- Joined
- Jan 22, 2013
- Messages
- 3,003
What to say about the Terrasaur... Well let me first start by saying that I have been collecting Fidddlebacks more than I've been using them. When dropping this kind of coin on such a beautiful blade, it's not easy bringing yourself to really use it IMO. So I finally said to myself "Self! You need to purchase a unused fiddleback and put that thing to work!".
My next dilemma was choosing the appropriate model. Andy has a ton of variants that are all stunning and he keeps pumping out new ones. I swear he's got a pack of elves working around the clock in that shop of his. I do more camping and fishing than anything else, so I decided to go with a slimmer, longer, thinner blade. The 1/8" full height grind, tapered tang Terrasaur it had to be.
When I first held the Terrassaur, I was very impressed with how light it is. It must be a third the weight of my 5/32" full tang Terry. It's so light, many times on my hiking and fishing trips I'd forget it was on my hip. I don't fancy micro bevels, so the first thing I did was remove it and get that blade shaving sharp. Andy puts a perfect micro bevel on his blades, so that if one chooses to keep the micro bevel, it's ample enough to do so. But if they want to sharpen it off, they don't have to completely reprofile and remove a ton of steel from the blade.
Food prep- This thing excels at food prep. It's a great slicer, filleter, peeler and just all around good knife to have around a camp food prep area. It also loves slicing through big 2" thick New York steaks.
Wood processing- Batoning: The Terry did shockingly well at batoning wood. I decided to have a backyard fire and made some campfire bannock (sorry no pics) with my little ones. I batoned some clean, seasoned Modesto Ash. This Ash was very clean and had no knots so I gave it a shot. At first I was tentatively batoning (the blade is only 1/8" thick), but after it went through the wood a couple times, I let it rip. Wow! Not only did it baton excellently, it really kept a nice edge! Was it shaving sharp? No, but it still possessed a very sharp working edge. With a couple of passes on the strop it was right back to shaving sharp. Though my blade held up well, I wouldn't recommend going baton crazy with 1/8" stock. If you have to, I recommend batoning very gingerly through clean wood with no knots.
Feather sticking: The Terrasaur does extremely well in feather sticking. With the thinner apex of the zeroed out 1/8" stock, it slices through wood very well. I was a little apprehensive of pushing the feather stick away from the block of wood that I was working on. I didn't want to roll or chip the edge, but surprisingly enough, through many pushes, the blade remained clean with no rolls. I'm not a big feather stick guy, I've never been in a situation where I couldn't gather small twigs and branches to start a fire. I do believe that the handle has a lot to do with the ease and all around comfort of feather sticking. This is where the the 1/8" Terry gets a lower grade. The handle is just too thin (a hair over 5/8" at the belly or at its thickest) for me, in this task. I noticed after the second feather stick, I was really feeling the thinner handle push into my palm muscles in a uncomfortable way. I remember saying "Man Terry, you're awesome, but you'd kill me if I had to make feather sticks all day." If your crazy about feather sticking, you might want to go with Andy's 5/32" stock. This is the only critique I have on this blade and it's nothing a nice leather camp glove can't remedy.
In conclusion, I think the Terry is an excellent blade. If you want a light weight all around tough knife, for hiking and outdoor use, I highly recommend picking up one or two. Joe Flowers is the original designer of the Terrasaur and I must say, the guy knew what he was doing.
Thanks to Joe Flowers for designing one hell of a blade and thanks to Andy Roy for building one tuff son of a bee sting.
5/32" Terrasaur (in doublemint) and the 1/8" Terry in maroon micarta.
Thanks for stopping in.
Duder
My next dilemma was choosing the appropriate model. Andy has a ton of variants that are all stunning and he keeps pumping out new ones. I swear he's got a pack of elves working around the clock in that shop of his. I do more camping and fishing than anything else, so I decided to go with a slimmer, longer, thinner blade. The 1/8" full height grind, tapered tang Terrasaur it had to be.
When I first held the Terrassaur, I was very impressed with how light it is. It must be a third the weight of my 5/32" full tang Terry. It's so light, many times on my hiking and fishing trips I'd forget it was on my hip. I don't fancy micro bevels, so the first thing I did was remove it and get that blade shaving sharp. Andy puts a perfect micro bevel on his blades, so that if one chooses to keep the micro bevel, it's ample enough to do so. But if they want to sharpen it off, they don't have to completely reprofile and remove a ton of steel from the blade.
Food prep- This thing excels at food prep. It's a great slicer, filleter, peeler and just all around good knife to have around a camp food prep area. It also loves slicing through big 2" thick New York steaks.
Wood processing- Batoning: The Terry did shockingly well at batoning wood. I decided to have a backyard fire and made some campfire bannock (sorry no pics) with my little ones. I batoned some clean, seasoned Modesto Ash. This Ash was very clean and had no knots so I gave it a shot. At first I was tentatively batoning (the blade is only 1/8" thick), but after it went through the wood a couple times, I let it rip. Wow! Not only did it baton excellently, it really kept a nice edge! Was it shaving sharp? No, but it still possessed a very sharp working edge. With a couple of passes on the strop it was right back to shaving sharp. Though my blade held up well, I wouldn't recommend going baton crazy with 1/8" stock. If you have to, I recommend batoning very gingerly through clean wood with no knots.
Feather sticking: The Terrasaur does extremely well in feather sticking. With the thinner apex of the zeroed out 1/8" stock, it slices through wood very well. I was a little apprehensive of pushing the feather stick away from the block of wood that I was working on. I didn't want to roll or chip the edge, but surprisingly enough, through many pushes, the blade remained clean with no rolls. I'm not a big feather stick guy, I've never been in a situation where I couldn't gather small twigs and branches to start a fire. I do believe that the handle has a lot to do with the ease and all around comfort of feather sticking. This is where the the 1/8" Terry gets a lower grade. The handle is just too thin (a hair over 5/8" at the belly or at its thickest) for me, in this task. I noticed after the second feather stick, I was really feeling the thinner handle push into my palm muscles in a uncomfortable way. I remember saying "Man Terry, you're awesome, but you'd kill me if I had to make feather sticks all day." If your crazy about feather sticking, you might want to go with Andy's 5/32" stock. This is the only critique I have on this blade and it's nothing a nice leather camp glove can't remedy.
In conclusion, I think the Terry is an excellent blade. If you want a light weight all around tough knife, for hiking and outdoor use, I highly recommend picking up one or two. Joe Flowers is the original designer of the Terrasaur and I must say, the guy knew what he was doing.
Thanks to Joe Flowers for designing one hell of a blade and thanks to Andy Roy for building one tuff son of a bee sting.
5/32" Terrasaur (in doublemint) and the 1/8" Terry in maroon micarta.
Thanks for stopping in.
Duder
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) handle shape looks like it'd be really comfortable if the thickness is right.
