A knife combo review‏, by bmatt, an American Bushcrafter in Finland

Today in the News:  You're awesome for reading our blog.  You'd be stupendous if you wrote a guest article.  house.of.howes@hotmail.com .

Link of the Day:  www.bushcraftusa.com .  One of the mods there recently told me that I could no longer post blog updates due to the fact that it would detract from the traffic they're trying to get.  So, in the spirit of generosity, I'm sending some hits their way.  In all seriousness, it is a great site and I owe much of my readership to them.  I'm just sad that they won't let me post blog updates.  Please, go check out their site and converse much.

Special Note:  I'd like to personally than bmatt, The Wandering Thinker and Bernard Ten Bears for becoming regular contributors.  Writing 5-7 entries per week when I'm working full time with three oompa-loompas running around is not easy, but with the help of these repeat contributors, it has made this undertaking splendid, plus, I learn a lot from their posts.  So today, bmatt returns with:

A knife combo review‏, by bmatt, an American Bushcrafter in Finland
This past summer, some friends and I went to the International Sportsmen's Fair in Riihimäki, Finland. While at the fair, I picked up a knife combo at the Kauhavan Puukkopaja booth for €62 (about $100 US). I prefer to carry a small fixed blade and a medium fixed blade when woods bumming and find this setup to cover a great many needs. The combo I purchased at the fair will serve as a backup should anything happen to my usual set.


Specs:

Small knife (puukko): 2.4" x 1/8" Lauri carbon steel blade, curly birch handle, brass bolster and butt cap. Small secondary bevel, which I am in the process of getting rid of in favor of a microbevel.
Medium knife (small leuku): 5.6" x 1/8" Lauri carbon steel blade, curly birch handle, brass bolster and butt cap. Small secondary bevel which I am in the process of convexing for strength.

Both knives are housed in an un-dyed (but treated on the inside) leather dangler sheath. The quality of these knives is good. There are some minor fit and finish issues, but for the price, these rugged knives are right on target.

Testing:

I tested these knives by doing a series of tasks that I regularly do in the bush. First up was firewood processing with the small leuku. I started by delimbing a dead spruce with a maximum trunk diameter of about 3" - 3.5". This was followed by sectioning the tree, which took about a minute. I batoned through one piece to continue the process, and then made some shavings with both knives (puukko on the left and leuku on the right). So firewood prep is no problem. The next test was clearing/slash-cutting with the same knife. As you can see, it glided through the flower stem (and several leaves) like they weren't there. Next up was a small birch sapling. Same results here. :D Finally, I carved some common notches into the birch sapling with the puukko.

Conclusion:

Aside from the minor fit and finish issues, which I corrected myself in a few minutes, I can't say anything bad about this combo. The price is right, the maker reprofiled the blades and made them super sharp, the craftmanship is very good, it's light in weight and the style is right up my alley. I'd highly recommend Kauhavan Puukkopaja knives to anyone looking for a stylish and traditional Scandi that doesn't break the bank.

That's all for today, folks.  Another great write up from bmatt!

Pax Domini Sit Semper Vobiscum,

Mike, Oscar, Hotel.......out