Handle Requests & Suggestions

We certainly need to get large amounts of that coconut from Shadetree. Thanks for the heads up!
 
How about some nice Ringed Gidgee?
BC or BF with Gidgee, black pins and black and natural liners. Oh yeah!.
 
I would really like to see some redwood burl with orange/lime green pinstripes. I love the redwood burl.
 
Joe Duder said:
What he said.

But since you asked...

I really like burlap with natural canvas bolsters.

I also think that the handles have become a bit thin. It's great in terms of hiking and packing a light knife, but for me, when working for long periods of time with a thin handled knife, it can really start digging into your hand muscles and create discomfort IMO. I'd like to see some thicker pin stripes and scales all around.
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I second this!

I also want to see more ironwood and, especially, more Osage Orange and Black Locust.
 
I'd like to see some more of the "old school" deep spalting.

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How about throwing some bronze patined bolsters with some bronze pinning on one.

(said in jest as i know Andy doesnt like metal bolsters due to their PITA-ness)
 
look forward to what yall can do with it. The handles i've seen with it, i'm not the biggest fan. Kinda looks like the build up in the bottom of your mower. But thats just me, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Unless youre African blackwood. then youre beauitiful to EVERYONE :)
 
It'd be great to see an EDC II or Hiking Buddy with tan then black liners with green linen micarta; and use black micarta pins and a black SS bullseye lanyard hole.
 
I've been curious about keyhole knife handles for a while now, so I spent a few minutes last night and this morning fitting these two together. Not sure how well this particular set will come out but we're going to give it a shot. This is just black & natural micarta but I visualize a nice ironwood burl in there or maybe some shadetree burlaps...

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That looks pretty cool Ken! And looks like a lot of work. That could lead to some cool pin patterns as well. You keep upping the bar.
 
That keyhole pattern is very cool indeed. With that color combo, it will look like a one-off custom Rock Star Tuxedo.

Nathan is right about that configuration opening up some interesting pins pattern options. Maybe a nice mosaic in the keyhole?

Good stuff. The creativity coming out of the shop never ceases to amaze me.

Phil
 
Question guys:

I remember about a year or so ago, Andy said he was gonna have a mid tech line coming out. A few of us were a little confused as to what a mid tech was. I'm wondering if anybody found out the definition and if Andy's mid techs have hit the market?

Perhaps Andy or Ken should chime in.
 
That keyhole pattern looks interesting. I could see something with a yin-yang pattern looking crazy if it could be done.
 
Joe Duder said:
Question guys:

I remember about a year or so ago, Andy said he was gonna have a mid tech line coming out. A few of us were a little confused as to what a mid tech was. I'm wondering if anybody found out the definition and if Andy's mid techs have hit the market?

Perhaps Andy or Ken should chime in.
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When i think of Andy's knives vs mid-tech, to me its looking at a FB vs a Blind Horse Knife or Bark River. All great blades, but Andy does everything by hand in his shop, while BHK/BRKT would outsource some aspects. You still get a hand ground blade and all that jazz, but Andy gives you something more personal. Most of his knives do not look like another. Yes he has configs he likes, but you can alter blade grind, spalting, etc. BHK/BRKT you get less variety as far as "personalization" and there are more of them out there.

Again, all great companies making GREAT knives, but Andy gives you a Rolls Royce, while BHK/BRKT gives you a Honda.

From a business aspect, I dont mind seeing Andy go mid-tech a few productions a year, it might drive more people to get a "real" Fiddleback. For my personal bias and love of FB, I dont want him to "take a step down" and move away from solely making works of art.

Does this make me an elitist? In regards to FBs... I'm ok with that.
 
Joe Duder said:
Question guys:

I remember about a year or so ago, Andy said he was gonna have a mid tech line coming out. A few of us were a little confused as to what a mid tech was. I'm wondering if anybody found out the definition and if Andy's mid techs have hit the market?

Perhaps Andy or Ken should chime in.
Click to expand...

Yes, we are in the process of trying to sort out a mid tech line. What that would mean is we would have a company laser/water jet cut the blanks, do the rough grinds, and the heat treat. Handle scales would be very basic (tuxedo or commando style) and pre-shaped by a cnc machine. We would put everything together here in the shop, sharpen, etc. They would sell for a lower price point of course. The thought is to start with 2-3 designs (hiking buddy, bushfinger, &...?) and see how it goes.

As you know, the knives we make now are all etched "Fiddleback by AR." Even though myself and the rest of the crew do a lot of the grunt work, Andy does all the grinding and still considers these to be 'his' knives, so he wants his personal initials on them. When we start the mid tech line they would be marked simply as a "Fiddleback." So there will be a very clear distinction between the handmade and the production line - the difference would be obvious to you guys anyway.

Our hope with the mid tech's is also to free us up some shop time to allow us to take the hand made knives a step farther. We still, and always will, want to make user knives. But that doesn't mean we can't hand polish a few blades or venture into hidden tang knives or what have you. Our desire is to keep pushing our own limits and see where it takes us.

I hope that helps.

Thanks,
Ken
 
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