The Wasp

Fiddleback said:
Nice sheath!
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Thanks Andy, bonafide here on BF made that one. It is a very versatile sheath that is both ambidextrous and can be worn either horizontal or vertical on the belt. As a result, the four attachment points on the belt loop to the sheath are a little thin, but there seems to be enough leather there for it to wear well for a long time.
 
Since this thread is focussed on the Wasp that I snagged a couple of weeks ago, I would like to hear how y'all have used your Shanks. Either in the field, around the house, EDC or just carry for defensive reasons as Andy has eluded to.

To Andy, how many Wasps have you made? Are you considering making this knife a regular in your model lineup?
 
My shank helped around the smoke house today.

Before...

UsBrWcK.jpg



After 16hrs in the smoke box...

IkCGKiv.jpg
 
Yea Joe, I was thinking the point along with the size and weight woulld make for a pretty decent small game, fish and fowl knife myself. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
McVeyMac said:
Since this thread is focussed on the Wasp that I snagged a couple of weeks ago, I would like to hear how y'all have used your Shanks. Either in the field, around the house, EDC or just carry for defensive reasons as Andy has eluded to.

To Andy, how many Wasps have you made? Are you considering making this knife a regular in your model lineup?
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When I get mine next week, I'll let you know. Bonafide has been working on some ideas for carry since I want to get away from pocket folders to fixed blades. I think it will work well for EDC as well as defensive.
 
Midwest Chick said:
When I get mine next week, I'll let you know. Bonafide has been working on some ideas for carry since I want to get away from pocket folders to fixed blades. I think it will work well for EDC as well as defensive.
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I agree, and I am thinking of getting a pocket sheath with a clip for strong side hip pocket/IWB carry for this knife. Are you sending the knife to bonafide? I have several of his sheaths, and he does pretty good work.
 
McVeyMac said:
I agree, and I am thinking of getting a pocket sheath with a clip for strong side hip pocket/IWB carry for this knife. Are you sending the knife to bonafide? I have several of his sheaths, and he does pretty good work.
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Right now I sent him some outlines for some knives I have. I've seen his work here so I'm sure he'll come up with something great!
 
Midwest Chick said:
Right now I sent him some outlines for some knives I have. I've seen his work here so I'm sure he'll come up with something great!
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The sheath pictured on page 3 with my Wasp is one of his small 4" sheaths, it fits OK, but the Wasp is so pointy that great care must be exercised when inserting the knife for the first time. I would like something better fitted to the Wasp than his standard sheath, I think.
 
McVeyMac said:
The sheath pictured on page 3 with my Wasp is one of his small 4" sheaths, it fits OK, but the Wasp is so pointy that great care must be exercised when inserting the knife for the first time. I would like something better fitted to the Wasp than his standard sheath, I think.
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So maybe something that would fit both the Shank and the Wasp since they are similar in shape??
 
dcycleman said:
I took a wilderness emt course, and over all it was an awesome experience . But I was amazed at one of the speakers when he said "a large machete or axe is not something you want to bring on a hike with you, some of the multi tools have small saws built in, and that is more appropriate." In my head I'm like ok, so you are deliberately telling people to go into the woods ill prepared to be politically correct. Wow
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dcycleman said:
I took a wilderness emt course, and over all it was an awesome experience . But I was amazed at one of the speakers when he said "a large machete or axe is not something you want to bring on a hike with you, some of the multi tools have small saws built in, and that is more appropriate." In my head I'm like ok, so you are deliberately telling people to go into the woods ill prepared to be politically correct. Wow
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It's a battle with multiple fronts for some of these guys these days, and they have to pick and choose their battles in order to be able to keep teaching skills. A lot of parents don't teach their kids respect for the wilderness or for other people for that matter. There is a small wilderness park on Signal Mountain called "Rainbow Lake". It's just a couple of loop trails that stretch maybe seven or eight miles total at most, and then one joins up with a section of the Cumberland trail and it is about twenty miles from one parking lot to the other. Some of the hemlock trees in that area are well over a hundred years old, and there were some camp sites along a stream at the bottom of the gorge. Well someone, we all presume to be youths, decided to use two of the really old hemlocks next to the creek as a target for throwing hatchets at and for apparently testing the edge(s) on a hatchet(s) and chopped large chunks out in several places on each. You could tell by looking at the damage done that they were not trying to fell the trees, just chopping chunks out of them. The park is bordered by a golf course and a very well-to-do neighborhood, and the people there go walking or jogging there in the mornings before work. People spotted the damage done, hard to miss since both trees are on the edge of the trail, took photos, put them up on bulletin boards around the area, and the outcry went up. The end result was that all camp site were removed, camp fires and fires in general were banned, and anyone packing along a sheath knife of any size is ostracized and judged as the devil himself. I usually just pass through their "park" area and rest at a cable bridge, then continue on out the Cumberland Trail to a bluff overlooking the TN River about half way between the two parking lots. So, I started putting my larger knife in my pack and carrying a small fixed blade on my belt. One day, about six years ago, I was walking in and was about to pass a group of young women on their way back out. It was a Monday morning about 10:30 or so, I had just recently been laid off for the third time in six months. I was in a bad mood, and I had already had a few people make snide remarks about the small knife on my belt of previous trips. The knife was a Fiddleback Hiking Buddy this trip. One of the young women spoke up and said " if you must carry that knife here, we would really appreciate it if you didn't go around chopping on any trees". I sort of lost my temper a little. I said "oh come on, you look reasonably intelligent, and your well spoken, is it possible that you are really that stupid?" She said "what is that supposed to mean/" I said "well young lady, how many instances in the twenty-something years you have graced this planet with you presence, have you seen anyone over the age of ten chopping anything with a knife with a blade shorter than the width of their palm? Further more, I have been coming to this park since before your highness was born, much less before you snared the rich man that moved you into this neighborhood. In all those years I've never cut on any live trees save for invasive species during volunteer projects. My daughter and I have spent countless hours collecting plastic water bottles that you and your kind have been leaving here for years because some of you people are just too damned lazy to carry them back out. I do not need to be told how to behave by some snot-nosed twit, and until you grow up, and learn some respect for your elders, I'd really appreciate it if you would just f_ck the h_ll off and worry about your own behavior." I saw her and her friends a few more times after that, and every time at least one of them was carrying a plastic bag filled with empty plastic water bottles, but we never spoke again. In a way, I wish I had been carrying a Wasp, it's even more obviously not meant for chopping :)
 
Dang, Mist going all midievil on the yuppie wives. Sometimes positive change (carrying out water bottles) only comes after realistic confrontation. In my neck of the woods, things are still pretty rural with one exception of what was a small town that has grown ever larger with the university that it grew up around. Suburbs of this town are ever encroaching into what was land used for agriculture (lost forever, I might add), and closing in on wild habitats. Nuisance bear reports are pretty common, but I have to say that most folks here understand that it is them who are encroaching into their habitat, and simply keep the garbage can in the garage, and only feed the birds when the bears are hibernating. Cohabitating with bears does have some tense moments though, and can be a little unpredictable. The result of this is that the uninformed yuppies stay out of the woods for fear of being eaten by bears, and the ones that frequent the woods tend to be better informed, capable and respectful. Of course there are exceptions to this, and in my experience, a few hunters are the ones who will throw their styrofoam coffee cup, HoHo wrapper or McDonalds bag out of their vehicle onto the State Game Land grounds. The very group who's license fees fund the ground that they are using seem to be the worse offenders. I am certain that it is only a minority, or uninformed youth, but it really angers me when I come across it. About 5 years ago we had a few years of a Gypsy Moth infestation that killed thousands of acres of hardwood forest. This problem was caused by man as well. The only up side is that I have heated my home for four years without having to purchase much fuel. The down side is that when I go to the woods, the tool I use most is the Stihl chainsaw, the Wasp (or any other knife) on my belt is there just because.
 
Mist--good going on that! I used to hike in the Smokys a lot. I'd always pack out a bunch of crud--cigarette butts, wrappers, and pop cans being the worst. Had a few go-rounds with the local botox/breast implant crowd as well.
 
McVeyMac said:
Dang, Mist going all midievil on the yuppie wives. Sometimes positive change (carrying out water bottles) only comes after realistic confrontation. In my neck of the woods, things are still pretty rural with one exception of what was a small town that has grown ever larger with the university that it grew up around. Suburbs of this town are ever encroaching into what was land used for agriculture (lost forever, I might add), and closing in on wild habitats. Nuisance bear reports are pretty common, but I have to say that most folks here understand that it is them who are encroaching into their habitat, and simply keep the garbage can in the garage, and only feed the birds when the bears are hibernating. Cohabitating with bears does have some tense moments though, and can be a little unpredictable. The result of this is that the uninformed yuppies stay out of the woods for fear of being eaten by bears, and the ones that frequent the woods tend to be better informed, capable and respectful. Of course there are exceptions to this, and in my experience, a few hunters are the ones who will throw their styrofoam coffee cup, HoHo wrapper or McDonalds bag out of their vehicle onto the State Game Land grounds. The very group who's license fees fund the ground that they are using seem to be the worse offenders. I am certain that it is only a minority, or uninformed youth, but it really angers me when I come across it. About 5 years ago we had a few years of a Gypsy Moth infestation that killed thousands of acres of hardwood forest. This problem was caused by man as well. The only up side is that I have heated my home for four years without having to purchase much fuel. The down side is that when I go to the woods, the tool I use most is the Stihl chainsaw, the Wasp (or any other knife) on my belt is there just because.
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Yeah, I don't usually lose my temper that easily, but it had just been a rough few months, and I was tired of being looked at as an outsider by people who weren't even born when I started visiting that park. And yes, the situation was similar in our WMAs down there. Some of the hunters could easily be tracked by the trail of garbage they left behind. From a very early age, the main snack I take while hunting has been walnuts and pecans. The "waste" biodegrades, and the sound of cracking them draws in the squirrels :)


Midwest Chick said:
Mist--good going on that! I used to hike in the Smokys a lot. I'd always pack out a bunch of crud--cigarette butts, wrappers, and pop cans being the worst. Had a few go-rounds with the local botox/breast implant crowd as well.
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Thanks. Yep, I've done some hiking in the smokies myself. I just don't understand why people just can't pack back out that which they packed in. It has to be lighter on the way out, since it's empty. I am a smoker myself, but I never leave my butts behind, they always go in a cargo pocket till I reach a garbage can, or on hikes since I don't want to smoke often, I'll take filterless cigarettes and bury the end in the ground to degrade. I've tried to point out to a lot of smokers that throw their butts down that this is one of the main reasons why the non-smoking world hates smokers...but it almost always falls on deaf ears, or they say something stupid like "what?! That's nasty, I'm not putting that in my pocket"...
 
mistwalker said:
Yeah, I don't usually lose my temper that easily, but it had just been a rough few months, and I was tired of being looked at as an outsider by people who weren't even born when I started visiting that park. And yes, the situation was similar in our WMAs down there. Some of the hunters could easily be tracked by the trail of garbage they left behind. From a very early age, the main snack I take while hunting has been walnuts and pecans. The "waste" biodegrades, and the sound of cracking them draws in the squirrels :)




Thanks. Yep, I've done some hiking in the smokies myself. I just don't understand why people just can't pack back out that which they packed in. It has to be lighter on the way out, since it's empty. I am a smoker myself, but I never leave my butts behind, they always go in a cargo pocket till I reach a garbage can, or on hikes since I don't want to smoke often, I'll take filterless cigarettes and bury the end in the ground to degrade. I've tried to point out to a lot of smokers that throw their butts down that this is one of the main reasons why the non-smoking world hates smokers...but it almost always falls on deaf ears, or they say something stupid like "what?! That's nasty, I'm not putting that in my pocket"...
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Pecan encrusted and Walnut stuffed squirrel, yum!
 
Midwest Chick said:
So maybe something that would fit both the Shank and the Wasp since they are similar in shape??
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Hey MC, what are your first impressions of the Wasp? You should have had it for a couple of days now. Did you have a chance to use it a little?
 
McVeyMac said:
Hey MC, what are your first impressions of the Wasp? You should have had it for a couple of days now. Did you have a chance to use it a little?
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I absolutely love it. It fits my hand perfectly. It's light but substantial at the same time, if that makes any sense and the balance is spot on. I have a LOT of knives but this is as close to my HG as I've found. Oh, and that bad boy will slice air. The ash just has it's own inner glow too.
 
McVeyMac said:
Since this thread is focussed on the Wasp that I snagged a couple of weeks ago, I would like to hear how y'all have used your Shanks. Either in the field, around the house, EDC or just carry for defensive reasons as Andy has eluded to.

To Andy, how many Wasps have you made? Are you considering making this knife a regular in your model lineup?
Click to expand...

I opted for a Shank because it reminds me of a mini Woodsman, and double edges are a very serious no-no here. I will get back to you on this later :)
 
Midwest Chick said:
I absolutely love it. It fits my hand perfectly. It's light but substantial at the same time, if that makes any sense and the balance is spot on. I have a LOT of knives but this is as close to my HG as I've found. Oh, and that bad boy will slice air. The ash just has it's own inner glow too.
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In know that I certainly fell in love with mine when I unwrapped it. Enjoy, and stop back from time to time to share your thoughts as you use it.
 
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