Fiddleback User Weekend May 5-7, Hiawassee, GA - Schedule Posted

ndmiller said:
Looking forward to practicing some skills in real life.....retied 4 pairs of shoes at 8 year old soccer practice with my daughter last evening and not 1 knot came undone. Woohoo!
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:D That is awesome! We all picture ourselves as some sort of Robison Crusoe using our skills to brave the wilds when it is these everyday occurences where the true practicality shines.
 
Love seeing that list of knives. Folks, our machete and a knife is an excellent pair for an adventure like this. We didn't do much harvesting, but had we needed to, like Justin did, we would have been well armed for the task.
 
Top-shelf info here, guys. Thanks!

ndmiller said:
Loved using the perfectly good sharper than mine "return" Fiddlebacks that made the second half of my try stick 1000% easier. Going to featherstick my office desk and lay snares and traps around the office to see what I can catch over the next few weeks. Also kind of jittery I haven't been able to burn anything for a couple days.
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This is great! :D

Regarding your first sentence, when you say "return" do you mean "borrowed" Fiddlebacks, or something else?

Looking forward to practicing some skills in real life.....retied 4 pairs of shoes at 8 year old soccer practice with my daughter last evening and not 1 knot came undone. Woohoo!
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There ya go. :thumbsup:

Odaon said:
To touch on your last point. I mostly used my Bushfinger for everything though I did borrow and try out a couple others. Overall I was pleased with the Bushfinger. However, something that stood out was how much better a scandi knife felt for the wood working tasks when we were working on various 'cuts' by making 'try sticks'. The scandi, as it's designed for, just seemed to catch that wood a bit better and I felt like I had a little more control than I did with the convex. It could also be related to the knife size. The Scandi I tried was a Hiking Buddy.

I plan on getting a scandi of my own at some point here.
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Thanks, Odaon-- I appreciate your response. The Bushfinger pattern is on my radar as a 'bigger' knife (On Beyond Pocketses), and I was wondering if anyone made a go of one over the week end.

You also addressed one of my other ongoing wonderings: who prefers Scandi over flat/convex grinds, and on what knives and/or in what application? That, and: does anyone actually prefer SFT over TT if given the choice...?

Southern Gent said:
pertinux pertinux Hey P, talking about which knives I used is a much easier question for me to chime in on at the moment rather than talk about the experience of the weekend, what I learned and what I took away from the experience.
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Ah, good! I was thinking it might afford more concrete 'purchase' for some, and I'm glad if it did-- especially since the subject fascinates me. Thank you for all you've written out here.

FF Shaman 3/32 - This was a knife I wanted the first time I saw the profile and as soon as I saw the handle material I liked I jumped on it. In comparison to any other Fiddleback, the Shaman's blocky appearance sets it apart and tends to visually give the look of utility. Well, I can tell you first hand this knife is the world's finest "utility" box cutting tool you could ever own. In 3/32 it is very "slicey" and the upsweep towards the tip accentuates the slicing ability. the commando, more blocky handle of the knife is very neutral in hand and amazingly comfortable in any grip you can put it in.
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Aha-- 'neutral in hand'. A more elegant (and efficient) way of stating, "My hand doesn't like to be told where to go.... " As I typically end up doing.

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o_O

Your endorsement has me looking again at Shaman pictures! I'm still ambivalent about its appearance and have not yet figured out if/how it fits for me relative to other knives of similar size. Straightforward utility is always compelling, however, and you have certainly drawn my attention to the pattern.

FF Bush Hermit 1/8 - My all time favorite Fiddleback visually and to use. Everything about the BH is made for optimal performance. It is the Ford GT of the FF lineup. for my hands, the slightly taller profile of the BH over the Bushfinger gives the knife a wholly different feel and by going taller and not so much wider it provides for me added control and comfort, especially with use over a long period of time.
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I'm thinking the BH is More than I'd keen to-- I don't believe my hand would benefit from the extra height in a model already in the upper size range for me-- but am newly curious about the comparison you've drawn here with the Bushfinger.

Thanks!

~ P.
 
pertinux said:
This is great! :D

Regarding your first sentence, when you say "return" do you mean "borrowed" Fiddlebacks, or something else?
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This is referring to a production Hiking Buddy that was returned on warranty because the owner 'couldn't sharpen it'. They Rockwell tested it and Andy put a killer edge in the thing.


pertinux said:
Thanks, Odaon-- I appreciate your response. The Bushfinger pattern is on my radar as a 'bigger' knife (On Beyond Pocketses), and I was wondering if anyone made a go of one over the week end.

You also addressed one of my other ongoing wonderings: who prefers Scandi over flat/convex grinds, and on what knives and/or in what application? That, and: does anyone actually prefer SFT over TT if given the choice...?
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The Bushfinger is an awesome model, but I also really like a lot of the 'mid-sized' models that they do.

The grinds have their strengths. I think convex is a better do it all grind. Scandi is far and away better for word work. I would guess that the edge on a scandi can be a little more sensitive to rolling, but I really don't know if that's actually the case.

I prefer TT in most cases, but I know there are people that prefer a heavier feeling knife.
 
And then Andy gifted my boy Keegan with the "return" knife. The kid is still taking about it. Carrying it everywhere. Asked me just yesterday to please shoot Andy a message thanking him because he didn't feel he expressed his gratitude clearly enough in his stunned response.

Sometimes these Fiddleback guys are a pretty damn good group. Sometimes.

And I wound up using my scandi KEBushie for almost everything. I packed a dozen knives, but for some reason that one just felt right. Loved how it bit into the wood so nicely.
 
pertinux said:
You also addressed one of my other ongoing wonderings: who prefers Scandi over flat/convex grinds, and on what knives and/or in what application? That, and: does anyone actually prefer SFT over TT if given the choice...?
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pertinux pertinux Hey P, Where I think the biggest difference is between a scandi blade and a convex (with or without micro bevel) is not so much in the performance, but in the maintenance. In general, a scandi blade is going to want to "bite" into its target, but that's about it. I wouldn't necessarily call it a one trick pony, but I also wouldn't ever carry a scandi knife if I only had one knife on me. Slicing, chopping, deboning are all tasks that a scandi blade does not get high marks for. Top notch for wood carving though. Back to maintenance, unless you are using a jig or are able to 100% fix the bevel of a scandi edge to whatever hard surface you are using to remove material and sharpen the edge, over time you will convex the edge (Exclude guys like Andy from this that can use their grinders and sharpen a turd to split a hair). I use water stones and a strop to sharpen my knives, so the natural rocking motion of my hands on the stones and the "give" of the leather on the strop will convex a scandi. Minute I know, but it happens nonetheless. a 3/32 or 1/8 scandi knife is a great thing to have around when you are woods bumming, carving, or working on a project such as a try stick, but the convex is a much more versatile grind. Just keep in mind that if you use the scandi as a primary field knife, you will convex the blade with use and sharpening. Oh, and please don't tell Ray Mears I wrote this.
 
@mistwalker Great read Brian! Now I don't have to wrack my brain about how to adequately describe the experiences of the weekend. As Brian mentioned in his article, the wheels are tuning and we're already in discussions about what will be incorporated in the next Fiddleback User Weekend, date and location, so stay tuned.
 
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