Finished one today

Fiddleback

Fiddleback

Well-Known Member
Sometimes when you work in big batches all the time, its a helluva lot of fun to do one knife. Thats what happened here. This one is for a buildoff on another forum.

Comments/criticisms welcome!

Specs: 01 steel, convex sabregrind, 4" blade, 4.5" handle, 5/32" thick. Handle is stabalized Hard Maple crotch from Woodman with black canvas micarta bolster, and 1/8" thick natural canvas liner. The pins and bullseye filler are also nat can micarta. The bolster overlays the scale at a 15 deg angle.

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Thanks guys. I'm starting to get more confident at the belt, and I'm finally getting my plunges where I want em.
 
Plunge right close to the handle for optimum usable edge... I like that too! I've always admired your layered handles and that one looks really nice. Great blend of traditional and modern materials! Another home-run, Andy 2thumbs
 
Mmm, that's purdy. You should make something like that on a regular basis for guys wanting the nicer looking knifes.
 
james terrio said:
Plunge right close to the handle for optimum usable edge... I like that too! I've always admired your layered handles and that one looks really nice. Great blend of traditional and modern materials! Another home-run, Andy 2thumbs
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I agree. The plunge has to be close to the handle IMO. You get the most leverage right near your fist. You can proove this to yourself easily also. Just grip the knife in a fist and use your other hand to pinch the spine and pull a tad with your fisted knife grip. Its easy to see how much leverage you loose by moving that edge out even an inch. Any feature that moves that edge farther from the handle I don't like, and don't design into my stuff. Mainly, this means, choils (I consider a choil a design flaw), ricassos (great place to sign, really impedes function) and serrations (again, unless you're a sailor, cutting rope a lot, I see no use for them).
 
Andy I would like to see you do one just like this one with a hand rubbed finish and brass or SS bolsters. Also with the two toned handle material.
 
Fiddleback said:
Any feature that moves that edge farther from the handle I don't like, and don't design into my stuff. Mainly, this means, choils (I consider a choil a design flaw), ricassos (great place to sign, really impedes function) and serrations (again, unless you're a sailor, cutting rope a lot, I see no use for them).
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Very well-said, sir. I couldn't agree more. Keep doing what you're doing!
 
maxcutter03 said:
Andy I would like to see you do one just like this one with a hand rubbed finish and brass or SS bolsters. Also with the two toned handle material.
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Ok. I can give that a shot. Maybe titanium bolsters and a thick titanium liner. I saw something with a thick titanium liner at Blade Show, and I thought it looked great! I will say this though. I won't be doing a lot of them. Metal bolsters take a considerable amount more time than a micarta one. Which is why I just don't do many of them. I have a lot more wrought iron too. Maybe some of that.
 
Fiddleback said:
This one is for a buildoff on another forum.

Comments/criticisms welcome!
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"buildoff" is not a word. Other than that I can't find anything else to criticize!!
I just wish I owned it. Bet that baby could take apart a big Alaskan moose or bear in no time!
Great looking knife.
 
Fiddleback said:
Ok. I can give that a shot. Maybe titanium bolsters and a thick titanium liner. I saw something with a thick titanium liner at Blade Show, and I thought it looked great! I will say this though. I won't be doing a lot of them. Metal bolsters take a considerable amount more time than a micarta one. Which is why I just don't do many of them. I have a lot more wrought iron too. Maybe some of that.
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Bolsters are nothing but a thing.......you have to go through the same steps as with the micarta......just take a liiiiitle more effort.
 
martentrapper said:
"buildoff" is not a word. Other than that I can't find anything else to criticize!!
I just wish I owned it. Bet that baby could take apart a big Alaskan moose or bear in no time!
Great looking knife.
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Thanks man. Being from Louisianna, my grammar isn't always gleamingly pure. LOL. I love when customers send me pics of my knife dressing big game. The only pics like that I've gotten are for my Nessmuks. Which makes sense. Almost a perfect tool for the job.

maxcutter03 said:
Bolsters are nothing but a thing.......you have to go through the same steps as with the micarta......just take a liiiiitle more effort.
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I have to budget effort. Being full time means I've got to make AND SELL 30 knives a month. Otherwise, I've got to sell something from my collection to make the bills. And, of course, during that first year, I thinned my collection quite a bit.

I can do tapered tangs, and bolsters, I've now done a little bit of filework, and hand rubbed a few just to proove to myself I can do it. Two things stop me from doing them more. Firstly, those features move me from the users toward the collectors. I don't want to charge more for my knives. I want to mimic inflation, and stay in the user market. Secondly, just a little effort over thirty pieces is a lot of time to budget. And its not just making the knives. I've got to have the time to sell them too.

What I want to make for the majority of the time is a well executed belt finished user knife with a very comfortable handle that is designed to work, and that is pretty as well.

I'm going to upgrade some of the steels, and offer some upscale ones too though. I'm thinking of CPM 154.
 
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