I remember reading an article about the Hiking Buddy and that is what first drew me to Fiddleback Forge and this sub-forum. That and Thurin's giveaway
Hey Brian, I just copied this pic from your "Two for Tuesday" thread.
This Bushfinger and the great review you wrote of it pretty well sums up the reason as to why I became fascinated with Andy's knives. I remember thinking about how rugged yet beautiful this knife was and how infatuated I became trying to get my hands on a Bushfinger. Back then it was quite the waiting game. Since, I have owned 4 of them along with several of Andy's other models including the Black Palm HB that is mentioned every now and then.
Thank you so much for your dedication to this forum and all of the insight you provide!
Thank you Segio, I'm glad you enjoy the posts! I thought you might notice that shot
The end of the year always has me making trips down memory lane, and looking at the current machete Bushbot team I have now, had me remembering the things I had done with these two. I hope I get the chance at another bolstered Hiking Buddy later with a tapered or SFT tang
Just remember, you just barely got that Black Palm HB
Wow..... Where do i start.......Well most hahahaha.
Asp - my first because of his
Hiking Buddy
Shank
Woodsman
Bushboot for EDC
And my Favorite, or well the one that keeps competing for Favorite with my asp and carver, the KEB.
His reviews, pictures, and stories have helped me learn a lot and as well with the rest of you guys here. I didn't grow up in this scouts or camping so I enjoy all the reviews to learn from. Thanks Mist!
Thurin also has played a huge role with me as well!
Thanks man, and thanks also for reminding me that another Asp or other SP variant in stainless is still on my list of wants...I have several models to recover after last winter, but knowing that all of the special ones went to good homes here in the group makes me feel a lot better about it. We think a lot alike, now that I am back in an urbanized environment I am back to edc-ing a Bushboot myself, as is my wife with my first one...though I must admit, the Monarch is giving it some serious competition. The KEB is to me one of the best Bushcraft designs ever, Andy's interpretation/execution of it is just incredible. Thurin has done some amazing threads, as has Phil. There is a wealth of information in this forum from various perspectives, and I think that is awesome!
This is a great thread. The results don't suprise me. Mistwalker is an underrated photographer, and an undervalued writer. I always thought this. I'm happy to have him aboard here.
And yes, he has influenced me to buy knives. He has influenced designs. And he has helped me with marketing questions as well.
Than you Andy, I'm glad to be here.
Yeah...there are reasons for that. I have a tendency to turn down a lot of photography gigs because I don't personally believe in the company or the tools involved. After checking them out either I wouldn't trust them to perform as advertised, didn't like how they performed, or felt the maker or craftsman had half-assed the work. I have sent boxes of knives back to their origins with notes saying no thank you, from importers as well as US manufacturers, for different reasons. Some I wouldn't have carried due to inferior materials and craftsmanship, some that were well made and of good materials because they were blade geometries well outside my comfort zone and I didn't feel like I was the right one to present them in use, or wasn't in the right geographic location and didn't want to be guilty of half-assing myself. I have annoyed more than one editor over the years turning down articles, and once by writing the maker and telling him the sample I received wasn't representative of the work I had seen them produce in the past, and if that was their new norm I wasn't interested in covering it. In some cases my "bad attitude" has won me some non friends of people who wanted me to help them sell their wares. There are reasons no-one will ever see me own or cover any FOX-Knives USA knives save one, and I actually like a few of their designs. I know and like the designer of one of them, the design is sound for how it is presented, and they use good materials for it. BUT I do not personally care for how Mike and Roland approach things or people. I didn't care for how they treated and talked to me, and they approached me, not the other way around, not once but twice, and both times utterly insultingly in my opinion.
Will things like this have a negative affect on my financial gains in this industry? Obviously they will, they have. However if my being ok with the reflection I see in the mirror and my being able to sleep at night means I must remain an underrated photographer and an under-valued writer, I am actually good with that. I get to focus my time and efforts on people and companies I actually believe in. I get to take part in promoting high quality people who make high quality gear, for the purposes of creating a higher quality market. And I have enough sense to not depend on my writing on my photography as my only source of income...though I have started showing and selling some of my more artistic photography in various venues, and I have eight classes in a series of four-season wilderness skills lined up for 2015.
I remember reading an article about the Hiking Buddy and that is what first drew me to Fiddleback Forge and this sub-forum. That and Thurin's giveaway
I still don't have a HB, but one of these years I'll score one TT with Shadetree!
The Mistwalker review that I remember the most though is the one about the Asp. It made me love the Ironwood over natural with blue pinstripes! What a beautiful combo.
That first Hiking Buddy I got was gorgeous! I'd give anything if it could have been the color green I saw it as under the lights at Blade...though it was labeled as dyed-blue... One day I will land a bolstered Hiking Buddy in a convex grind with a tapered of SFT tang
Most of my really in depth reviews pre-date your 2014 join date, and the last 18 months have been really complicated for me, but I do have some really intense ideas for 2015
That Asp was gorgeous, I still sometimes wish I had sold one of my guns rather than parted with it last winter...but hindsight is always 20/20...
...lol
