Puukko advice

[Hootch]

I'm interested in finding a small-medium puukko, with maybe an 8-10cm blade, wooden handle and leather sheath. Maybe if I explain what I'd be using it for then it could help people make suggestions. I hike and wild camp a lot in Scotland and as such don't really want or need a great big bushcraft knife. I do however use a twig-burning camp stove and so carry a bacho laplander for cutting sticks to the right length. I don't carry an axe (too heavy and overkill for my little stove) but would like to be able to split small sticks to go in the stove. I wouldn't split anything thicker than an inch, but I'm aware that even this light battening might be too much for many puukkos. Apart from the stick splitting, I'd be making small feather sticks, preparing food and so on.
I've looked at the Helle knives and really like the Symfoni, but maybe the laminate steel wouldn't like even very light battening. Also, not sure if it'd work with a fire steel - something else I'd like a potential puukko to be capable of, though it's not essential as I can always use a striker.
Any thoughts on traditional looking puukkos that might fit the bill? Thanks!

 

[0000]

Any sharp 90° spine will work with a ferro rod but I'm sure the helles that I've handled have been somewhat capped or rounded. Are you set on a traditional puukko with a scandi edge? If you intend on using it frequently I personally wouldn't recommend a scandi over a full flat or convex. If you are though, have a look at the Ahti Vaara 95 (some work required to eliminate the secondary bevel to get a true scani), Malanika puukko and the less traditional but beautiful Riverside Forge full tang puukko.

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[Nice65]

BogdanS makes a nice little puukko called the Beaver, not overpriced and might suit your needs.

http://bushcraft-kit.com/

This was mine. Not very traditional in looks, but with a wooden handle it’s a nice modern take on the style.

 

[Janne]

Many excellent makers in Scandinavia and Finland of this style of knife, both artisanal and factory..

If you want a 'classic' design and spend very little money, have a look on the Mora Classic number 1. If you want to be able to use a ferrocerium rod you will need to spend a few minutes adjusting the spine though. The No 2/0 is slightly shorter, and No 2 is slightly longer than the 1, which has a blade length of 100mm.
They are made by Morakniv AB, the last remaining manufacturer of these knives.

Karesuando kniven makes some high quality, beautiful knives with a Saami 'flair'.
https://karesuandokniven.com/

Please note that the word 'pukko' is 'knife' in Finnish, and is not a name for a specific design. As it happens, most traditional knives all over Fenno Scandinavia have blades of a very similar design. Developed by users over centuries, all arriving at the same design.
Function before flair.

If you have never used a blade of that design and edge, a Mora is a good way of checking if you like it. Maybe better to discover you do not like it with a Mora then with something much more expensive! But do not let the price fool you, the steels used are world top notch Sandviken steels!

 

[TLM]

Please note that the word 'pukko' is 'knife' in Finnish, and is not a name for a specific design.

The word 'puukko' specifically means a working general purpose tool knife. The general word is 'veitsi' that would translate into knife and that word covers just about anything from a butter knife up. Yes a 'puukko' is not a design, it's more like the purpose. Not that it matters all that much.

 

[Janne]

Thank you for the expert explanation. In Swedish we call them simply kniv. If it is a more specific use knife, we add the use in front. Jakt kniv, fiske kniv, slaktar kniv.
As the Mora made knives have shaped us for centuries, we usually call them 'en Mora'. - 'Give me the Mora'

Splitting hairs, I find it funny wjen people say 'a Mora pukko'. No such think, unleess you speak Finnish!

What are those traditional Finnish knives called with the more elaborate designs, the one with (for example) a metal horse head at the end of the handle? Also have elaborately designed and made sheaths.

Do you have any recommendations for a decent, cheap knife Made in Finland the OP might look into?

 

[TLM]

A fancy puukko is called just about that, the Finnish word for that is 'korupuukko' that would directly translate to 'jewelry knife', some times also called 'dress knife' as it would be used in dressier situations.

I think that for a very basic but still high quality Laurin Metalli is hard to beat. That is the company that is making the blades for Varusteleka. Just few days ago I was disgussing that, there is apparently only one return on Jääkäripuukko that does not have a known misuse reason for breaking. The shorter Jääkäripuukko is a fairly good beater come to think of it, also if kept well a good candidate for EDC.

 

[Janne]

The thickness might be an issue.

This is the style I wrote about. A future buy for me!

 

[Robbi]

Check out the Benchmade 200 puukko... Seriously good knife, watch the reviews.

 

[TLM]

That looks good and the specs are not bad, not cheap though.

 

[Stew]

My suggestion would either be something with a nicely forged blade or if you want a more modern feel, go for an enzo blade.

 

[Sieddy]

Polar 95 from moonraker 45£. You cannot sneeze at that deal!

 

[Stew]

I suppose a fair question is to check what your proposed budget would be too.

 

[Janne]

The above poster, Stew, can make you one to your specs!
Of course, to a higher price level than a Mora, but his knives are 'keepers' to be cherished as heirlooms!

 

[C_Claycomb]

Not quite "any" 90deg, if it is soft. The Kellam Wolverine, once very popular with members here, was noted for sub-par performance striking sparks from a ferro rod. Other than that, it is an excellent light knife, good sheath, cuts like a laser, comfortable, not too slippy a handle shape.

I have the Benchmade Puukko 200 and would not recommend to the OP for a number of reasons. I would be hesitant to recommend it to anyone without a lot of qualifiers. It does e...v...e...n...t...u...a...l...l...y take a very nice edge and the steel is nice, but it has a lot of, well, I could call them problems, which some might think is overly critical...so lets say "issues", not least of which, in the UK, is the price. The cost/value isn't good. I have been working on a review too.

What budget are you looking at? I do like hidden tangs, but I agree that a flat or convex edge is more widely useful. The problem is that there are fewer knives in that grind with that tang style, compared to the light Scandis. You would have to try hard to go wrong with any of the Helles though.

 

[Janne]

maybe Off Topic, but I have read posts on Scandi sites that a laminated blade can be tricky to get a good consistent sparking with.
Apparently the stainless cladding steel can be a bit soft.
Helle uses laminated blades.

 

[0000]

Not quite "any" 90deg, if it is soft. The Kellam Wolverine, once very popular with members here, was noted for sub-par performance striking sparks from a ferro rod. Other than that, it is an excellent light knife, good sheath, cuts like a laser, comfortable, not too slippy a handle shape.

I have the Benchmade Puukko 200 and would not recommend to the OP for a number of reasons. I would be hesitant to recommend it to anyone without a lot of qualifiers. It does e...v...e...n...t...u...a...l...l...y take a very nice edge and the steel is nice, but it has a lot of, well, I could call them problems, which some might think is overly critical...so lets say "issues", not least of which, in the UK, is the price. The cost/value isn't good. I have been working on a review too.

What budget are you looking at? I do like hidden tangs, but I agree that a flat or convex edge is more widely useful. The problem is that there are fewer knives in that grind with that tang style, compared to the light Scandis. You would have to try hard to go wrong with any of the Helles though.

I have yet to find a sharp 90° spine that didn't throw sparks with a ferro rod. Even fully annealed o1 works perfectly so in a heat treated blade, yes any sharp 90° spine works. Perhaps The kellam was slightly rounded, I've never seen one.

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[Hootch]

A lot to think about here, some very helpful advice and some interesting knives to look at, thank you! It's opened up some new questions too. I should have made my budget clear - I'd like to try and keep it under £100 if possible, though when browsing around I keep seeing things just above that mark, and then a bit more again....
It's really because this is a knife to be used and if I have something too expensive it'd feel too 'hands off'. I suppose this rules out some of the custom made knives.
This thread has got me thinking about the steel, the grind and the tang. For the uses I originally suggested - very light splitting/batoning of maximum one inch diameter sticks for a twig stove, making feather sticks, hopefully striking a fire steel (not a deal-breaker), and some food prep - is a scandi grind the way to go? Some above have suggested a flat or even convex grind. I've wondered about full flat grinds before and am concerned that the few mm of steel behind the cutting edge may be too thin for splitting sticks - more lightly to bend or chip than a scandi grind. Is this the case?
That also raises the question of the steel - which would be best suited, with which grind, for the intended use? The Helle Symoni is really nice and I'd go for it except I wonder if the softer outer steel of the laminate wouldn't like even very light tapping when splitting sticks, and the very hard inner steel may also be damaged / crack. Same applies to the Kellam Wolverine. As mentioned above, it also doesn't work well with a fire steel, nor does the Symfoni apparently due to the soft outer steel.
How is 12C27 steel, as used by Eka and in some Helle knives?

A lot of the puukkos I've seen do not have a full tang either, often just a stick / rat tail / partial tang - does this matter if the build and steel is good and the splitting / batoning is going to be light?
It's easy to start drifting towards heavier duty bushcraft knives, like the shorter Jääkäripuukko mentioned above. There are quite a few knives that I'm sure would handle what I want to do with ease but I feel they are kind of in a different category - a 'beefier' category altogether. For example if I wanted a full bushcraft knive I'd probably get something like the Helle Utvaer survival knife, but it's still 'too much knife' for what I need.
I'll look into the knives suggested above and report back - in the meantime, thanks!

 

[C_Claycomb]

I have yet to find a sharp 90° spine that didn't throw sparks with a ferro rod. Even fully annealed o1 works perfectly so in a heat treated blade, yes any sharp 90° spine works. Perhaps The kellam was slightly rounded, I've never seen one.

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Not sure how you, as a maker, can conclude that a soft cutting tool works "perfectly" compared to a hard cutting tool. A soft file will work just as well as a hard one for filing metal, you get scratches and some swarf with both, don't you? Also I don't know how you conclude that the folk reporting that the Wolverine didn't strike sparks as well as knives with full hard blades hadn't tried sharpening the spine. One of the chaps was a one of the first mods here and had the distribution contract with Kellam, other mods had similar experiences and I know they filed the spines.

 

[C_Claycomb]

The Ahti Vaara 95 that RuaridHunter suggested first looks like a lovely knife that would do exactly what you want, for well within your budget. If you are happy with looking after carbon steel, which isn't that bad really, I would go with that and not worry about it at all.


12c27 is good, easy to sharpen, fairly stain resistant. It is what is used in all the stainless Mora knives. Used by some of the top custom makers in the country too. I have made a few in it too. No problems.

Strength of the blade behind the edge is more about how thick the edge is left rather than whether the grind runs to the spine or not. While I like flat/convex knives, the market has few options for the style, compared to the Scandi. A fairly high Scandi grind will work for what you need and do general food prep duty well enough too.