Trio Exchange

[Comprehensivist]

Trio Exchange - Part 1


This is a summary of my experience with a temporary exchange of three Fiddleback knives loaned by my friend Thurin in exchange for three knives that I lent to him.

Background:

I first “met” Nathan (Thurin) here on the forum back in January. I made a post with some tips for scoring a knife on Fiddleback Fridays to help out a guy who was frustrated that he missed getting the knife he wanted due to the Shark frenzy. Nathan liked my post and he sent me a friend request. I told him that he was one of the influential “Great White Sharks” that I referred in that post. He in turn told me about the fotki trick, which I didn’t know about at that time. He encouraged me to re-post this subject as a separate thread, but by then Andy had already made it a sticky.

In the months since then, we have regularly kept in touch through posts here on the forum and personal messages on subjects ranging from knife stuff, to family, health, & work, etc. Through that communication, we have established a deeper friendship and a mutual respect for each others’ contributions to the forum.

Intent of the Exchange:

I knew that Nathan didn’t own a Sneaky Pete after seeing photos of his collection. Several times he has posted that he was curious about the handle, but that the knife looks too tactical to him. Since I really like the Sneaky Pete, I encouraged him to keep an open mind and give it a try. I offered to lend him mine to try out so that he didn’t have to spend $300+/- to figure out if he liked it or not. I sent him a couple of PM’s on this subject before he finally accepted. He in turn asked me to pick out one of his knives to try on an exchange basis. I asked to try his K.E. Bushie. So our plan was set.

When the time came to ship the Sneaky Pete, I decided to include two more models that he doesn’t have in his collection. I thought that he would like seeing these due to his oft stated extra-large hand size. My intent was to maximize the opportunity to let him compare and contrast a few models at the same time to see if one stands out to add to his wish list. I told Nathan that I had sent the Sneaky Pete plus two “surprise” knives (I’ll let him tell you what the other two are in his post.) He responded by calling my raise and sending me three of his.

We committed to starting this thread to share our thoughts on the exchange after we were done. We agreed that we wanted to “do it justice” in Nathan’s words rather than just have it just be a photo op.

The Knives:

Nathan chose three models that I didn’t have based on his knowledge of my collection. In addition to the requested K.E Bushie, he sent his Runt and ED Karda as the surprise additions. I only have a couple of 3” models, so it was nice to get a couple of small ones to try. This set was a great selection on his part.

Here are a couple of photos of the knives that I received from him:





The K.E Bushie is 1/8” thick O1 tool steel with a full tang and a Scandi grind. The spalting on this knife reminds me of a stone-washed granite finish - very nice! The handle is Shadetree Electric Orange burlap over black micarta with an orange pinstripe and black micarta pins. It is 8-3/8” overall length and the blade length is a little over 3-3/4”. It weighs 5.6 ounces.

The ED Karda is 1/8” thick O1 tool steel with a tapered tang and a convex grind. The spalting is an even light granite color. The handle is African Blackwood over natural micarta with a white pinstripe and natural micarta pins. This is essentially the wood version of a Tuxedo handle configuration. It is 6-3/4” overall length and the blade length is 2-5/8”. It weighs 3.2 ounces.

The Runt is 1/8” thick O1 tool steel with a tapered tang and a convex grind. The grind is full height, so it shows minimal spalting. The handle is Black Micarta over natural micarta with a white pinstripe and natural micarta pins. This is the Tuxedo handle configuration. It is 5-1/4” overall length and the blade length is 2-1/4”. It weighs 2.6 ounces.

A few additional comments on the handle materials:

K.E. Bushie - If you know me on the forum, you know that I am a big fan of the Shadetree burlaps. I have many of the burlap colors, but no examples of Electric Orange in my “rainbow.” Getting to see and use this example was a real treat for me since this color is relatively scarce and always sells very quick when something with this handle material becomes available. It is very hard to capture the subtle sparkle of the material in photos. Trust me, it is very nice indeed.



ED Karda - The African Blackwood over natural micarta with a white pinstripe and natural micarta pins is a striking combination. Depending on the light, the wood ranges from very dark to rich brown with dark stripes. It is a dense stable straight-grained wood. This is a very elegant combination.

Runt - The “Tuxedo” Black Micarta over natural micarta with a white pinstripe and natural micarta pins is an elegant classic look. The fact that this is one of Andy’s “base price” configurations is just amazing. I think that it is the best looking standard handle configuration of any maker that I am aware of.



The Sheaths:

I believe that a knife can’t be a true user unless you have a good sheath to carry it to and fro and protect it along the way. All of Nathan’s knives are users and each came with a sheath. Since these are an important part of the overall package, I want to comment on each of them.

The K.E. Bushie came with a Talfuchre (Diomedes Industries) medium brown double-stitched bushcraft style sheath with a detachable dangler & firesteel loop. I have several of Talfuchre’s sheaths and they are very well crafted and built like a tank with the knife sitting deeply in the sheath. The fit is very snug and secure. I like the different carry choices available with the detachable dangler feature. This sheath also fits equally well with an Arete or Kephart.



The ED Karda and Runt came with Rick Lowe single stitched belt sheaths. Both of them are medium brown with a darker border around the stitching. I don’t know what he calls this color combination, but I call it his signature edition because it seems to be his most common classic look. This color combo compliments the Tuxedo handles on the knives very nicely. The feature that I like the best about Ricks’s sheaths is how the shorter top stitched area forms a positive stop for the knife handle when it is properly seated. This prevents inserting the knife too deeply as the sheath breaks in over time. The Runt sheath holds the knife securely without any wet-forming necessary and it has a standard belt loop. The ED Karda sheath is a slightly looser fit and it has the spring metal clip configuration for easy on and off. My personal bias is for the standard loop over the metal clip. I am not sure if this sheath was originally designed specifically for an ED Karda or as a generic 3” sheath.

[/QUOTE]

 

[Comprehensivist]

Part 2


In-Hand Photos:

In hand photos can be helpful, but knowing the subject’s hand size is important for reference. I have medium / average size hands. My hand measures 3-3/4” wide across my palm and 7-1/8” in length from the tip of my middle finger to the base of my palm where it meets the wrist. Nathan is known to have extra large hands. Variations in hand size (and/or finger length) can be a significant factor that determines why one model is great for some people and not others.

Since I live in California and Nathan lives in Colorado, we could not get together to take an actual side-by-side photo of our hands. In order to provide some frame of reference, I did find this stock photo that “may” represent the difference in our hand sizes.



Here are my in-hand photos of his knives.









The Spoon Project:

I tried to think of a project where I could use all three knives for different parts of it. I finally decided to try to carve a spoon. I have never attempted making a spoon before, but it seems like a popular project on the wilderness survival type forums. My plan was to use the Runt to dish out the spoon, the ED Karda for one half of the outside shaping, and the K.E. Bushie for the other. I scrounged around my garage and found an appropriate size piece of Balsa wood. Not the best choice of material for a spoon, but it is what I had on hand.

I traced out the spoon outline and got going.



I started with push cuts...



I quickly abandoned the push cut grip in favor of a side grip that offered better control while slowly digging out the material.









I used the ED Karda to carve the material on the first side of the spoon.









I switched to the K.E. Bushie to whittle down the other side.







OUCH!! My second bite from a Fiddleback.

This is the first cut that I have ever received from a Fiddleback knife. I was rotating my grip on the spoon a little too quickly at the later stages of carving and this is what happened. It was a good bleeder. I did not plan to do any “game meat” testing as part of my review. Based on this impromptu test, I am convinced that the Scandi grind on this knife would work just fine processing game in the field.

In case you are curious, my first bite from a Fiddleback happened six years ago courtesy of a Brown Recluse (a.k.a. Fiddleback) spider that got me on my left forearm. The spider apparently caught a ride from back east in some boxes of hardwood flooring material. That bite was not something I would wish on anyone. I’ll spare you the gruesome photos of that wound.





After a band-aid break, it was back to work to finish things up as far as I wanted to go.





[/QUOTE]

 

[Comprehensivist]

Part 3


The Mini-Try-Stick Project:

After the K.E. Bushie and I made up, I decided to try it again on a mini try-stick type project. The wood used was Silver Maple. The Scandi grind really cuts through wood like crazy. Thin accurate shavings are no problem. The handle felt comfortable in various grips. I really like the continuous curve of the cutting edge for the way it works on long sweeping cuts where you start cutting near the ricasso and continue to the tip as you rotate your wrist. This geometry works for a smooth cutting stroke.

I wasn’t completely happy with how my through slot turned out, but that was my lack of skill showing through rather than any issue with the knife.





The Pot Hanger Project:

I recently picked up a new pot from REI for my camping box. I wanted something to use for stew or chili or popcorn over a stove or open fire. I decided to show how I make a simple pot hanger when I cook over an open fire. The pot hanger stays cool over a small fire. That allows you to take the pot off without burning yourself when the food is done.

First, I cut a wishbone shaped hook out of a forked branch. Then I cut a fish hook shaped notch toward the inside lower end of the longer arm. The notch can either be “J” shaped with a slightly rounded bottom or “V” shaped with a sharp corner at the bottom. The important part is that the notch should have enough of a lip or slanted ledge so that the bail of the pot will not slip off the pot hanger.

I used the ED Karda to make my pot hanger. It is a simple project.







I used more Silver Maple and the K.E. Bushie for the rest of the set-up. Limbing small branches was no problem. I used a folding saw to cut the two post pieces to the same length including the two-pronged forks at the top. I used the knife to sharpen the points of the branches that were set into the ground about 4”. The crossbeam piece was cut to length according to my anticipated fire size. I also split some kindling wood and shavings for the fire. Batoning the KEB through the approximately 1-1/2” thick branches was an easy task for this knife. I didn’t find the Scandi edge to work any better or worse for this task than other similar size convex knives.







Here is the result showing my typical camp set-up with the pot hanger in place. I didn’t actually start the fire because we are in a severe drought in California with open fires not allowed while camping in most of the state.







Post-Use Opinions on the Knives:

After using the knives on several projects, here are my thoughts on each model.

K.E. Bushie

This was the first Scandi grind Fiddleback that I have tried. I really liked the way it performed on wood. I like the continuous curve of the blade from ricasso to tip. It looks sexy and it works great for long sweeping cuts as you extend and rotate your wrist. Prior to this, I never seriously considered buying a Scandi Fiddleback before. One reason for that is because I have not developed the skill(s) to sharpen a Scandi grind to the same level that I can with a convex grind. The other reason is because I know enough about engineering to know that a true Scandi grind (no micro-bevel) cannot be as strong at the edge as a convex grind. Whether that translates into any real world difference, I don’t know. All I do know at this point is that I like this particular knife. The Scandi grind impressed me enough that I will be looking out for the right one on the Flea Market.

The round butt shape on the KEB is very comfortable to work with. The bottom edge of the handle has a more pronounced beak and slightly deeper curves on either side of the palm swell than my similar size Arete. The handle on this KEB is about .200” longer than my Arete. The center of the palm swell on the KEB handle also sits back a little further than it does on the Arete. I have a slight preference for the shorter Arete handle, but I would be very comfortable going the rest of my life with either one.

As a devoted Shadetree fan, I have to say that the Electric Orange burlap is some amazingly beautiful stuff. Lusting aside, I didn’t let that distract me from reviewing this knife objectively. I will have some Electric Orange burlap in my Shadetree “rainbow” eventually.

ED Karda

The ED Karda impressed me more than I expected. It is just a great whittling / general utility knife in a small package. The handle size is generous enough to provide good leverage and control without being too big. The short length of the blade makes precise tip control very easy. I will keep my eye out for this model if I can find one with the right handle material(s).

Runt

The Runt is a tremendously popular model. People go into a buying frenzy when Runts or Camp knives show up on Fridays. I have never been much of a fan of 3-finger knives, mostly because the handles feel puny. The Runt is the nicest 3-finger knife that I have tried. It has a substantial handle that provides adequate control and leverage in a small package. I would buy one for pocket carry if it wasn’t illegal to do so in California. It makes no sense to me that I can legally carry a giant folder concealed in my pocket here, but not a tiny fixed blade. For a belt knife, I prefer a little more size. Despite these issues, there is still something about the Runt that draws me in and makes me want to buy one for use in the office or garage. It has a synergistic “sum is greater than its parts” appeal to me that I can’t adequately put into words. I acknowledge that I don’t need a Runt, but I feel compelled to buy one eventually.

As a side note, I would like to try the larger Palmer model, but I hear that it has been permanently retired. That is too bad. I hope that Andy changes his mind on that model eventually.

Risk / Caution Notes:

My top priority throughout the four plus weeks that I had these knives was to safeguard and return them in exactly the same condition as I received them. Other than basic cleaning and drying, I did not sharpen, strop, or do anything to alter their patinas.

Good intentions are very noble, but sometimes unforeseen circumstances can ruin your best laid plans. After I finished taking my final photos, I started carrying stuff back in. Somehow, I tripped on a rock and fell. The ED Karda popped out of its sheath and hit the dirt. I immediately picked it up and saw that there were chips in the wood at the front and back edges of the right scale. I was horrified. Even though it was an accident, it still happened on my watch. I felt like “Stinky Hot Icky Turd!!” It sucks to have to send an e-mail that says, “Hi Nathan, I screwed up your knife...sorry.”





I am sharing this part of the story so that you understand that there are some risks and responsibilities when you loan out or borrow nice tools. In order to try to make things right in his favor, I offered three possible solutions. I would either; search for a suitable replacement, pay him full value for the knife, or give him one of mine in exchange. He responded quickly to say that he knew that this was an accident and “stuff happens.” He rejected all of my offers for being over the top. In the end, I sent him enough cash to pay for a Spa visit (and IPA for the crew.)

This was just another example of Nathan’s true character and the measure of our friendship. What could I do except say that I was very sorry and thank him for his forgiveness.

Cost of a Spa visit to fix my accident = $$

Value of forgiveness from a true friend = Priceless!![/QUOTE]

 

[Comprehensivist]

Part 4 - Phil's Conclusion

Final Thoughts:

I have learned a lot about these knives through this experience. Honestly, it has been a lot of work to “do it justice” with three knives. I started it by sending three knives, so I have no one else to blame besides myself. If I do another exchange with someone down the road, I will limit it to one knife at a time.

If you are interested in doing your own exchange, you are free to choose your partner and establish whatever rules you want to cover acceptable use(s), timeframe, risks, etc.

I personally have decided on specific criteria that I will look for in a potential exchange partner should the opportunity come up down the road. My personal criteria are:

1) Gold Membership - Your Blade Forums membership status conveys your base level of commitment to me. If you are too cheap to spend the $30 for Gold status (or above) to support the forum, then I can’t risk sending you my $250 to $500 knife.

2) “Net Contributor” - I want to work with people who actively participate and contribute to the discussion on the forum. My definition of a net contributor is someone who adds as much to the conversation here as they take away. Make some posts to share your thoughts and experiences on a knife along with a photo or two. That is how I get to know you. Lurkers and people who just swim in on Friday to Shark a knife, then swim away until the next Friday, are not people I know. This does not necessarily mean that you have to have a deep collection of Fiddleback knives in order to contribute something useful to the conversation. The best example that I can offer to describe that is RRaconteur (a.k.a. Michael.) For many months, Michael was the “Man with no Knife” (spaghetti western music playing in the background.) Despite that, he posted frequently and added much to the discourse here. By doing so, he developed some good friends like McVeyMac (a.k.a. Walt) who in turn offered him the long term loan of a Kephart. That is a great story that summarizes what I am talking about.

3) Trust – This is the personal connection that comes from frequency of interaction. Cultivate some friendships. Send some PM’s to people that you admire or look up to. Ask good questions and listen to the voice of experience. I have my Fiddleback mentors and I am not ashamed to admit that they know more than me and I’d like to learn from them.

In closing, my focus going forward will be to do at least one in-depth knife review every month or so. I already have a couple of projects planned and started. I have never been this active on a forum before. I am now because I love the group of regulars who participate. Andy’s great knives draw us in initially, but it is the relationships we build that make it really fun to hang out. I am very thankful to be part of a great community here.

Finally, I must thank Nathan for being a great friend and mentor to me. He has had a tremendous influence on me. I respect him more than ever.

Best regards,

Phil[/QUOTE]

 

[thurin]

The Exchange

This is the summary of my half of the exchange that Phil (or as I mistakenly called him Paul the first time – d’Oh! Thankfully he forgave me) AKA Comprehensivist, AKA the man with all the Shadetree, and I performed.

Way back in May, as part of some of our back and forth keeping up with each other, Phil sent me a message about a Camp Nessie he had scored in a trade along with a matching Sneaky Pete. In addition to telling him how amazing it was to have a matched set like that come together, I mentioned (as I’m sure I had other times as well in various threads, PMs, etc.) that I really needed to try out a Sneaky Pete someday. It’s been getting rave reviews since it first came out of the Forge, and I wanted to see what the fuss was. Looking at it, I didn’t quite get it. It has more of an aggressive stance than the typical Fiddleback and I always thought it a little too tactical for my taste. But I wanted to try it out instead of just writing it off.

Phil offered to send one my way and after some more back and forth and both of us being gone on vacations, we agreed to him sending one out in exchange for him picking something from my set that I could send his way. In a surprise move I received a “The Sneaky Pete and two other mystery knives are on their way” message.

The Knives
Much to my delight, Phil sent me his Sneaky Pete and 2 big boys all from his incredible Shadetree collection. Wow! Really Phil?!? Camp Knife, Duke and Sneaky Pete!

The Camp Knife is somewhat of a grail for me. Some day. I can’t believe Phil sent one my way to check out.

I’ve wanted to try a Duke for a long time. I love my Woodsman, and the Duke seems like a really good challenger for it in the “Big Boy” category.

What great examples these 3 are. Andy’s craftsmanship is on display here. And the handles! Shadetree burlap is my favorite handle material and I’m always hoping to be able to shark some more to add to my meager collection. While these are heading home to Phil, I feel privileged to have been able to handle them.

Each of these came with a JouFuu dangler sheath.

bonafide’s sheaths are well made, look good, and fit these knives really well. The two-tone on the larger two sheaths is a really clean look. I did not use the sheaths as I wanted them to stay pristine for Phil. Based on my inspection of them, the only thing I’d change would be to ask for a bigger ring to give the dangler a little more room to move around. As seen in the above pic, the small ring doesn’t give much room to bend or twist. I like my dangler sheaths to be able to sway freer especially when sitting down in a camp chair. I have to pick up some of his sheaths soon.

 

[thurin]

Sneaky Pete

This is the knife that started this whole exchange business. First some stats (stolen from Phil’s excellent addition to the “Models, Tang-Types, Steel Thicknesses, & Weights” thread).

OAL: 8-1/2″
Blade Length: 4″
Handle Length: 4-1/2″
Steel & Thickness: 5/32″ O-1 Tool Steel
Tang Type: SFT (“skeletonized full tang”)
Grind: Convex
Handle Material: Coffeebag Burlap from Shadetree over black g10 with a lime green g10 pinstripe
Weight (oz.): 6.1

Seeing everyone else’s pictures of the Sneaky Pete, I anticipated that there would be a couple of things that should be pluses for me, and one thing that might be a concern. The pluses are the blade shape and the handle shape. The blade looks like a good bushcrafting profile and I like the tall handle with the belly swell. It reminds me of the Camp Nessie handle, which you might know is my favorite handle of the Fiddlebacks I’m fortunate enough to have.

The main concern for me was the peak (thumb ramp, thumb rise, is there an official Fiddleback term for it?). With my larger hands (forgive me for always mentioning my hands, but I feel it’s relevant to the conversation), I was worried where the peak would end up in various grips that I like to use. I do a lot of push cuts with my thumb on the spine similar to the in hand shot below.

Please remember my standard disclaimer: do not use my in-hand shots as the basis for determining knife size. For purpose of comparison, here are some measurements on my hands:

Hand Length (from tip of your longest finger to base of your palm): 8 1/2″
Hand Width (across the palm above the thumb): 4 1/2″
Hand Circumference (around your hand at the widest point excluding the thumb): 10″

Also, please don’t assume that any negative comments I make in this review are against the Sneaky Pete as it would be used by anyone else (meaning those of normal hand size). As always, these are totally subjective thoughts based on my use of the knife with my hands that are too big (I could palm a basketball since I was a toddler - just kidding - kinda).

The above shot shows another issue that arose while testing the SP. The butt of the knife dug into my palm in some grips. From the shots of the latest ones coming out of the Forge it looks like the handle shape has been changed and it now has a more beveled butt. That should make it more comfortable for bear paws.

Some general thoughts on the knife: I really like the blade shape. Its closest cousin in blade profile is maybe the Arete with the SP being a good bit taller? This is a good bushcrafting profile. In 5/32″ with a nice high convex grind like this one, it’s a good slicer. It has a nice point for drilling. I liked using this knife, until it started getting uncomfortable. I wanted to put it through its paces, to “do it justice”, which meant it usage was spread out over time whenever I could work it in. That included some late night feathersticking at my desk while everyone was asleep.

(Shortly after this I spilled a beer on the keyboard. The knife was safely put away by then. I now have a shiny new keyboard without the years of grime that’s on this one.)

I performed some of my other standard testing: batoning, shaving, carving. The blade performed wonderfully. I would have no qualms at all about using this knife hard.

I also wanted to do some try stick work, so I grabbed a nice thick branch of maple, shaved it and started working on a hole through stick. This was some hard maple and really gave my thumbs and hand a workout.

Here I’m trying to show what my standard push cut grip would look like. I tried taking the picture with the camera in my mouth but that didn’t work, so you’ll have to imagine my left thumb on the spine while the left hand holds the stick. You can see how the thumb ramp isn’t in the ideal spot. Adjustment was necessary.

I also had some issues with a hammer grip, earning me a nice little bruise which is probably hard to see in this pic:

Regardless, hole through stick was a success. In 5/32″ with the high grind, this made quick work of thinning down the branch for the hole. I can also see how this handle is very comfortable in almost all cases. The tall handle, contour, everything, is just sweet. Make it an inch longer in the handle and I’m all over it.

The point worked good for making the hole. Have I said I like this profile? Oh yes, just a few times already.

Comparisons

I like doing comparisons between different models. I hope you guys find them useful. Here we see the Sneaky Pete with the rest of my 4″ blades: Bushfinger, SP, Arete, Kephart and Bushcrafter:

In the above you can see that the Sneaky Pete blade is a spearpoint similar to the Arete, just a bit taller. The handle is completely unique compared to these cousins, much taller and with a sway back.

The below shot is an attempt to show why for me, the SP handle is just a little too short. I’d like to try the new handle at some point as it could very well solve the problem that I had with the butt cutting into my palm. I’ll have to see if the reconfiguration allows me to grip it in a way that the thumb ramp doesn’t fall in the wrong spot.

It could be that my Bushfinger, being older, isn’t a good comparison. Since each Fiddleback is handmade and unique, it’s expected that there will be subtle differences between each one. In the above pic you can see how the extra handle length of my BF allows it to fit my hand better without the sharp butt getting in the way. The BC, while shorter like the SP, has a rounded butt that’s more comfortable in big hands (yes, I really did say that, sorry).

Sneaky Pete Conclusion

This is a knife that I’ve wanted to try for a long time. I’m very grateful to my friend Phil for giving me the opportunity. Having seen it in person and using it for a bit, I can honestly say I never once thought about it being “too tactical”. This is a good, hardworking, bushcrafting blade. The blade shape excels in the way I typically use my knives. Unfortunately, my fears about the thumb ramp and shortness of the handle did pan out for me. I initially thought the Big Sneaky might be a possible solution, but from what I can tell, it’s the same handle with a longer blade. Perhaps a Sneaky Longfellow might be in order, with the same 4″ blade, but a longer handle. I can always dream right?

 

[thurin]

The Duke

The second knife that Phil sent me (one of the two bonus mystery knives) was the Duke. The name conjures up the image of John Wayne, sitting on his horse, Fiddleback hanging from his belt. Again, some stats:

OAL: 10-1/2"
Blade Length: 5-3/8"
Handle Length: 5-1/8"
Steel & Thickness: 3/16" O-1 Tool Steel
Tang Type: SFT (“skeletonized full tang”)
Grind: Convex
Handle Material: Forest Green Burlap from Shadetree over natural canvas with a lime green G10 pinstripe and Trinity pinout
Weight (oz.): 9.2

The Duke has been on my wish list for a long time. As I mentioned earlier, knowing how well the Woodsman works for me and how close the Duke is to it, especially in the handle, I was pretty sure that this knife would work out well.

Comparisons

When looking at the models available from Fiddleback Forge, it’s easy to group them into some general sets based on handle shape and blade shape, with the size being the main differentiator within the set. An example would be progression from ED Karda, Kephart, Bear Paw, Woodsman to Toothpick. Each of these have a pointy spearpoint and a handle with a squarish butt. In my mind, the Duke fits into a series that starts with the quintessential Bushfinger and progresses through the Hunter and Duke to the Camp Knife. These knives have a similar handle style to the previously listed set, but instead of a pointy spearpoint they have a drop point blade with a good amount of belly. I know I’m oversimplifying these groupings as there are lots of differences between them, but it gives me a way of classifying them. Including the Camp Knife might be kind of a stretch, since it doesn’t have as much drop in the blade and the handle has more pronounced curves and a flared butt similar to a khukuri handle, but let’s just go with it for now. More on the Camp Knife later. Here we see this group together:

And of course, I have to include a comparison with the Woodsman. It worked out pretty cool that Phil’s Duke and my Woodsman share almost the same handle config.

And here is how the Duke compares to the rest of my larger Fiddlebacks – Woodsman, Duke, Camp Nessie, Hunter, Bear Paw and Woodchuck:

The Test

I wanted to do something other than my standard split wood fire prep test as I knew the Duke would handle that without issue. The handle shape and size is similar to my Woodsman so I knew it would be comfortable for that kind of test. Here’s an in hand shot in case you’re curious how it fits:

I decided to do the prep work for a bow drill set. That would give me a chance to test out a bunch of different aspects of the knife like batoning, carving and drilling. A few days earlier a neighbor was throwing out a bunch of deadfall aspen and I had grabbed a bunch of it to add to my wood pile. So here are the base supplies and tools for the Duke’s test:

Unfortunately, I was running short on time and didn’t have a branch to use for the bow itself without cutting one off of one of my trees, so you’ll just have to pretend with me through parts of this.

One nice thing about Aspen is that it splits well due to the grain. It was an easy task for the Duke to baton the hearth board out of the middle of the trunk. Since I didn’t have any thinner branches suitable for a spindle, I also batoned a square section out that would be whittled down into the spindle. The bearing block came from the remaining outer section after cutting the hearth out of the middle. Here we see the hearth and what will become the spindle.

Might as well make up some curls, shavings and different sized prep for use later. I love a pretty curl. It was such a breeze for the Duke and very comfortable to use.

The point worked well for starting the depression for the spindle.

Time to work on the spindle. Cross grain batoned the longer square chunk seen earlier into a more reasonable length and set about rounding it out. Phil keeps his knives nice and sharp and carving down the spindle was no problem for the Duke.

You’ll have to pretend that I burned it in with the bow at this point. Time to make the V notch. My favorite baton got a good workout throughout this task.

Above you see most of the pieces of the drill set: hearth with notch, spindle, bearing block. Pretend the hole has been burned in and there’s a bow all strung up and ready to go. Sorry I wasn’t able to complete the task. I’ll keep these pieces around and finish up the test when I can.

Duke Conclusion

I had high expectations for the Duke based on my love for its brother the Woodsman and it lived up to those expectations. It has a great blade shape for working on wood. And of course a comfortable handle that didn’t leave me any hotspots. I didn’t want to add a patina to Phil’s knives, so I didn’t use them in the kitchen, but I can imagine this knife would work great in the camp kitchen and the home kitchen with its nice belly and no guard.

So which one would I prefer between the Duke and Woodsman? I’m going to have to wait until I have my own Duke and do a longer term test. They’re similar enough that functionally they’ll probably perform close enough that it wouldn’t really matter. It comes down to do you like the pointy spearpoint or the drop point with a belly?

 

[McVeyMac]

Great story, thurin is definitely good people. If I am not mistaken, Rick patterns every sheath that he makes after the knife that goes into it. At least this is the case with all of the RLO sheaths that I have. There may be exceptions, but I am not aware of them.

I also am making a spoon, and I also have had a similar mishap. Not quite as sever. I let them heal, then keep carving. I'm doing mine in Maple, it is a little hard, and a little slow going.

Sorry to step into the middle of this Phil and Nathan. I did not see what was happening completely until after I posted. Oops.

 

[thurin]

Camp Knife

Incredibly, Phil sent along his Camp Knife as the third knife in the exchange. This is a grail knife for me, and Phil’s is a perfect example of what I’d be looking for in one when I can swing it. 3/16″, high convex grind but still enough room to show off some amazing spalting, Shadetree burlap on a thick handle. No matter how hard I thought about it, I could not come up with a ploy for somehow keeping this knife. Phil would know it was in my stash because I wouldn’t be able to help posting pictures of it.

OAL: 12-5/8″
Blade Length: 6-1/2″
Handle Length: 6-1/8″
Steel & Thickness: 3/16″ O-1 Tool Steel
Tang Type: SFT (“skeletonized full tang”)
Grind: Convex
Handle Material: Drunken Burlap from Shadetree (The Very Best) over natural canvas with an orange g10 pinstripe
Weight (oz.): 15.0

While the Sneaky Pete and Duke are users, the Camp Knife is new and pristine and Phil asked that I keep it that way. I gratefully complied, thrilled to just be able to hold it and admire it.

This is a knife I can really wrap my hand around.

As I mentioned above, the handle on the Camp Knife is styled after a khukuri handle with a flared butt. I could see using this with a lanyard, grabbing it at the pommel and getting some amazing chopping power out of it.

Here it is with the great sheath from bonafide. Check out that spalting and drunken burlap!

This knife is a monster. It weighs in at almost 10oz heavier than the Sneaky Pete. I will be dreaming about it and figuring out how to acquire one until I’m finally able to have one of my own. While I don’t think I’d want to work on a try stick with this beast, it does make me want to go out into a jungle and build a shelter a la "Naked and Afraid". (Don’t worry, there are no pics of me pretending to do this. That I know of.)

Final Thoughts

I’m extremely grateful that my friend Phil shared these three knives with me. It gave me a chance to test out some that are on my list of wants and helps me prioritize the order in which I acquire them. My goal, Lord willing, is to eventually have one of each model that comes out of Fiddleback Forge so I hope to have all of these at some point. To this end, as a result of this exchange, my priorities have changed thusly:

The Camp Knife is at the top of the list. How soon that can actually happen depends on budget aligning with one popping out of the Forge in a configuration that I want and it not being sharked 1.7 seconds after it’s posted (most likely by Phil).

The Duke is close enough to the Woodsman that I don’t feel as though I’m missing out on anything substantial by not having one in my collection. It’s still high up on the list because it’s a great knife that fits into what I’d classify as my “Camp Knife” criteria: a good all-around blade that can handle most if not all the camp chores: fire prep, tool making, camp kitchen and having fun relaxing by the fire. It however falls below some others on the list like something out of the Recluse family (Patch Knife, Recluse, Leuku) since I don’t have any of the Recluse family in my collection yet, a Bushraptor (I really like a wharncliff profile for carving on wood), a BLJ (just a cool little knife), or a few others that I won’t bore you with.

While my original thoughts about the Sneaky Pete being too “tactical” were erased, a good bushcrafting blade profile couldn’t overcome the thumb ramp and short handle just not working for my hands. I’ll still be getting one of these at some point, and will be shooting for one of the newer ones with the redesigned pommel. This knife exchange with Phil did exactly what we hoped it would do, it gave me a chance to try out the Sneaky Pete without having to buy one first and possibly face some buyer’s remorse. I'm glad that so many folks love this knife. That's the great think about all the models available from Fiddleback Forge; we can all find our favorite.

And now some thoughts on the exchange process in general. This is a great way to get to try out a knife before purchasing, but there are drawbacks as well. While it was great being able to test out these knives, I stressed that something was going to happen to them. Was I going to break the point off the SP doing the hole through stick by twisting it wrong? Was I going to drop one while carrying it around? Phil has already documented one possible issue that can happen to a knife while in your care. I'm thankful for how he handled the situation. Phil's a standup guy that I'm lucky to consider a friend. To be honest, in addition to wanting him to be able to try out some knives he’s missing, I wanted some collateral in his hands in case something happened to one of his knives while it was in my care. One of the reasons I wanted to send Phil a Scandi knife when he offered to let me try the Sneaky Pete was to expand his horizons somewhat. I think if more people try them, they’ll love them and maybe some more will trickle out of the Forge.

I want to echo Phil’s thoughts on his criteria for doing exchanges. There are many friendships I’ve developed over our appreciation of Andy’s knives. The Fiddleback community is full of good folk that contribute to the forum; helping out pups that are swimming with the sharks for the first time, posting reviews and comparisons, chatting about food, beer, music, vacations, and whatever. As I visit other forums here on Bladeforums, it’s cool to see that the Fiddleback forum is populated by a lot of folks that are Gold or higher, showing their appreciation to the forum and contributing financially to the hosts that let us have this home on the net.

Finally, I want to publicly thank Phil for being understanding as I’ve held on to his knives way longer that I had initially planned. He is a true knife brother and friend.

I just had to take one last picture of my Shadetree along with Phil’s:

And of course, I have to say thanks to Andy and Fiddleback Forge for making these wonderfully addicting knives.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading!

Nathan

 

[ErichM]

Great posts guys!

 

[Dcaggie06]

That in hand pic of you holding the camp is beyond epic. its pretty much on par with me holding a BF.

 

[KP]

Great stuff guys and excellent write ups. :thumbup:

 

[McVeyMac]

Nice work Guys. I think that Andy should make a big paw version of the SP or the Big Sneaky. He can call it Sneaky Pete thurin addition, etc. I really think that you would enjoy the SP handle, if you got one that fit your hand better. I find myself missing the dorsal hump of the SP when I am using other 4" knives.

 

[M4Super90]

Thanks for the excellent reviews and time spent to share your impressions with everyone. I'll have to go back a re-read these a few times to let it all soak in. Although I recently scored my first large Fiddleback, I will look at the Duke and the Camp knife a little differently now. I the net effect of this made me settle on getting a Runt when I can.

 

[bonafide]

bonafide’s sheaths are well made, look good, and fit these knives really well. The two-tone on the larger two sheaths is a really clean look. I did not use the sheaths as I wanted them to stay pristine for Phil. Based on my inspection of them, the only thing I’d change would be to ask for a bigger ring to give the dangler a little more room to move around. As seen in the above pic, the small ring doesn’t give much room to bend or twist. I like my dangler sheaths to be able to sway freer especially when sitting down in a camp chair. I have to pick up some of his sheaths soon.

EXCELLENT Thread!!!

And, Thanks for the feedback!! .. and the ring attachment was something I have already addressed. I now offer spring gated rings which allow complete removal of the ring from the earlier danglers I offered, and with the larger sheaths like the Camp .. I now use a bigger ring. They're more expensive for me, but their versatility is something I personally appreciate - same as my sheaths (ambidextrous carry and fits multiple models).

 

[hasco]

Well done gentlemen!!!

I can't wait to read this tonight. I will add more to me response then.

Super cool!

 

[schmittie]

Good stuff here guys. These two write ups are the result of HOURS of thought, executing of intended task and frequent interruptions for pictures. It takes a lot of time to share what you did. Thanks!! I'll have to reread it when I can let a little more sink in but already I see I think along similar lines on a few things

 

[Mbern]

Great idea and great thread. Thanks for putting it up.

 

[xxwjtxx]

Wow!! What can I say guys; phenomenal job! It was great to read each of your observations, along with the equally descriptive photo documentation as it provided some phenomenal insight into 6 quinessestial fiddleback designs , from two of our mist astute and informative members!

Phil,
It was great to hear your thoughts on the KEB -- I have always obsessed over Nathans particular example and feel that your review answered a lot of questions regarding both the design and highly coveted scandi grind. I'm glad to see that all ten of your fingers are still intact after three fiddleback bite incurred during testing! Additionally it was great to see you gents orchestrate such a great opportunity for community collaboration to occur! BTW kudos to you for letting the camp knife out of the house although I couldn't imagine lending it to a more worthy forum member!

Nathan,
Kudos on another excellent photo review! Or was great to finally get your impressions on the SP and more importantly the camp knife! As always, your reviews hold a lot of weight with many of us, given your solid bushcraft knowledge base and great sense of knife aesthetics! I'm glad to hear that you didn't find the SP to tactical, IMO the whole profile family is misunderstood by many, due to it's (more) aggressive lines. Your thoughts on the Duke were also interesting as I very much felt the same way after spending several months with both the Woodman and Duke! In the end my allegiance stayed with the Woodman, although your observations were spot on about three versatility of the profile and it's willingness to work. Finally, I'm glad that you were able to spend some time with a camp knife; it really is a special tool that Andy (clearly) out a lot of time and thought into.

On a whole it was awesome to read this post -- it exemplifies the type of trust and camaraderie that can be developed within a community such as our own. I hope to do something like this myself in the near future, albeit you guys have set a very HIGH BAR! Thank you both for taking the time out of your busy lives and schedules to write such in depth, photo driven reviews -- job well done :thumbup:

 

[RRaconteur]

This will now go down in history as perhaps the most epic Fiddleback thread ever. You two are both my heroes.


Michael