Helle Eggen or Brakar

[Barak]

If you had to choose between these two as an all round knife for wilderness use, which would it be? They are fairly similar, the main difference being that the Eggen has a 4" blade whereas the Brakar has 5". Most of my knives in the past have been at least 5" and I'm somewhat hesistant to go under that. Will I notice the missing length if I go for the shorter knife?

 

[Chopper]

An extra inch is always nice too have.

Go for the Brakar.

 

[MartiniDave]

Barak,

I have an Eggen which I quite like. Its a fairly light (not much heavier than a Mora, but much lighter than, say a Woodlore) but reasonably sturdy knife, that takes and holds a wicked edge. I found the sheath a bit flimsy for such a sharp blade, so I hot-waxed it, which has made it much more robust. The Eggen, and i think this is true od all Helle laminated blades, does NOT throw good sparks from a firesteel, except for right near the tip of the blade, so I carry a bit of hacksaw blade with my firesteel when using the Eggen.
It fits my mid-sized hand nicely.

Never even seen a Brakar.

Dave

 

[Dr Onion]

I use a Jegermester (5"+) myself as a good all rounder - never had any problems and it throws decent sparks from a firesteel - just need to rough the spine a tad first.

I like it, it feels good in my hand and feels really robust whatever I'm using it for. I have a mora as a backup but rarely use that now.

Cheers

Dr O

 

[Jus_like_that]

I first had a puukko years ago then facied a change and bought a brakar. Still love it very nice to look at, easy to look after but found the blade too flimsy for every day use, its too thin for battoning (in my opinion), also found the handle quite thin so used to cut into my hand quite a lot. Plus it has square depressions on the spine which can be painful. I then bought a. F1 lovely knife, but i'm not a fan of convex edges. So i went back to my indestructible puukko until my woodlore arrived, Which is definitely the best knife i've ever used!

But if i could change the brakar i'd have it shorter, its not strong enough to cope with the leverage it takes so out of the eggen and brakar i'd go for the eggen!

Sorry bout the midnight rambling! hope it helps!

 

[Barak]

Thanks for the responses. I'm not worried about the sparking ability as I always carry a striker with my firesteel.

As I understand it the blade on the Brakar is .129 inches thick, or about 3.2mm. Is that really too flimsy for general wilderness use?

 

[leon-1]

As I understand it the blade on the Brakar is .129 inches thick, or about 3.2mm. Is that really too flimsy for general wilderness use?

No it's not, there are plenty of knives out there which are made from 3.2mm and others which are made from 2.5mm which are more than capable.

I have not experience of the Brakar, but I do have experience of both the Helle Harding and the Helle Eggen (both of which are very good knives). Of your selection I would go for the Eggen.

 

[Hoodoo]

No it's not, there are plenty of knives out there which are made from 3.2mm and others which are made from 2.5mm which are more than capable.

I have not experience of the Brakar, but I do have experience of both the Helle Harding and the Helle Eggen (both of which are very good knives). Of your selection I would go for the Eggen.

I definitely agree with Leon. I prefer thinner blades. The only caveat I have for Helle laminated blades is that I've seen some pics of them coming apart after heavy batonning. When I carry a Helle for bushcraft use, I almost always carry a small hatchet for chopping and heavy batonning. Light batonning should not be a problem. Personally I've never had a Helle delaminate but the smoothly rounded spines with soft steel on the edges usually do not strike a firesteel very well, as noted by some above.

 

[wildrover]

I have both a Brakar and an Eggen.
(I won the Brakar in a competition on here )

I had the Brakar for about a year before I got the Eggen and in that time I used it extensively for all manner of bushcraft and kitchen tasks.These ranged from (very) light chopping, carving, battoning and food prep and I found the Brakar very competent at all these things.

I was impressed with the laminated blade and although it's disappointing that it's no good for casting sparks (a small point) it does take on a wicked edge.
In my experience the blade is perfectly adequate for battoning and at no time was I worried about it not being strong enough for the task.
As for blade de-lamination (is that an actual word? ) the only person I have heard of experiencing it was Toddy and if memory serves Helle very quickly and with no fuss replaced the blade.
The only slight niggle I could have is that for me the grip is (despite being very attractive) a wee bit too slender, not to the point of being awkward to use but it doesn't quite fill my hand.

The Eggen was a Christmas gift a year past from the wife(after some hinting) as I fancied trying a shorter bladed knife and quite liked it's looks.
Already being a convert from my experiences with the Brakar I had expectations, and I have not been disappointed.
The Eggen has a stouter(?) look than the Brakar and has proven it's self as good as the Brakar in all jobs asked of it. I find it better to carve with due to the shorter blade length and the blade does have a tougher look to it (not that I had any reason to consider the Brakar any less tough). I find the handle of the Eggen fills my (average sized) hand better than the Brakar and as such feels that wee bit nicer to use.
As such it has become my regular Bushcraft blade and would be the one I would recommend for that purpose, although If I was told that I could only use one knife and it was the Brakar I wouldn't be too upset by the prospect.

To sum up my my rambling: for bushcraft I'd choose the Eggen.
The blade has good steel,is of good length and perfectly adequate thickness, the grips comfortable and well sized.

However if you have small hands and/or like a longer blade then go for the Brakar.

Hope this helps.

ps If I knew how I'd post pics for size comparison

 

[Hoodoo]

I have both a Brakar and an Eggen.
As for blade de-lamination (is that an actual word? )

No. Blade delamination is two words.

delaminate
v.t. divide into thin layers.

© From the Hutchinson Encyclopaedia.
Helicon Publishing LTD 2008.
All rights reserved.

 

[wildrover]