Guardless Fiddlebacks

RRaconteur

RRaconteur

Joined
Dec 7, 2013
Messages
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I don't have anything to kick this thread off with, but how about a picture show of all those Guardless models?

Bushfingers, Camp Muk, and those rarer models too. Whatcha got?


Michael

PS--my ulterior motive is to learn which models are regularly guardless, something I am having some trouble figuring out, for whatever reason.


So the list so far of regularly guardless Fiddleback models is:

Camp
Woodsman
Camp Nessie
Bushfinger
KE Bushie
Old Style 3Finger Karda

Hiking Buddies are rarely made guardless (though perhaps more frequently than other normally-guarded models)
 
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The K.E. Bushie is a regularly guradless model :)

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I almost consider these "semi" gaurdless when compared to a model like the K.E. Bushie

Hiking Buddys and Lady Finger

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I haven't played with a new model Bushfinger in the field yet, so didn't think about that. But yeah, looking through photos of them it looks like it is a regularly guardless model. Now I really want one :)

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It appears that some Bushfingers have more a guard than others. I traded a Blueback Emerald Shadetree Bushfinger for this one. The Emerald one had more of a guard.

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Here's a group shot of ones that are typically guardless.

Camp, Woodsman, Camp Nessie, Bushfinger, KE Bushie

 
This is a good topic Michael. Thanks for posting it.

I think the first thing that needs to be established is a definition of what "guardless" means. With the guard area being the center of the knife, I define guardless in this context more from the blade side than the handle side. To me guardless means blades where the bottom edge of the guard at the ricasso and the back edge of blade at the plunge line are even with each other and the guard does not extend below the cutting edge. In this context, I would consider Vance's Karda to be guardless and MajorD's Hiking Buddies to be guarded (albeit small ones.)

I prefer guardless models because they are more cutting board friendly in that they allow you to use the full length of the cutting edge before you bottom out.

To me, all of Andy's knives have some kind of guard by virtue of the downward curve of the metal and/or handles in front of the forward pins of the handle.

Thanks everyone for the great pictures so far. Great topic. I would love to hear other opinions of what guardless means to you.

Phil
 
Phil,

I think you nailed the definition. To me, guardless means that the cutting edge transitions straight into the handle without a section of metal that juts down.

I prefer guardless for a few reason, both of which Phil mentioned. Better for food prep on a cutting board. And for my use, the handle shape provides enough protection to keep my hand from slipping forward onto the blade. Since in my bushcraft and kitchen use, I'm not making forward/stabbing motions, the guard doesn't typically come into play.

 
Thanks everyone whose contributed so far. I was using the term in the way that Nathan's photo illustrates, though I now know that may not be a strict definition of the term. It is clear that some models usually have a lot of "guard," some have a little, and some have none at all.

Once I'm on my computer, perhaps I'll try to collate the data from this thread into a list in the original post.


Michael
 
Good clarification Nathan, as I have friends who will argue with me, saying that only one of these knives is "guarded"

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Camp and Ladyfinger

Hunter and Bushfinger

My Recluse has a small guard, but I can live with it ;)
 
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