Knife Help?

[eskimo]

I am not sure if this has been covered before but I have always used a Cheap Frosts Mora Knife and have now decided to purchase on a little bit better. I am looking to spend between £50-£100 as I know that by going for a more expensive one will only hurt me more if I lose it or damage it. I have never used a knife for carving etc. I tend to use it only for sharpening stakes, cutting rope, and maybe sometime been slightly adventurous by making a billy holder.

I have been looking at a Fallkniven F1 or S1 maybe prefering the F1 as it has a smaller blade which seems adequate for my needs. Also been £60 it comes under budget but I cannot find one locally so will be buying 'Blind' online.

Has anyone Used/Owned one? Can you give me and info which could be helpful or does anyone know of a knife upto £100 which would be more suited.

Thanks in advance.

 

[British Red]

eskimo,

Many people on here have an F1 - I would ask Leon 1 or Jon Pickett for their opinions. They both own and rate the knife very highly indeed. They are both people whose opinion I repsect highly.

However, I, personally, deeply dislike the knife for a number of reasons.

That may seem unhelpful, however what I'm trying to tell you is that a great deal depends on personal taste, the size and shape of your hands, the uses you put the knife to etc.

Buying anything "blind" that you have no experience of and don't have the opportunity to handle is never ideal. If you can get to one of the meet ups, I would go and handle one (and a variety of other types) first and decide what suits you best nased on "hands on" experience.

All of that said if you do get an F1 and don't like it, they sell well second hand so you wont be out much money

Red

 

[Hoodoo]

£100 should be enough to get you a very well made custom knife.

The Charlie May Skifa Scandi sells for under $200 and it's one of the finest bushcraft knives I've ever handled.

 

[British Red]

Thats a bit nice

 

[markheolddu]

Try a Rosilli Hunter in UHC, a really great knife in my opinion anyway

 

[eskimo]

Many thanks for the responses guys. That is a lovely looking knife indeed. Do you know where I can find them for sale?? I have to admit the one thing I dislike about the F1 is the Black rubber handle, wood is much prefered.

 

[British Red]

Eskimo,

I would suggest a look at Grohmann knives, Lapp Pukkos and the Helle range - all in your price range and great outdoors knives.

Red

 

[sxmolloy]

If you are no good at DIY in the knife area like me try and buy a blade, scales for the handle and all the other bits and bobs and ask on here if a maker could do the job for you. Thats what I did and ended up with this beauty, will suit your budget too.

I'm massively impressed with it All the fine work of Dougster who is a member on here.

I also own a F1. I like it, althought I have altered the grind slightly, I find it a very good, tough knife and is superb with a firesteel.

ATB....Stu

 

[Hoodoo]

You can find Charlie's knives here.

A couple other great bushcraft knives in that price range are the SBT and Skookum Carver by Rod Garcia. Either one is an exceptional bushcraft tool, imo.

I also think slapping scales on a Lapplander is a super idea! You end up with a great knife at a really reasonable price.

 

[falling rain]

Well I've got a Helle eggen which I'm happy with and at around £40 - £45ish depending on where you shop more than adequate for the tasks you've mentioned http://www.outdoorsman.co.uk/index1.html

 

[SimonM]

Tamarack have a good selection of knives that suit your budget ( No connection to seller But I have used them, and found them reliable). Follow the link below.

http://www.tamarackoutdoors.co.uk/dispprod.pl?filtera=Bushcraft&filterb=The Knife

However, I would recommend that you try a knife before you buy, hand size blade length etc all make a difference and if you aren't comfy then you will not enjoy the tool!

I bought this one!

 

[Karl5]

You can find very nice bushcraft knives here (click on "knives").
Most of them classic scandi knives with carbon steel blades.
They also fit your £50-£100 bill.

I have the The Vildmark knife and The Elk, both very nice tools to work with as well as easy on the eye.
The only thing I sometimes find not to my liking (on an allround bushcraft knife) is the fact that the blade is "only" 77mm long, making it a trifle small in some situations. But generally, this is far from a problem (and sometimes even of an advantage).

/ Karl

 

[big_swede]

I would go for a 8" or 9" sameknife (or leuko as some insist on calling it). Preferably from Strømeng. I think they do mail orders IIRC. Think they go for around £50-60

 

[Ratbag]

Choices, choices!

All the suggestions above are good. I've never spent more than £100 on a knife, and I've got several by various different means:

I bought an F1 from Heinnie Hayes for £60 as my first decent fixed blade and I really rate it. Rapidboy made me a beautiful leather sheath for it.

I shopped around on British Blades and found a second-hand Bark River Highland Special for £55, which is a great knife (but with a not-so-great sheath, perhaps). I made a new sheath for it using my F1 sheath as a guide.

I bought a Laplander 90 blade (£20) and a H1 blade (£30 secondhand), both of which which I'm in the process of fitting handle slabs to. Then I have to make sheaths. And matching firesteels...

If you aren't confident fitting your own handle slabs and you want a scandi grind you could do a lot worse than asking someone on here or BB to handle a laplander blade for you, as sxmolloy suggests.

As Hoodoo says, £/$ exchange rate is in your favour at the moment, so some of the US makers would be great value.

Personally I'd be tempted to approach one of the makers on here or BB to make you a knife - you should be able to find someone who can meet your price bracket. Trawl the makers forum to see if anything catches your eye, then politely PM the maker, perhaps?

Just my thoughts

Rat