Please Make More Fiddlebacks With "Rare" Steels

ncrockclimb

ncrockclimb

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I have been really happy with Andy's A2 and O1. They work great and are really great steels for hard use. I have also REALLY enjoyed Allen's CPM 154, and my FF Production knives in S35VN and 3V. I have seen a few custom shop knives and a few others in steels other than A2 and O1, but they are few and far between.

I think it would be really cool to see a few non-production Fudflebacks in CPM 154, S35vn or 3V. I think I would give a kidney (I've got two) for a CPM 154 Woodsman or 3v Bear Paw. How about a stainless Bush Hemit or Camp Muk? Can you imagine the feeding frenzy for one of those?!?

I remain very happy and enamored with the Fiddleback product offering. I also love all the new designs. Nothing in this thread is meant as a criticism. I am just voicing something I would love to see. Does anyone else feel the same?
 
I used to be a s30v/ s35vn man... that's what drew me to the production runt at first... but I came for the s35vn but stayed for the a2

My only experience with a2 was with bark River knives (aka fiddleback gateway drug) I thought it was ok but hard to get really blisteringly sharp then I tried fiddleback a2 and my whole opinion changed about.. great steel!


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ncrockclimb said:
I remain very happy and enamored with the Fiddleback product offering. I also love all the new designs. Nothing in this thread is meant as a criticism. I am just voicing something I would love to see. Does anyone else feel the same?
Click to expand...

Yes

And here's my most common use: Cutting up breakfast/lunch/dinner for me or my kiddos. The plates are Corningware. My favorite sized blades to carry daily have 3" to 3 3/4" blades. To be honest and also not to criticize, I'm finding myself carrying OKTs more than Fiddlebacks - but more Fiddlebacks than OKTs (it will make sense soon). Cut one meal's worth of food with an A2 Esquire (pressing lightly as possible) and you can see the shine of the flattened edge. I'm probably just a bit anal about the whole edge remaining sharp but a CPM154 Mamushi, Warthog or Apache K will retain their edges more better. I do like the variety of cycling through knives but I'll use a single Fiddleback each day for 3 to 5 days and then strop them all after they piled up a bit. An OKT will take me through a week before needing any touch up - and Chris is starting to work on 3V and S35VN soon I believe. If I go to my old fallback S90V PM2, that edge would last forever.

My understanding is that A2 serves well in the outdoors because edge maintenance is easier in that setting.

Then again, the OKT's CPM154 seems kind of "boring" in a sense when there's no patina forming. Yep, never happy. :)

Then there is the cool Fiddleback Spalting and I'm not sure if all steel types allow for Spalting.

That's why I was glad to see Andy's mention of the Fiddleback M4 coming up - it's properties plus patina-type character.
 
Here are some Crucible Rex M4 properties.

Apparently you have to cool it in 25 degree increments for 6 hours. Although the full annealing process looks to take about a day. Someone either has to pay a lot of attention or have a very programmable furnace unit. Then triple tempering. It is a bear.
 
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Warrior108 said:
Yes

And here's my most common use: Cutting up breakfast/lunch/dinner for me or my kiddos. The plates are Corningware. My favorite sized blades to carry daily have 3" to 3 3/4" blades. To be honest and also not to criticize, I'm finding myself carrying OKTs more than Fiddlebacks - but more Fiddlebacks than OKTs (it will make sense soon). Cut one meal's worth of food with an A2 Esquire (pressing lightly as possible) and you can see the shine of the flattened edge. I'm probably just a bit anal about the whole edge remaining sharp but a CPM154 Mamushi, Warthog or Apache K will retain their edges more better. I do like the variety of cycling through knives but I'll use a single Fiddleback each day for 3 to 5 days and then strop them all after they piled up a bit. An OKT will take me through a week before needing any touch up - and Chris is starting to work on 3V and S35VN soon I believe. If I go to my old fallback S90V PM2, that edge would last forever.

My understanding is that A2 serves well in the outdoors because edge maintenance is easier in that setting.

Then again, the OKT's CPM154 seems kind of "boring" in a sense when there's no patina forming. Yep, never happy. :)

Then there is the cool Fiddleback Spalting and I'm not sure if all steel types allow for Spalting.

That's why I was glad to see Andy's mention of the Fiddleback M4 coming up - it's properties plus patina-type character.
Click to expand...

Good post.

I often carry my 4" WAS in CPM154 and my production Duke for many of the reasons listed above. My all time favorite knives are Fiddlebacks in O1 and A2 (Woodsman, Camp Muk and Bear Paw). The Fiddleback steel is great, takes a spectacular edge, and spalting is spectacular. However, I also like the look of Allen's and Dylan's CPM154 and sometimes prefer stainless and edge holding...
 
Panthera tigris said:
Here are some Crucible Rex M4 properties.

Apparently you have to cool it in 25 degree increments for 6 hours. Although the full annealing process looks to take about a day. Someone either has to pay a lot of attention or have a very programmable furnace unit. Then triple tempering. It is a bear.
Click to expand...

The only experience I have with M4 is on my Spyderco Gayle Bradley V1 Folder. It holds an edge, but given the size of the knife I have never put it to any hard use. I am sure if Andy uses M4, he will eek every bit of the capability out of the steel and it will be great.
 
I know there are a prettt good number of them out there, but I feel pretty lucky to have a Fiddleback in CPM154. It's also the knife that I consider my first, even though it was technically my second. It was my first Friday purchase!

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I agree though, I wouldn't mind seeing some other models in different steels!

I will also say that it took a little bit for A2 to grow on me, but I actually really like it. Seems to hold an edge well enough and it is indeed easy to strop back to shaving sharp.

Looking forward to seeing what comes of the M4.
 
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