my first Fiddleback in November 2015, I haven't once even thought about Bark River. (Anybody need any like-new Bark Rivers?)

I am not usually a forum or blog kind of guy, but this superlative community of folks that is the Fiddleback Forum has drawn me in and captivated my interest. Of course the wonderful knives of Andy, Allen, Chris et al. only add fuel to that interest. I enjoy every second on this forum. Thanks guys.
 
Great to share "Senior Status" with you Paul ! Seems like we also share a common thread in our work history in that the company that I retired from in 2008 sold medical devices directly to Urologists. We were initially headquartered in Marietta and then relocated to Minneapolis following the acquisition of the company that brought the Surgical Urology line into our product portfolio. Sounds like you may be attending Blade Show, if so I look forward to meeting you.
 
2-month bump!

For any folks new to Fiddleback Forge, you may not be aware of this thread. Give it a review and feel free to introduce yourself. Also ... Welcome!!
 
Hannah starts high school in just a few weeks folks. I'm petrified. This last year she has grown a full 5 inches. She's tall, and beautiful and I'm just kinda watching and feeling helpless. I'm very proud of her. She'll be playing high school softball soon too. Practice starts in a week or so. I'm also very proud of her working here in the shop this summer. Summer for our kids is only a few weeks now, but she's come on board and really worked hard. Yesterday she sanded 8 handles. That is basically an even split between Phillip, Cody and her. (Yesterday Cody sanded 7, so Hannah out did him!!!) The quality of her sanding and how easy she picked it up (its hard to train a sander) have been very impressive. I know that in a blink, she'll be all graduated and probably move far from ole dad. Kids sure do kick you in the stomach.
 
That is basically an even split between Phillip, Cody and her. (Yesterday Cody sanded 7, so Hannah out did him!!!)
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for clarity he is referring to Cody;)
 
Fiddleback said:
Hannah starts high school in just a few weeks folks. I'm petrified. This last year she has grown a full 5 inches. She's tall, and beautiful and I'm just kinda watching and feeling helpless. I'm very proud of her. She'll be playing high school softball soon too. Practice starts in a week or so. I'm also very proud of her working here in the shop this summer. Summer for our kids is only a few weeks now, but she's come on board and really worked hard. Yesterday she sanded 8 handles. That is basically an even split between Phillip, Cody and her. (Yesterday Cody sanded 7, so Hannah out did him!!!) The quality of her sanding and how easy she picked it up (its hard to train a sander) have been very impressive. I know that in a blink, she'll be all graduated and probably move far from ole dad. Kids sure do kick you in the stomach.
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Andy I think Hannah should pick out some cool color combos that the females would like and FB produce a knife each week geared to the ladies. This would be really cool.
 
Andy,
I know how you feel. My youngest is heading to high school, but still is my best bud. But my eldest is heading to college. I barely see him. Between his job, his friends, and his teenage sleep schedule, I seem to grab minutes here and there. I was lucky to get him on vacation with me and we went sailing for two days - two days on the water completely uninterrupted with cell phones or other distractions. Great times.

Of course, I'm raising two boys, so it's a bit different. But seeing them grow up and away is hard, regardless.
 
Warrior108 said:
2-month bump!

For any folks new to Fiddleback Forge, you may not be aware of this thread. Give it a review and feel free to introduce yourself. Also ... Welcome!!
Click to expand...

OK I'm a "newbie" ...I never do get used to saying that. But you have to start somewhere. As they say around my neck of the woods "I got here as soon as I could ". I'm a 5th generation Texan from a saddle making family, and have great appreciation for good steel in the form of a great blade. And that's why I'm here I suppose. Everything I've learned about fiddleback forge speaks of quality and integrity.. And Beauty...
I'm thinking "This is going to be a Very Expensive Ride "


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varga49 said:
OK I'm a "newbie" ...I never do get used to saying that. But you have to start somewhere. As they say around my neck of the woods "I got here as soon as I could ". I'm a 5th generation Texan from a saddle making family, and have great appreciation for good steel in the form of a great blade. And that's why I'm here I suppose. Everything I've learned about fiddleback forge speaks of quality and integrity.. And Beauty...
I'm thinking "This is going to be a Very Expensive Ride "


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

What part of Texas? Welcome


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