- Joined
- May 24, 2011
- Messages
- 3,790
Well, I had my time with the fattycrafter and go it sent off to Rockywolf earlier this week. I had it for a week and a couple days and got a chance to use it quite a bit. I got to try most everything that I wanted to try with it. I wanted to try making a bow drill kit and to use it to help build a fire, but I just didn't get to. Maybe someone else will be able to use it to try do these things with it.
First of all, this things feels very nice in my hand. I really like the extra width that Chris put on the handle. I generally wear a large sized glove, so my hands aren't too big, so I was really wondering how it would feel. It really does fill my hand really well. It was pretty comfortable in every grip that I tried it in while I had it. The sheath is the standard universal sheath that Chris uses for a lot of his knives. I like these sheaths and have for my KFU hunter. They are set up to use as a dangler, regular belt carry, or horizontal carry and are ambidextrous. They also have a firesteel loop that will fit a 3/8" firesteel. I'm usually a fan of darker woods like cocobolo, koa, ironwood, etc. That said I really kinda like the stuff that Chris put on this one.
When I got the knife it was still pretty darn sharp, but wouldn't shave arm hair over the whole length of the edge. I made a few passes over the edge with a ceramic rod and that brought it back to hair poppin sharp nicely. After that I managed to nick myself on the thumb with it while getting a feel for it.
I decided to use the fattycrafter as I would if I were camping. I think this is the main use I will have for it when I get one of my own. I used to to do stuff like cook part of a meal, carve a stick to cook a hot dog or marshmallow over a fire, make a tent stake to replace a broken one. I also made some feathersticks and carved a notch into a stick for a trap or a tent stake.
The wood that I used to try the knife out wasn't dry or green really. It was a few saplings that were growing out of an old stump last fall. It wasn't really very easy to carve, but it was what I had, so I used it. I compared the fattycrafter to a scandi, convex, and a v edge knife to see how the it compared to them. All were shaving sharp and the fattycrafter performed pretty similar to them while carving or making feathersticks. The scandi had a small advantage, but not a great one.
One night I cut up some potatoes and onions to put on the grill with the fattycrafter. It did a pretty good job of this too. The thickness of the blade made it a bit tougher to cut the potatoes and onions into halves than a nice thin chefs knife would have, but this knife is made to be a good bushcraft knife, so its not expected to be a great slicer. It did definitely get the job done and stayed nice and sharp too. After the taters and onions were halved they were sliced up pretty easily.
Overall I really like the fattycrafter and will have to have one of my own. It stayed nice and sharp for me and a little touch up on a ceramic rod was all it needed to get back to shaving sharp and that was only twice. Once when I got it and once sometime while I was using it. It didn't really need it, but I like shaving sharp and its easier to keep it that way if you don't let it get really dull before you sharpen.
Anyways, enough typing. Here are some pictures.
Marshmallow/hot dog cooking stick.
It started developing a patina after the onions and then got a bit more of a patina from the carving. Personally I like a patina and its something that is to be expected with a carbon steel. I'll be interested in seeing how it develops through the rest of the passaround.
First of all, this things feels very nice in my hand. I really like the extra width that Chris put on the handle. I generally wear a large sized glove, so my hands aren't too big, so I was really wondering how it would feel. It really does fill my hand really well. It was pretty comfortable in every grip that I tried it in while I had it. The sheath is the standard universal sheath that Chris uses for a lot of his knives. I like these sheaths and have for my KFU hunter. They are set up to use as a dangler, regular belt carry, or horizontal carry and are ambidextrous. They also have a firesteel loop that will fit a 3/8" firesteel. I'm usually a fan of darker woods like cocobolo, koa, ironwood, etc. That said I really kinda like the stuff that Chris put on this one.
When I got the knife it was still pretty darn sharp, but wouldn't shave arm hair over the whole length of the edge. I made a few passes over the edge with a ceramic rod and that brought it back to hair poppin sharp nicely. After that I managed to nick myself on the thumb with it while getting a feel for it.
I decided to use the fattycrafter as I would if I were camping. I think this is the main use I will have for it when I get one of my own. I used to to do stuff like cook part of a meal, carve a stick to cook a hot dog or marshmallow over a fire, make a tent stake to replace a broken one. I also made some feathersticks and carved a notch into a stick for a trap or a tent stake.
The wood that I used to try the knife out wasn't dry or green really. It was a few saplings that were growing out of an old stump last fall. It wasn't really very easy to carve, but it was what I had, so I used it. I compared the fattycrafter to a scandi, convex, and a v edge knife to see how the it compared to them. All were shaving sharp and the fattycrafter performed pretty similar to them while carving or making feathersticks. The scandi had a small advantage, but not a great one.
One night I cut up some potatoes and onions to put on the grill with the fattycrafter. It did a pretty good job of this too. The thickness of the blade made it a bit tougher to cut the potatoes and onions into halves than a nice thin chefs knife would have, but this knife is made to be a good bushcraft knife, so its not expected to be a great slicer. It did definitely get the job done and stayed nice and sharp too. After the taters and onions were halved they were sliced up pretty easily.
Overall I really like the fattycrafter and will have to have one of my own. It stayed nice and sharp for me and a little touch up on a ceramic rod was all it needed to get back to shaving sharp and that was only twice. Once when I got it and once sometime while I was using it. It didn't really need it, but I like shaving sharp and its easier to keep it that way if you don't let it get really dull before you sharpen.
Anyways, enough typing. Here are some pictures.
Marshmallow/hot dog cooking stick.
It started developing a patina after the onions and then got a bit more of a patina from the carving. Personally I like a patina and its something that is to be expected with a carbon steel. I'll be interested in seeing how it develops through the rest of the passaround.
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