Comprehensivist
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2008
- Messages
- 3,041
This month marks my 4th anniversary on the Fiddleback forum. Over that span of time, I have cycled through dozens and dozens of knives trying to determine which ones work best for me. This experience has taught me a lot about knife design in general and Fiddlebacks in particular.
Along the way I have done my best to share my objective data, observations, and opinions to help others here form their own opinions about what features they want in a knife. This post will be a little different in that it will focus primarily on one topic that is seldom discussed in any detail.
Sometimes it’s the little things in life that make all the difference. One of those little things that has become a bigger thing to me over time is the subject of guards. Cutting right to the chase, I much prefer using the guardless knives over the ones with a small guard. When I say “guard”, I am talking about the typical 1/8” to 3/16” nub of metal that extends below the back end of the cutting edge at the plunge line. Just to clarify a little further, I appreciate the benefits of a downward curved “guard” transition from the front of the handle down to the back of the ricasso, as long as the “guard” doesn’t extend below the back end of the cutting edge. In the simplest language, I like guards on the handle side of the ricasso and no-guard on the blade side.
I don’t want to imply that I am 100% hostile to guards as defined above. I am not. I see the benefits or detriments of guards as being task specific.
Three tasks where I see guards as a benefit are:
1) Offense/Self-defense applications involving thrusting, stabbing, parrying strikes, etc. where the presence of a guard protects your hand from sliding forward onto the edge and/or protects your hand from the strike of your opponents edge.
2) Environments that are excessively wet, slimy, or slippery like professional hunters or fisherman deal with on a regular basis.
3) Larger knives (i.e. choppers) that are used for hard swinging where a guard helps protect your hand from slipping forward on errant strikes or a fatigued hand that allows your hand to accidentally slip forward.
Three tasks where I see guards as being a detriment are:
4) Food prep where the guard prevents you from utilizing the full length of the cutting edge on a cutting board.
5) EDC-type tasks at work, home, garage, or campground.
6) Wood processing for; yard work, carving, notching, fire prep, etc.
My real world Fiddleback uses are; a minute amount of #’s 1 & 2, a tiny amount of #3, a lot of #’s 4 & 5, and some #6. Based on this assessment, my actual uses lean heavily toward guardless models.
My reasons (in no particular order) for disliking guards on my knives are:
1) The guard prevents me from using the full length of the cutting edge on a cutting board in food prep applications.
2) The guard prevents me from working as close as possible to the back edge of the blade where I have the most leverage for carving. This is because the guard bumps into the item being worked on.
3) The guard prevents me from sharpening the edge all the way to the back with certain sharpening systems.
4) Aesthetically, the guard interrupts the nice visual flow of the blade and handle curves.
5) The 1/8” to 3/16” guard doesn’t make me feel any safer using the knife the way I do than the guardless models do.
The good news for Fiddleback fans is that Andy makes a wide variety of models with guards and without to cater to a variety of buyer uses, needs, and preferences.
The guard vs. guardless topic became more of a focus for me in early 2016 when I decided to slowly and methodically reduce the size of my Fiddleback collection. I felt that I had become too much of a collector and not enough of a user. Letting go of unused safe queens and duplicates was the easier part of that process. Getting brutally honest about why I always reached for certain knives over others helped me let go of some former favorites along the way. In the end , I went from thirty knives down to twelve. The only issue was that eight of the twelve had guards that detracted from their usefulness to me. I decided a couple of months ago to go ahead and remove the guards from six of these knives as well as an original pattern OK&T Raptor that is also a favorite user of mine.
Here are a few group photos of the before condition with the guards.
(L to R: OK&T Raptor, Sneaky Pete, Leuku, Bush Hermit, Bushcrafter, Arete, & Hiking Buddy)
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Along the way I have done my best to share my objective data, observations, and opinions to help others here form their own opinions about what features they want in a knife. This post will be a little different in that it will focus primarily on one topic that is seldom discussed in any detail.
Sometimes it’s the little things in life that make all the difference. One of those little things that has become a bigger thing to me over time is the subject of guards. Cutting right to the chase, I much prefer using the guardless knives over the ones with a small guard. When I say “guard”, I am talking about the typical 1/8” to 3/16” nub of metal that extends below the back end of the cutting edge at the plunge line. Just to clarify a little further, I appreciate the benefits of a downward curved “guard” transition from the front of the handle down to the back of the ricasso, as long as the “guard” doesn’t extend below the back end of the cutting edge. In the simplest language, I like guards on the handle side of the ricasso and no-guard on the blade side.
I don’t want to imply that I am 100% hostile to guards as defined above. I am not. I see the benefits or detriments of guards as being task specific.
Three tasks where I see guards as a benefit are:
1) Offense/Self-defense applications involving thrusting, stabbing, parrying strikes, etc. where the presence of a guard protects your hand from sliding forward onto the edge and/or protects your hand from the strike of your opponents edge.
2) Environments that are excessively wet, slimy, or slippery like professional hunters or fisherman deal with on a regular basis.
3) Larger knives (i.e. choppers) that are used for hard swinging where a guard helps protect your hand from slipping forward on errant strikes or a fatigued hand that allows your hand to accidentally slip forward.
Three tasks where I see guards as being a detriment are:
4) Food prep where the guard prevents you from utilizing the full length of the cutting edge on a cutting board.
5) EDC-type tasks at work, home, garage, or campground.
6) Wood processing for; yard work, carving, notching, fire prep, etc.
My real world Fiddleback uses are; a minute amount of #’s 1 & 2, a tiny amount of #3, a lot of #’s 4 & 5, and some #6. Based on this assessment, my actual uses lean heavily toward guardless models.
My reasons (in no particular order) for disliking guards on my knives are:
1) The guard prevents me from using the full length of the cutting edge on a cutting board in food prep applications.
2) The guard prevents me from working as close as possible to the back edge of the blade where I have the most leverage for carving. This is because the guard bumps into the item being worked on.
3) The guard prevents me from sharpening the edge all the way to the back with certain sharpening systems.
4) Aesthetically, the guard interrupts the nice visual flow of the blade and handle curves.
5) The 1/8” to 3/16” guard doesn’t make me feel any safer using the knife the way I do than the guardless models do.
The good news for Fiddleback fans is that Andy makes a wide variety of models with guards and without to cater to a variety of buyer uses, needs, and preferences.
The guard vs. guardless topic became more of a focus for me in early 2016 when I decided to slowly and methodically reduce the size of my Fiddleback collection. I felt that I had become too much of a collector and not enough of a user. Letting go of unused safe queens and duplicates was the easier part of that process. Getting brutally honest about why I always reached for certain knives over others helped me let go of some former favorites along the way. In the end , I went from thirty knives down to twelve. The only issue was that eight of the twelve had guards that detracted from their usefulness to me. I decided a couple of months ago to go ahead and remove the guards from six of these knives as well as an original pattern OK&T Raptor that is also a favorite user of mine.
Here are a few group photos of the before condition with the guards.
(L to R: OK&T Raptor, Sneaky Pete, Leuku, Bush Hermit, Bushcrafter, Arete, & Hiking Buddy)
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