Kellam Wolverine?

[Dan1982]

Just been watching the videos on www.azbushcraft.co.uk and it would appear that andrew price is using a kellam wolverine. i'm not looking to buy as i an brassic at the moment. just wondered what the general opinion of these knives was?

Dan

 

[Dan1982]

sorry the link is actually www.azbushcraft.com

My bad!!

nice and informative little site though!

Dan

 

[lupus]

its a very good knife.holds a razor edge well. can only think of one thing wrong with them the blade is not soldered to the brass Gard so water and dirt can get down the gap.

 

[rapidboy]

I have recently found one that i forgot i had and have been playing about with it all week.
Very sturdy knife, bit more solid and much better finished than mst of the other trad scandi knives out there.
Sheath is a cut above the norm as well.

 

[Yorkshire Boy]

Pause the video when he puts it back in the sheath and I think you'll find it says "Puuko" on the sheath.

 

[blackwolf1]

The knife is the Kellam Puukko,it is a really good knife.I differs from the Wolverine a little.
The blade is slightly longer at 3.75" on the Puukko,and the handle is contured differently as well.The Wolverine however has Kellam's SPT heat treatment which to me sounds like
a differential heat treat where the edge comes in at 62rc and the spine is at 52rc.
Both are great choices.

 

[Hoodoo]

That's a super little puukko. I modded mine just a tad.

You can used epoxy to seal the blade at the guard if you want.

 

[leon-1]

That's a super little puukko. I modded mine just a tad.

You can used epoxy to seal the blade at the guard if you want.

Would you rate the blade any better than a Lauri PT or PTX?

For anyone that's on a little bit of a tight budget I would say that they may have potential as an alternative.

 

[Yorkshire Boy]

That's a super little puukko. I modded mine just a tad.

You can used epoxy to seal the blade at the guard if you want.

Thanks for the tip on sealing the blade with epoxy. I must say when I read lupus' post saying that there was a gap I was rather disappointed. It's taken me a long time to decide what knife to get and in a few weeks I'm going to order a Wolverine.

Not been at all confident with my D.I.Y skills (and not wanting to mess up my new knife) is it an easy job to seal the gap?

Is epoxy better than solder?

Thank you, YB.

 

[SteveUK]

If you looking for a good alternative to the Kellam wolverine or pukko, have a look at the Nomad pukko
http://www.nomad-bushcraft.com/2007_12_01_archive.html

I picked one of these up a couple of months back and it now my current knife of choice.
another good alternative is the isakki pukko 5226 reviewed here on BCUK.

 

[leon-1]

Is epoxy better than solder?

Thank you, YB.

I don't like messing with heat when you have a tempered blade, I would be very wary of messing with heat on a PST, PT or PTX blade.

Epoxy is reasonably cheap and can do as good a job as solder, filling gaps as it soaks down.

 

[Yorkshire Boy]

Thanks Leon.

Now what epoxy do I use and how do I fill that gap?

Ha ha, I told you I was clueless!

 

[leon-1]

Thanks Leon.

Now what epoxy do I use and how do I fill that gap?

Ha ha, I told you I was clueless!

I tend to use Araldite precision.

Stand the knife handle down / blade up, put a layer of epoxy around the join / mating of blade and bolster. The layer can be quite thick. The araldite will slowly seep into any little holes or crevices. if you leave it for 24 hours or more you can then carve or polish the excess away.

 

[Yorkshire Boy]

Thank you very much!

 

[C_Claycomb]

You can also use thin superglue to fill some gaps, it flows and soaks better.

Many guards are fitted with JB Weld which is an excellent metal-metal adhesive. Solder comes in all sorts, any soldering has to be done before the handle is fitted, so you can't do it to a finished knife. You can however get it in both low and high temp types. Steve Johnson, a VERY well known US maker uses solder that melts at such a low temp that he uses just a hot air gun.

The Puukko doesn't have the SPT/PT induction hardened blade. Harder spine, softer edge than the Wolverine. The induction hardening method isn't in any way exclusive to, or developed by, Kellam and the Lauri blades appear indistiguishable to me.

I don't like the handle on the Wolverine, doesn't suit my hand, but Stuart and Ed swear by them and have worked them really hard.

 

[Hoodoo]

Would you rate the blade any better than a Lauri PT or PTX?

For anyone that's on a little bit of a tight budget I would say that they may have potential as an alternative.

Not familiar with those blades.

 

[Hoodoo]

You can also use thin superglue to fill some gaps, it flows and soaks better.

Many guards are fitted with JB Weld which is an excellent metal-metal adhesive. Solder comes in all sorts, any soldering has to be done before the handle is fitted, so you can't do it to a finished knife. You can however get it in both low and high temp types. Steve Johnson, a VERY well known US maker uses solder that melts at such a low temp that he uses just a hot air gun.

The Puukko doesn't have the SPT/PT induction hardened blade. Harder spine, softer edge than the Wolverine. The induction hardening method isn't in any way exclusive to, or developed by, Kellam and the Lauri blades appear indistiguishable to me.

I don't like the handle on the Wolverine, doesn't suit my hand, but Stuart and Ed swear by them and have worked them really hard.

A lot of custom knifemakers swear by J-B Weld over solder. You could probably do an internet search and find a discussion on the topic. But if J-B Weld is put on right, the gray color will actually give the guard a soldered look. I guess part of the problem has to do with fluxes somehow causing corrosion. I don't remember exactly because it's been a 4 or 5 years since I heard folks discuss this. But I do know there are some pretty fancy and pricey knives out there with J-B Weld guards.

 

[Dan1982]

so does this little gap between blade and bolster actually serve any purpose then or is it just a slight flaw on an otherwise very well manufactured knife? surely if the manufacturer was aware of this then it would be rectifiied on the more recent models??

Dan

 

[C_Claycomb]

so does this little gap between blade and bolster actually serve any purpose then or is it just a slight flaw on an otherwise very well manufactured knife? surely if the manufacturer was aware of this then it would be rectifiied on the more recent models??

Dan

Unless it is viewed as only cosmetic and to "fix" it would increase the cost of the finished knife beyond the benefit that it would provide. There will always be a last scratch to remove, on some knives that might be a file gouge, on others it might be that the 1200grit paper changed direction and left little fishhook marks. A manufacturer has to draw a line somewhere.

I haven't seen any commercial (or otherwise) Scandanavian knives that used solder. In my opinion, using JB Weld to fill an obvious gap is unslighly and no real solution for a maker to take. I've done it in the past, but am not happy about it. The right thing to do is to make a careful fitting that shows no gaps, but this is slow, precise, work and will add directly to the bottom line. A lot of people won't even notice the gap, but will notice paying another £10 (made up number) to not have it in the first place.

 

[Hoodoo]

Here's an article on solderless guards written by Terry Primos.