Bark River Fingerling Fixed Blade Knife Natural Canvas Micarta (3.25" Satin)

First, the Bark River Fingerling First Production Run has an ergonomic handle, unlike my Bark River Woodland of a similar size. The handle contours on the Fingerling are nice and rounded with no sharp angles to dig into the meat of my hand, as I find with the Woodland. In terms of handle ergonomics, the Fingerling is a much better design. The sheath on the fingerling seems made to accommodate the pronounced up sweep toward the tip. While the trailing point makes for a fine looking and functional blade, the sheath is open from the front of the handle and most of the way down the spine of the knife. While this makes for easier sheathing and unsheathing of the blade, if the retention strap becomes inadvertently unsnapped, the knife will fall forward and out of the sheath. The leather sheath arrived in an extremely dry condition and it took about 30 minutes of working the leather with Neatsfoot oil to get it in a pliable and somewhat water resistant condition. The CPM 3V steel blade construction seems fairly strong and the convex blade contour arrived razor sharp, as has been my experience with Bark River blades. All in all, the knife itself rates a 5/5 in terms of aesthetics, construction, ergonomics and execution. The leather sheath, for its design, rates a rather generous 3/5 due to its poor blade retention and leather condition that arrived dry as chalk and as stiff as cardboard.