Help finding a gift

[jack_b]

My brother is looking for a general bushcraft/utility knife for his birthday, but it's not a subject I know much about. Perhaps the forum residents can give me some pointers?

Desired features are:

• Blade about 10cm. Robust, probably a drop point.
• Easy to maintain and clean blade, especially on longer trips in a damp climate.
• Hard steel which takes a good edge. Laminate looks like it offers both this and the point above
• Attractive wooden handle. Wood with nice patterns, leather spacers, small bits of horn are probably good.
• Enough of a guard/bolster too keep fingers away from the blade in the dark, or with cold numb hands. Also to protect the wooden handle a bit.
• Rat-tail tang is probably enough, it isn't going to be used for batoning - he'll take an axe if that's necessary
• Nice leather sheath (though I could get that separately)
• Easy to maintain in the field, not so important at home. Keeping it completely dry could be tricky, oiling a wooden handle once in a while is OK.

I'm thinking of this as a gift that will last, something to pass on to the next generation in a few years. I don't mind spending a bit on it. The Helle Harding looks like it ticks all the boxes and is in the right price bracket at £100. Is it a good buy? Anything else you'd suggest I look at?

 

[copper_head]

Take a look at The Bushcraft Store range. Although Helle is a good shout too.

http://www.thebushcraftstore.co.uk/tbs-knives--350-c.asp

 

[Janne]

In addition to Helle, you have the Swedish Karesuando kniven and the Finnish Marttiini.

If you want to go with a smaller producer, check out Ragnars Swedish knives.

 

[Squidders]

You could do a lot worse than a scandi grind Enzo: https://www.heinnie.com/knives-and-tools/fixed-blade-knives/f/brand/enzo
Or this for well within your budget: https://www.heinnie.com/boker-plus-bushcraft-next-generation
Perhaps one of the makers here could make you something nice for the budget.

For durability, you won't really beat an ESEE, or Fallkniven F1, or similar... trouble is... knives are extremely personal.

 

[Nice65]

Find out which grind suits. Scandi zero, Scandi with secondary bevel, flat, hollow etc. Your brothers knife needs to work for him. People say the zero Scandi is easy to sharpen, I disagree, there can be a lot of metal to remove when setting the profile again.

However, your description suggests a classic Scandi knife. You might do well to sign up to BB and check out redbeardrum, or better just browse the maker section. I got a lovely redbeardrum for £60 a few years ago, stacked leather handle Puukko.

Time for a snooze, but if you want some links let me know.

 

[jack_b]

Good suggestions all! Keep them coming.

To answer a the question on grind: Scandi sounds good, though I would also consider flat if everything else was right. He has access to a good quality water cooled grinder/polisher, which will make it easy to put an edge back on if he needs to remove more material.

I like the look of the stacked wood and leather handles on the rat-tailed tang, and I'm willing to accept that these will be a little weaker than the full tang.

@Nice65: I'm not sure where you mean by BB and the only readbeardrum I can find is a blackadder character, so a link or two would be appreciated

 

[Reno Lewis]

A properly built puukko will be plenty solid for anything you could think of, short of splitting full rounds.

Look into the RST (Wetlands) versions of Ahti knives. They're made just like their normal puukkos, but with natural curly birch handles and stainless blades. I've had very good experience with the stainless from Lauri metal (the company who produces their blades), as well as from Ahti themselves.

Specifically, I'd look at the Ahti Vaara RST based on your specs.

I can also highly recommend Enzo Trappers. You can find them in different stainless steels (good ones at that), as well as with curly birch scales. Can't go wrong with an Enzo.

 

[Leshy]

... I'm not sure where you mean by BB and the only readbeardrum I can find is a blackadder character, so a link or two would be appreciated

...don't mind if I do...

BB = British Blades forum

redbeardrum is a forum member... and by the sound of it , a maker .😀

Hope it helps