W&SS Represents in Vegas

[pimpnugget]

CONGRATES Rick looked like a awsome weekend

 

[HikingMano]

Wow, congrats on the award! :thumbup:. Good to put some faces to names too .

 

[Rick Marchand]

Seriously, Andy is one year younger than I am. He just has that Brad Pitt gene that defies aging.... the little son of a bititch.

Rick

 

[Diomedes Industries]

From USN, that's a nice recognition man. total win!

I agree. A big deal amongst a tough crowd.

You can add that to your website!


TF

 

[Fiddleback]

Great stuff Rick thanks for sharing !:thumbup:


Sucks about them telling Andy to hike his prices up though !!!!!!:thumbdn:

Don't worry. I plan to keep my prices reasonable!! I think you guys FEEDBACK is extremely important!

I agree that Andy could probably ask a lot more for his knives, but I'm glad he doesn't! Did he really get a lecture on F&F? His work is some of the cleanest I have seen, personally. Pretty cool that you got to meet so many other makers. Tom Mayo, Wally Hayes, and Ken Onion are some pretty big names.

I got a very much appreciated chunk of a GREAT makers time!!! For Todd Begg to take the time to have a conversation with me, explain processes to me, and tell me where my knives can be improved is a very valuable experience!!! I wasn't unhappy about it. Hell, after he was done Wally Hayes had a bit of advice too, and I was dumbfounded that two such greats took the time to talk to me, much less try to guide my humble work!! :thumbup::thumbup:

I'll be keeping much of my line as is price wise. There will be things I do to challenge myself. Those knives will have to garner more $.

Yes he did.... so did I.... so does everybody at some point. When a maker is asked by another to examine his work for flaws.... all gloves are off! We do it to help eachother out. They go far more into detail than most buyers would expect. It is a privilage to get your ass handed to you by these guys. It makes you better. Andy's F&F are almost perfect... better than mine, IMO.

Rick

I dunno about my FF being better than yours, but I agree. Makers at Rick and my level are LUCKY that makers give their time to guide us!! This is the greatest thing about knifemakers!!

First off Congrats on the Award. That means alot when a group of peers gives you one.
If you dont mind me asking.. When other makers give you there opinion about the knives.. Or like you said hand you your A** on the platter. What is the most common comment??? The reason i ask that i handled some of the custome knifes and two from Andy.. I thought that the knifes were Awsome.

Sasha

Todd's advice was that in order to get my knives to be demanded by the collectors, I have to taper my tangs (expensive process). Then comes adding bolsters to each piece. Then comes hand rubbing the blades rather than belt finishing them. Up to now, I've tapered 6 tangs. I've done bolsters (wrought iron forged flat) once. I can do both of those, but its certainly not cost effective at my current price level. So I've shied away from them for now.

Todd said not to think about hand rubbing my blades until I get up high enough in price to have demand for tapered tangs, and for bolsters. Right now a bolster to be cost effective adds $50 minimum to the knife price. It makes the process a lot longer.

Very awesome about the award Rick - congrats dude! Also, very cool to see picks of Andy.....For some reason I thought he looked like a big spider Shucks, he looks like a young innocent thing

I guess innocent is better than a spider...

 

[Mack]

Great pics, looks like a great time. I've seen your work and I can imagine the time and effort you put into your knives and tools to get them to your standards. Congrats on a well deserved award.
Geez, Andy looks like a freakin' kid! Not what I expected at all.
I would love to have been a fly on the wall with the F&F discussions.

 

[Sharp Eye]

Looks like a great time.
Congrats on the award, Rick.

 

[PayetteRucker]

I like those fiddleback knives way more than the big names, Andy take their advice and tell them to shove it-you're doing fine!

 

[Fiddleback]

I like those fiddleback knives way more than the big names, Andy take their advice and tell them to shove it-you're doing fine!

Thanks bro. I design my knives for the user crowd. The price is a user price. Thats what I want to happen to my knives. Every time I get one back to clean up, I wince. It looks like hell!! Then I smile. The edge has always been fine, and the knife has gotten an obvious workout!!!! A person can get one of mine cheaper than a Bark River! Thats what I'm talking about!

 

[OldPhysics]

Todd's advice was that in order to get my knives to be demanded by the collectors, I have to taper my tangs (expensive process). Then comes adding bolsters to each piece. Then comes hand rubbing the blades rather than belt finishing them. Up to now, I've tapered 6 tangs. I've done bolsters (wrought iron forged flat) once. I can do both of those, but its certainly not cost effective at my current price level. So I've shied away from them for now.

Todd said not to think about hand rubbing my blades until I get up high enough in price to have demand for tapered tangs, and for bolsters. Right now a bolster to be cost effective adds $50 minimum to the knife price. It makes the process a lot longer.

You'll get there. I can imagine, almost, what they would look like.

And it's good.:thumbup:

 

[untamed]

TRULY AWESOME! KUDOS Rick!

 

[Fletcher Knives]

Thanks bro. I design my knives for the user crowd. The price is a user price. Thats what I want to happen to my knives. Every time I get one back to clean up, I wince. It looks like hell!! Then I smile. The edge has always been fine, and the knife has gotten an obvious workout!!!! A person can get one of mine cheaper than a Bark River! Thats what I'm talking about!

Broski, you just gotta think, who am I making these knives for? What kind of customer do I want? Do I want to make knives for people like me or do I want to make money?

If you wanna make the big cheddar then adding bolsters, hand rubbing, tapering the tang, etc. is the way to go. Then, you also start getting into more exotic handle material. Before you know it, you're making some kind of crazy mammoth tooth shiny show piece. It sells for a buttload of money, but it's not getting used and there's a bunch of former Fiddleback customers who can't afford your knives anymore because you're spending so much time making the shiny stuff that you can't make the user blades.

They're sitting Indian style in the middle of their kitchen floor, rocking back and forth with tears streming down their face, clutching their (now referred to as) "old school" Fiddlebacks, while their wife watches them in awe thinking, "you didn't even get this upset that time I cheated on you." They just sit there crying, chanting "he used to be one of us. WHY DID YOU LEAVE US ANDY?! WHYYYYYYY *snif snif* WHYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!".

Come on bro. You really want that on your conscience? Keep doing stuff the way your doing it. Keep them affordable for the little guys. It's not like there's an abundance of makers out there ignorant enough about there own skill to offer handles of that caliber at your prices.

 

[Rick Marchand]

You can choose both ways, Andy. You obviously have it in you to make the HIGH END custom pieces... Do them as side projects to showcase your talent. You still make some of the most flawless "affordable" knives around IMO. If you intend to step up your quality that much more, you need to be honest to yourself and get paid what you deserve.

At this point your knives are a steal for buyers and you seem comfortable with what you make... so its good all around.

I for one would love to see what you can do with a few Andy Roy "Exclusives".

That way, you can get in with collectors, too.


Rick

 

[Mistwalker]

Congrats Rick, so that's what put the smile on your face there.

 

[OldPhysics]

You can choose both ways, Andy. You obviously have it in you to make the HIGH END custom pieces... Do them as side projects to showcase your talent. You still make some of the most flawless "affordable" knives around IMO. If you intend to step up your quality that much more, you need to be honest to yourself and get paid what you deserve.

At this point your knives are a steal for buyers and you seem comfortable with what you make... so its good all around.

I for one would love to see what you can do with a few Andy Roy "Exclusives".

That way, you can get in with collectors, too.


Rick

I think I'm your average "Andy Fiddleback user/collector." And I like this idea.