Models, Tang-Types, Steel Thicknesses, & Weights

TomR2 said:
This is my first post to BladeForums. That hopefully will provide perspective on what I'm about to say. I hope you reconsider your decision to no longer post these comparative reviews. I'm not new to life, or "boys and toys," (having worked in the planning function at one of the larger firearms manufacturers, back east, years ago). I am new to knife collecting. Your reviews are wonderful. They are very useful to folks like me who are new to this, and therefore reticent to post. There are limited places to go and touch high end knives here in the Bay Area and none that I know of, that carries Fiddleback Forge. I suspect that's true in much of the rest of the country. Looking at pictures on the web, reading dimensions, even with a 6" scale in hand, doesn't really get at the nuance of the personal interaction required to know if a knife is going to be one of the one's. I just bought my first Fiddleback. The choice was not without some nail biting as I tried to imagine, just what it was that was going to appear in the mail in a few days. I have visited your various posts several times over the past couple weeks and they absolutely helped. The lack of "interest" you mentioned above may just be a reaction by the relative small number of folks who appear within these pages and do post. Active posters are already in play. They own, have owned, and therefore have experience on which to base their next purchase. I suspect, I'm not alone. Those of us who most benefit, from the kind of info you have supplied are in the wings, reading and learning, but more than likely not posting. Whatever you decide, for all of this thank you.
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I would have to agree with all of this. Well said.
 
Comprehensivist said:
Part 8 of 8

Final Word:

It seems to me that this thread has fallen out of favor with most folks on this forum. No one is posting information about new or old models that haven’t been discussed here before. I think that is a shame because this thread provides a useful place to record objective data to balance out the emotional reasons why we choose one knife over another. It was fun when more folks posted information and opinions about various models so that we heard a nice cross-section of viewpoints.

Individual knife reviews seem to be the more popular trend these days, so this will be my final update to this thread.

I still have a couple of models on my wish list along with a another couple that are either out of production or seldom offered. If I manage to score something interesting, I’ll follow the trend and write it up as an individual review. Either that or I’ll just post a few pictures and comments in the “Fiddleback User Pics” or “Fiddlebacks & Food” threads.

If you have stuck around reading this far, I hope that you found some of this data and commentary useful in making decisions about which knives you want to acquire. I encourage you to do your own objective analysis to determine what features are most important to you.

Good luck with your Sharking!

Best regards,

Phil

P.S. - In closing, I want to thank my friend Peter (“prom52”) again for lending me his Esquire and serving as my Editor in Chief on this project. Your comments and suggested edits made this a better post.
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Phil, I loved your post from today. That bushcrafter jr and bolstered starry night hiking buddy are incredible. I too have started to determine exactly what knives suit my personal needs best, and that is a thinner blade stock. I tend to limit my chopping to my axe and some of my larger knives. My hip knife serves me better with a 1/8" or thinner blade stock.

That being said, it's too bad you say this thread has lost some of it's attention over to individual reviews. I suppose I didn't help that too much with my review yesterday. I have personally used your information on these posts to purchase several fiddlebacks, so I hope it helps to know that people are using your reference information! Once I get a better feel for the Fiddlebacks I have and continue to acquire more perspective, I will definitely try and reignite some comparison information over here by pitting my favorites against one another!
 
Phil, outstanding work once again. I find myself looking at this thread every time I'm considering purchasing a model that is new to me. Your reviews as well as overviews within this thread are indispensable knowledge that needs to be preserved. Perhaps if this thread were stickied it would be added to more often and by more people then just yourself. I know of at least 2 knives that I bought due to this thread as well as independent reviews that you did. My BC jr and my Patch. I didn't even consider owning a Patch until I read your review and the specs in this thread. Now I can't see myself ever letting that knife go so thank you. :thumbup:

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for all the work that you do on these forums. You're a wealth of accurate and non biased information and I, for one, greatly appreciate it. :D
 
I love this thread. Comprehensivist does an awesome job on reviewing and comparing knives and it does a lot to help the people making decisions on what to get. There's only so much information you very from pictures, so these reviews do a terrific job of shedding light on the various nuances and feelings of knives that you otherwise wouldn't know. I very much appreciate it!
 
Hey Phil,
I love this thread. It's actually one of my favorites and I can't begin to tell you how often I refer to it for various specs and thoughts on styles. Great idea and great work!
 
I found this thread extremely helpful. Thank you for taking the time to compose all the stats. Its been a pleasure seeing all of these masterpieces and getting to hear so many thoughts from everyone. Its so difficult to find just one but this thread has helped me narrow down my choices to select my first fb. Thanks once again.
 
Comprehensivist said:
Part 8 of 8

Final Word:

It seems to me that this thread has fallen out of favor with most folks on this forum. No one is posting information about new or old models that haven’t been discussed here before. I think that is a shame because this thread provides a useful place to record objective data to balance out the emotional reasons why we choose one knife over another. It was fun when more folks posted information and opinions about various models so that we heard a nice cross-section of viewpoints.

Individual knife reviews seem to be the more popular trend these days, so this will be my final update to this thread.

I still have a couple of models on my wish list along with a another couple that are either out of production or seldom offered. If I manage to score something interesting, I’ll follow the trend and write it up as an individual review. Either that or I’ll just post a few pictures and comments in the “Fiddleback User Pics” or “Fiddlebacks & Food” threads.

If you have stuck around reading this far, I hope that you found some of this data and commentary useful in making decisions about which knives you want to acquire. I encourage you to do your own objective analysis to determine what features are most important to you.

Good luck with your Sharking!

Best regards,

Phil

P.S. - In closing, I want to thank my friend Peter (“prom52”) again for lending me his Esquire and serving as my Editor in Chief on this project. Your comments and suggested edits made this a better post.
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As usual Phil, you have gone above an beyond in the detail with which you approach your reviews and comparisons. I always enjoy your pictures and J-Dog's assistance. I still find it interesting that we started with similar opinions and although both of us have transitioned over the last few years with our preferences and opinions, we seem to come to the same conclusions independently. These days I've been limiting myself to 1/8 A2 and thinner. ;) I've been thinking about off-loading some of the non-Camp 3/16 models just because I rarely if ever use them. I look forward to your future reviews and I can't wait to see a Philellow BC on a Friday post!

I know how much time and effort it takes to put these reviews together. Be well my friend and thank you for your community contributions.

P.S. you need to stop showing off that starry night HB. I love the glow in the dark!!!
 
Intro:

I’m back with an update on one new model that I recently acquired. The Handyman was first introduced on Fiddleback Friday 08/21/15. Since that time, it has proven to be a popular model that sells out very quickly. It took me almost three months of trying to finally get one.

General Note:

I used the same basic data reporting structure as my prior posts in this thread. All linear measurements use the top front edge of the handles as a starting point. That means handle length is from that location to the farthest point rearward and blade length is from there to the tip.

Specifications & Reference Photos:

Model: Handyman

FF Lot Info: Nov. 2015 Reserve Tray
OAL: 7.634”
Blade Length: 3.234”
Handle Length: 4.400”
Steel & Thickness: .125”
Tang Type: SFT (“Skeletonized Full Tang”)
Grind: Convex
Handle Material: Emerald with black micarta bolsters over black & yellow pinstripes
Weight (oz.): 4.5
Blade Height @ Ricasso: 1.011”
Handle Width @ Palmswell: .753”
Handle Height @ Palmswell: 1.013”
Circumference @ Palmswell: 3.121”
Distance from Front Edge of Handle to Center of Palmswell: 2.031”
Distance from Front Edge of Handle to Balance Point: 1.545”








The shape of the bottom of the handle is a shallow “m” shape which provides an open feel that allows good freedom of movement when changing grips.




The distance from the center of the forward finger groove to the bottom end of the handle is a new measurement category that I have started paying attention to. Since the index finger naturally gravitates to the center of the forward depression, add a half finger width to this measurement to determine if this is enough space for you.




Comparison Photos & Observations:

Here are the Bushcrafter Jr., Hiking Buddy, Handyman & Patch shown with the front of the handles lined up to show the differences in the blades.



Here are the same ones lined up at the back of the handle to show the differences in handle & overall length.



The Hiking Buddy is probably the closest comparison among current models. The Handyman runs about .210” longer in the handle and .050” longer in the blade.



The Handyman handle has less of a curved butt on the top and hook on the bottom than the Hiking Buddy.



The pommel end is taller and narrower on the Handyman than this particular Hiking Buddy.



The blade height is taller and guardless on the Handyman vs. the Hiking Buddy. I personally prefer blades that are guardless like the Handyman if there is any chance that I will be using it near a cutting board.



The handle of the Handyman is longer, taller, and more curved on the pommel vs. the Patch.





The difference in handle length is less pronounced on the bottom side. Both models share the open feeling shallow “m” curves on the bottom of the handle.



Spear point blade on the Handyman vs. a straighter spine on the Patch.



A green handle with yellow pinstripes is one of my favorite color combos.



 
The Handyman has a longer and more open feeling handle than the Bushcrafter Jr. The Handlyman blade is shorter in length and height with less belly than the BC Jr.










Summary & Conclusions:

The Handyman has a lot of positives things going for it in my mind. The features that I like are:
- Spear point blade that is slightly longer than the Hiking Buddy.
- Guardless blade vs. guards on the other models shown.
- Relatively tall handle height vs. width for good torque control.
- Nice comfortable curved shape to the pommel.
- Shallow “m” curves on the bottom of the handle for a nice open feel in various grips.

The features that don’t thrill me on this knife are:
- Balance
- Relative weight* (see below)

If you have read my prior posts in this thread, you will know that neutral balance on the first finger is something I hold in high regard when I can get it. In my experience, that usually only happens on knives that have a blade length that is slightly longer than the handle length (among other factors like steel thickness, tapered vs. SFT, etc.) Since the Handyman has more handle than blade length, I was not expecting neutral balance. With that said, I still found this knife to be more handle heavy feeling than the other knives shown here.

Relative weight* is another category that I consider when choosing one knife over another to keep, carry & use. What I mean specifically is that if two similar use knives weigh the same, I will almost always choose the longer one.

To illustrate the point, consider the following:

Both the Handyman and Recluse shown here weigh exactly 4.5 ounces. Both are 1/8” A2 with almost identical handle materials and thicknesses. The only notable difference is that the Recluse is tapered vs. SFT on the Handyman. The Recluse has a longer handle and blade as well as much better balance than my Handyman. In this example, I would choose the Recluse over the Handyman if I could only keep one.






Just for kicks, I decided to ask my best friend Jessie “J-Dog” to look at these two to see if one looked better to her. She looked at them a while and let me know that she did not have enough perspective to tell the difference.



In order to help her understand the difference, I added a couple of “cookie props” to give her some perspective. “So J-Dog, with all things being equal, would you choose the larger one or the smaller one?” Following the typical Blade Forums protocol when questions like this come up, she let me know that her answer was “both.” When I told her that was cheating and she had to decide, her eyes settled on the larger cookie. She is a smart dog.




Final Word:

All humor aside, I think the Handyman is a wonderful design overall that will continue to be a big seller for Andy. For folks with larger size hands or those that prefer a roomier grip, the longer handle on this model may be a better fit than the other models I compared it with here. My only suggestion for improvement is that I think this model would benefit from more skeletonizing in the handle to move the balance point forward a bit. The other option is just to keep your eye out for one with a thin tapered tang.

Good luck with your sharking everyone!

Phil
 
Excellent Phil, I really appreciate your input as always. Though this review may not turn me on to a Handyman, I feel that I am going to be keeping my eyes open for a Recluse now. I have been so happy with my first Patch, that I have two more on the way and that makes me really want to try the Recluse (a model I previously was turned off to due to its size). With that said, one in Tapered Tang and light handle materials may make it nimble enough for me to put to good use. Thanks for the comparison between the two!
 
Phil,
Wow thank you for this wealth of knowledge!
Your contributions are so helpful.
I just received my Scandi 3/32 handyman, time for some fun👍🏻
Be well
 
Great addition to this thread Phil! As always you are very thorough, informative and helpful. Thank you!
 
Thanks again for your awesome and non biased input Phill. Always appreciated. I really think this thread should be stickied. There's so much good info in here and I find myself going back to this thread often.
 
Awesome Phil! I like the handyman. Gonna have to get one. Cuz j-dog is right, the answer is both.
 
Phil:

Great insights as always. With the two knives that I currently have, a 5/32" thick w/ TT and a 3/32" SFT scandi, both knives balance just in front of the 2nd set of pins. Based on this observation I would suggest that 1/8" thick steel w/ TT may be the best option for neutral balance.

Peter
 
Phil, once more thank you for this great review. This is reference material.
 
Great review Phil. Really like your perspective and thoroughness on knife reviews.
 
I have all four of those blades as well but I have become most fond of the handyman. Mine is a 1/8 A2 blade stock. If I could get one 1/8 " TT or a 3/32 I'd be a happy man! Thanks for the review Phil.
 
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