Wow. Yeah...I was hesitant to read at first... I wasn't sure if this was going to be a thank-you post or a damn-you post lol. I have had a blast using Andy's knives since the first one. It was a departure from the norm for me having been taught most of my wilderness skills from sort of a country-boy-raised-during-the -great-depression perspective, but by combat veterans who had ventured through darker places before I met them. I never was a television fan even as a child. Even on rainy days when I couldn't go out I preferred books to tv, with the one exception being a show called "Grizzly Adams in my early teens. The men who taught me my initial wilderness survival skills were my heroes in life and my inspirations of who I wanted to be when I grew up. So I latched onto the types of tools they used to teach me with, partly from cool factor I am certain. Having never been in combat, I started down a more peaceful path through life. I even modified an Old Hickory butcher knife and made a goat skin sheath for it in my early teens. But in a very short period of time, things would get much darker, and I would soon prefer a pilot's survival knife I had been given to all others. There, after a few years of bad experiences, in that particular realm my knife preferences remained for years to come. I had, without even knowing it, chosen a secure purchase in bad conditions over comfort, and durability over cutting geometry with good reasons initially. Then I got stuck there. Even though the vast majority of my knife use in the field was utilitarian in nature, the other times were so intense that they ruled in my decision making. It wasn't until the end of the year in 2009, after a talk with Andy, that I began to realize what I had been missing out on in form and function in long term use of knives in the woods. I had reached a much more peaceful place in my life, thankfully, but I had become hung up on the types of knives I carried. It was the first Bushfinger that gave me a different perspective on things. It had sublime ergonomics which I could cut, whittle, and carve with for hours without really noticing the passing of time, yet at 5/32 it was stout enough to handle the rougher work of batonning and truncating. I quickly realized that I didn't miss an upper guard at all in bush use. That knife made me want to try another, so a Hunter was next, going larger, and then a Hiking Buddy going smaller. All had similar sublime ergonomics, excellent strength, and great cutting geometries. Though my time in some harsh urbanized areas never really faded, and I learned for a few different reasons I prefer the Bushboot overall as an edc, partly from a darker perspective.
Over time I have literally fallen in love with a few models of Fiddlebacks for different purposes. My Woodsman is likely my favorite and most used. My Bushboot is my edc fixed blade because it has class, sex appeal, form, function, and intent all rolled into one knife, and fits in better in an urbanized environment than my Woodsman. I can't seem to decide between the KE Bushie and the Kephart for a favorite Bushcraft knife...both perform exceptionally well in that role for me, and then the Bushcrafter has my favorite handle of all the Fiddlebacks and is my favorite knife for teaching wilderness skills with. Considering I have eight classes scheduled for this coming year, I need to pick up another as soon as I can. And then there is the Monarch I have only recently gotten to check out in use. And it quickly grows on me as an edc, and will likely relegate my Bushboot to being paired with my machete most of the time, a role it fills very well. I think most here know how much I love the Fiddleback machete
In closing I like to say I am not sure how much credit I deserve here. All I do is take pics and show the knives in use to show they are made from a perspective of knowledge and understanding of long term use and functionality. Andy is a bit of an enigma. He, along with being a very talented and passionate artist, and very skilled craftsman, is also woodsman himself and an Eagle Scout. He designs his knives with long term use in the hand in mind, and they are meant to be used. He also does the wonderful thing of incorporating sex appeal in a form-meets-function in stellar fashion. He has designed, and he and his awesome team produce, work of art that will work for a living. All I do is show them in their intended environments in use in a way he would never have time to and still have the time to make them. That is a role that is a labor of love for me. I may be the one person in the world who is most glad that Andy got laid off when he did. He brought a breath of fresh air the knife making industry needed very badly in my humble opinion, and I am very glad for having met him.
Sorry for rambling...it wasn't something I could say in just a few sentences...
