feathersticking

[TkoK83Spy]

Obviously go very light with the Manbug, just shaving them really. Great for starting up our fireplace if I'm low on actual kindling, or just feeling like testing it out a bit.

[u.w.]

Only hollow ground I have is my ticn salt. Gonna give that a try. And I guess my manbug too??

Give it a try if you like. Life is about learning, and experiencing right? There are certainly some variables for consideration. It may come down to what, or how, you call/define a "feather stick", or "feather". I would think the man/lady bug were perhaps a bit on the small side for doing it effectively. While I will be the first to say you sure don't need a "huge" blade to do it well, a proper sized handle is another matter entirely..

u.w.

[sethwm]

Only hollow ground I have is my ticn salt. Gonna give that a try. And I guess my manbug too??

Give it a try if you like. Life is about learning, and experiencing right? There are certainly some variables for consideration. It may come down to what, or how, you call/define a "feather stick", or "feather". I would think the man/lady bug were perhaps a bit on the small side for doing it effectively. While I will be the first to say you sure don't need a "huge" blade to do it well, a proper sized handle is another matter entirely..

u.w.

I consider it a feather stick if it lights on fire easily

[Doc Dan]

I’ve just been knocking up feather sticks today at work with my Magnacut mule and it works a treat (although it definitely helps if it is freshly sharpened). My favourite knives for feather sticks are my Yojumbo, Yojimbo and PM2 tanto. It occurs to me as I write this that they’re all hollow ground blades, although I can’t imagine how that would be helpful apart from them being thin behind the edge and hellaciously sharp

Shiok!

[JoviAl]

Shiok!

Are you in Singapore too, or is there a different meaning to ‘Shiok’ where you are? The locals use it to mean ‘delicious’ or ‘really great’ here.

[aicolainen]

I make my share of feathersticks, that's for sure. It's a skill I've really put effort into optimizing, so I'm probably not taking my feather flexing to its full potential, but I get my fires started so that's something.

My most used Spyderco for making feathersticks has got to be the Waterway. No contest. Not because it's particularly great, but because I use it as the designer intended - as a do-everything-knife. If I only carry one knife, there's a big chance it's this one.

Second most, and probably the only other one used enough to be worth a mention is the Native 5 salt. Again, not because it's great for feathersticking, but if I go very light (and I often do), this is the only knife I have with me. Unlike the Waterway, (or other fixed blades) which I'm likely to bring if I plan to make a fire, or if it's a likely scenario, the Native is used for the ad-hoc fires, and often in combination with my titanium hobo stove.

But honestly, the boring answer is that my scandi, scandivex and convex fixed blades gets to do the majority of my feathersticks.
Most used is probably the Mora Robust I keep by my fireplace at home, with the Fällkniven F1, that does most of my outdoor feathersticks, on a close second place.

Unlike Mr. Kochanski, I've never realized feathersticks can be photogenic, but nevertheless this thread needs more pictures

[skeeg11]

So nice to be livin' the life. Great stuff.

[Wartstein]

...

...
Maybe I am wrong here, but my train of thought has been serrated cuts extremely well, rope as an example is more easily cut by serrated that PE with everything else be equal...

There are perhaps varying "definitions" of what a "good featherstick" is...
For me the only criteria is how easily it will catch a spark and enflame.

This is where SE really shines for me. The curls just get finer and more "fuzzy", probably due to the combo of scallops and acute chisel grind (?)

I'd really appreciate if all you "featherstickers" who might read this and own a serrated SPYDERCO (! not any other serrated knife) try for themselves and share the result here. Would be interesting if you come to the same experience as I do or not [EDIT: And try how well they do in actually catching a spark/starting a fire, NOT how "nice" the curls look]

[JoviAl]

...

...
Maybe I am wrong here, but my train of thought has been serrated cuts extremely well, rope as an example is more easily cut by serrated that PE with everything else be equal...

There are perhaps varying "definitions" of what a "good featherstick" is...
For me the only criteria is how easily it will catch a spark and enflame.

This is where SE really shines for me. The curls just get finer and more "fuzzy", probably due to the combo of scallops and acute chisel grind (?)

I'd really appreciate if all you "featherstickers" who might read this and own a serrated SPYDERCO (! not any other serrated knife) try for themselves and share the result here. Would be interesting if you come to the same experience as I do or not

Just had a go with my SE Caribbean Salt and it was a different sort of experience to my hollow ground PE blades but definitely did a great job. Less aesthetically pleasing curls and less uniform but very easy to do. Now I’m wondering how a chisel ground PE would be for feather sticks

[Wartstein]

...

There are perhaps varying "definitions" of what a "good featherstick" is...
For me the only criteria is how easily it will catch a spark and enflame.

This is where SE really shines for me. The curls just get finer and more "fuzzy", probably due to the combo of scallops and acute chisel grind (?)

I'd really appreciate if all you "featherstickers" who might read this and own a serrated SPYDERCO (! not any other serrated knife) try for themselves and share the result here. Would be interesting if you come to the same experience as I do or not

Just had a go with my SE Caribbean Salt and it was a different sort of experience to my hollow ground PE blades but definitely did a great job. Less aesthetically pleasing curls and less uniform but very easy to do. Now I’m wondering how a chisel ground PE would be for feather sticks

Thanks!!

Could you try, how well they'll catch a spark and so how good they are actually for fire starting?

I assume your "less aesthetically pleasing and less uniform" probably exactly ARE what I mean with "fuzzier" and what makes them BETTER for actual fire starting (but worse in a "featherstick beauty contest" )

[JoviAl]

Thanks!!

Could you try, how well they'll catch a spark and so how good they are actually for fire starting?

I assume your "less aesthetically pleasing and less uniform" probably exactly ARE what I mean with "fuzzier" and what makes them BETTER for actual fire starting (but worse in a "featherstick beauty contest" )

I’m just about to light a small fire for my wife so I’ll give it a go now and get back to you

[Wartstein]

Thanks!!

Could you try, how well they'll catch a spark and so how good they are actually for fire starting?

I assume your "less aesthetically pleasing and less uniform" probably exactly ARE what I mean with "fuzzier" and what makes them BETTER for actual fire starting (but worse in a "featherstick beauty contest" )

I’m just about to light a small fire for my wife so I’ll give it a go now and get back to you

Cool, really appreciate that!

Please compare "serrated edge featherstick" to "plain edge featherstick" if I am not asking to much.

[JoviAl]

Thanks!!

Could you try, how well they'll catch a spark and so how good they are actually for fire starting?

I assume your "less aesthetically pleasing and less uniform" probably exactly ARE what I mean with "fuzzier" and what makes them BETTER for actual fire starting (but worse in a "featherstick beauty contest" )

I’m just about to light a small fire for my wife so I’ll give it a go now and get back to you

Cool, really appreciate that!

Please compare "serrated edge featherstick" to "plain edge featherstick" if I am not asking to much.

So the results are in and… they all lit easily on the first three scrapes of a large fire steel the serrated ones were more fluffy and had almost hair-like curls, whereas the PE ones looked more like very fine curls from a woodworking plane. Both lit effortlessly. I’m mindful this might sound like I’m humble bragging (I detest humble bragging), but they both were really very easy to light. I was using bone dry pine sticks.

Full disclosure - I make these at least once a day five days a week though at work, so it’s possible that I’ve just gotten the knack of it with both types of edge. The SE was pretty easy to do as it kind of locked in to its grooves once it got going, whereas the PE required a bit more finesse on the angle but gave wide beautiful curls. Poh-tay-toh po-ta-to

Lots of shrugging going on over here

[JoviAl]

Oh, I forgot to mention - the PE was a flat grind Magnacut mule and the SE was a H1 dragonfly salt. I only realised afterwards that I could have used my Yojimbo for the PE, but that would have felt like I was biasing my results of purpose as it makes majestic fire sticks.

[PStone]

WolfSpyder is about Delica sized. This is an older pic, and scandi bevel has been slightly convexed, but the WolfSpyder is a great option for a smaller feather sticker.

[Urkilnmesmalls]

I use the spine on my resilience to do super fine curls that ignite with a spark no problem. The spine is a nice sharp 90 that works like a charm. Honestly I think the resilience is one of the best outdoor folders I’ve come across. I bought one a long while back and it’s been an amazing beater. I liked it enough that I bought a second one. I have also gifted a couple.

[JoviAl]

WolfSpyder is about Delica sized. This is an older pic, and scandi bevel has been slightly convexed, but the WolfSpyder is a great option for a smaller feather sticker.

Nice knife! I’ve been keeping an eye open for one of those on the secondary market for years but they never seem to come up.

[JoviAl]

A (very) quick comparison of the sort of feathers you get from SE vs PE (flat grind) for reference.

[JoviAl]

A (very) quick comparison of the sort of feathers you get from SE vs PE (flat grind) for reference.

SE’s ones are definitely uglier (IMO) but just as easy to light.

[Unluckycharm]

WolfSpyder is about Delica sized. This is an older pic, and scandi bevel has been slightly convexed, but the WolfSpyder is a great option for a smaller feather sticker.

Impressive. Guess a lot of it comes down to the knife you know…