- Joined
- Sep 14, 2006
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- 4,409
This is my initial review of Andy Roy's (Fiddle Back) 14" machete.
I received the knife as part of a passaround. The edge was still pretty good, not shaving sharp, but almost, so I touched it up a tiny bit with a diamond hone, then smoothed it down on a ceramic rod.
I keep trade catalogues around because they have very thin paper. I use them to test edges on blades. This stuff is not quite as thin and flimsy as tissue paper, but almost. If any of my knives can slice this thin paper smoothly and with no tearing or undue effort, I consider them sharp. This blade easily passed that test on its entire edge. :thumbup:
I also did an inspection of the blade and the handle. I have had a couple of Andy's knives in the past, and have found his handles to be among the best from a custom maker in terms of fit, finish, and ergonomics. This machete handle was no exception.
For a machete which will be used hard and put up wet, I see no need for extra frills on a handle, but I do expect sturdy build and good ergonomics. This knife has both. The micarta is evenly shaped on both sides, and the surface was left rough which I prefer. Some makers polish their micarta, which makes the handle slick, but this handle was just right.
The pins were well done and there were no gaps between the scales and the tang.
The blade is well shaped and uniform. The grinds were even with a good angle to the primary bevel, not too thick, nor too thin.
The blade has a slight forward aspect which keeps the belly of the blade ahead of the handle, which is very good for chopping. The blade was also nice and straight.
Out here on my property there are two primary types of vegetation which any blade might have to deal with; hardwoods like live oak, hackberry and pecan, and greenbriar, which is a fast growing, thorny, tough vine that grows up profusely and can kill trees by shading them out.
Greenbrier is like living barbed wire, especially when it is alive. When it dies and dries out, it becomes brittle and is easily pulled out of trees, but when it is live, it is very, very tough. I normally use a Gerber brush hook to cut this stuff back and don't normally have very good luck with machetes because the curve of a machete will push the vine away rather than bite into it. But my experience has been with the average Chinese made machete, not an Andy Roy machete, and that made all the difference.
The fine edge, and edge-keeping ability of the knife made it perfectly suitable for cutting these tough plants. The sharp edge caught and bit into the vine allowing for a clean cut. :thumbup:
On to chopping wood. As this is a machete and not a khuk, I limited my cutting test to smaller branches (up to 3"). The branches were mostly live oak, and were both living and dead wood.
The machete with its thin edge and blade made short work of the green live oak branches.
While cutting brush, it is sometimes necessary to chop off a lower hanging branch, while leaving another branch adjacent to it intact. This may require cutting with only the tip or last few inches of a blade.
This style of cutting can sometimes transfer a good deal of shock to the hand and arm. In addition, if the tip isn't tough enough to handle such use, it can bend or deform. I experienced neither problem with Andy's machete. :thumbup:
I then moved on to cutting dead oak. This is a real challenge to any chopper. Dead, dried oak is very hard and can quickly dull or deform an edge. While the edge on this machete dulled slightly, there was no edge deformation, and I was putting plenty of power into my swings. :tu:
After chopping out several branches, I re-checked the edge. While it had dulled somewhat from cutting the hard, dead oak, it was by no means unusable, still plenty sharp for more work. :thumbup:
I inspected the handle again. Sometimes, on less well made machetes, the handle scales will begin to separate from the tang because of the whippy nature of the blade. I saw none of that with this machete. :thumbup:
The handle is about six inches long, and very comfortable in the hand. It allows the user to choke up -
or to slide down to the end of the handle for more reach and chopping power -
I will often put a lanyard on a knife like this but since this was a passaround knife, I didn't do that to this one. But, the lanyard hole was well done and perfectly suitable to that purpose. Andy typically does what he calls a "bullseye" lanyard tube, and this machete has that signature feature. :thumbup:
I haven't batoned with this knife, nor have I chopped larger branches. This is a machete and not generally suitable for such purpose, but I have no doubt that it could perform either task. It seems to me that the heat treat and the handle are both up to such uses. :thumbup:
I have to say that generally speaking I am not a fan of machetes, preferring heavier choppers, but now that I have had a chance to use this Fiddleback knife, I may have to buy one. Of course, the question is which size?
Andy
I received the knife as part of a passaround. The edge was still pretty good, not shaving sharp, but almost, so I touched it up a tiny bit with a diamond hone, then smoothed it down on a ceramic rod.
I keep trade catalogues around because they have very thin paper. I use them to test edges on blades. This stuff is not quite as thin and flimsy as tissue paper, but almost. If any of my knives can slice this thin paper smoothly and with no tearing or undue effort, I consider them sharp. This blade easily passed that test on its entire edge. :thumbup:
I also did an inspection of the blade and the handle. I have had a couple of Andy's knives in the past, and have found his handles to be among the best from a custom maker in terms of fit, finish, and ergonomics. This machete handle was no exception.
For a machete which will be used hard and put up wet, I see no need for extra frills on a handle, but I do expect sturdy build and good ergonomics. This knife has both. The micarta is evenly shaped on both sides, and the surface was left rough which I prefer. Some makers polish their micarta, which makes the handle slick, but this handle was just right.
The pins were well done and there were no gaps between the scales and the tang.
The blade is well shaped and uniform. The grinds were even with a good angle to the primary bevel, not too thick, nor too thin.
The blade has a slight forward aspect which keeps the belly of the blade ahead of the handle, which is very good for chopping. The blade was also nice and straight.
Out here on my property there are two primary types of vegetation which any blade might have to deal with; hardwoods like live oak, hackberry and pecan, and greenbriar, which is a fast growing, thorny, tough vine that grows up profusely and can kill trees by shading them out.
Greenbrier is like living barbed wire, especially when it is alive. When it dies and dries out, it becomes brittle and is easily pulled out of trees, but when it is live, it is very, very tough. I normally use a Gerber brush hook to cut this stuff back and don't normally have very good luck with machetes because the curve of a machete will push the vine away rather than bite into it. But my experience has been with the average Chinese made machete, not an Andy Roy machete, and that made all the difference.
The fine edge, and edge-keeping ability of the knife made it perfectly suitable for cutting these tough plants. The sharp edge caught and bit into the vine allowing for a clean cut. :thumbup:
On to chopping wood. As this is a machete and not a khuk, I limited my cutting test to smaller branches (up to 3"). The branches were mostly live oak, and were both living and dead wood.
The machete with its thin edge and blade made short work of the green live oak branches.
While cutting brush, it is sometimes necessary to chop off a lower hanging branch, while leaving another branch adjacent to it intact. This may require cutting with only the tip or last few inches of a blade.
This style of cutting can sometimes transfer a good deal of shock to the hand and arm. In addition, if the tip isn't tough enough to handle such use, it can bend or deform. I experienced neither problem with Andy's machete. :thumbup:
I then moved on to cutting dead oak. This is a real challenge to any chopper. Dead, dried oak is very hard and can quickly dull or deform an edge. While the edge on this machete dulled slightly, there was no edge deformation, and I was putting plenty of power into my swings. :tu:
After chopping out several branches, I re-checked the edge. While it had dulled somewhat from cutting the hard, dead oak, it was by no means unusable, still plenty sharp for more work. :thumbup:
I inspected the handle again. Sometimes, on less well made machetes, the handle scales will begin to separate from the tang because of the whippy nature of the blade. I saw none of that with this machete. :thumbup:
The handle is about six inches long, and very comfortable in the hand. It allows the user to choke up -
or to slide down to the end of the handle for more reach and chopping power -
I will often put a lanyard on a knife like this but since this was a passaround knife, I didn't do that to this one. But, the lanyard hole was well done and perfectly suitable to that purpose. Andy typically does what he calls a "bullseye" lanyard tube, and this machete has that signature feature. :thumbup:
I haven't batoned with this knife, nor have I chopped larger branches. This is a machete and not generally suitable for such purpose, but I have no doubt that it could perform either task. It seems to me that the heat treat and the handle are both up to such uses. :thumbup:
I have to say that generally speaking I am not a fan of machetes, preferring heavier choppers, but now that I have had a chance to use this Fiddleback knife, I may have to buy one. Of course, the question is which size?
Andy
