To buy or make?

[Tommyd345]

Hi all!
Now iv decided to get myself a Sami knife (the big one) and was wondering your opinions. Now for £99 I can get myself the large sami and the small one that comes with it. (Reviews are good ect). Or I can buy the blade and handle making materials myself and make it. If only done this once and it was a full tang so I could just drill and sand. I think the stick tang could be a totally different challenge!
So what do you all think?
Also what about in general, do you buy the package or prefer to do as much yourself as possible?

Thanks!
http://www.greenmanbushcraft.co.uk/cutting-tools/leuku-210mm-blade-blank.htm Blade
http://www.armynnavy.com/catalog/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/4069 - deal

 

[British Red]

I bought that Casstrom combination and reviewed it on here. I consider the handle on the Leuku dangerously short. There are much better Leukus out there if you want one and making one will, at the very least, get a handle that fits you!

 

[vestlenning]

Also what about in general, do you buy the package or prefer to do as much yourself as possible?

Buy the blade and take it from there. If you're not satisfied with the result, take it apart and have another go.

 

[Tommyd345]

I bought that Casstrom combination and reviewed it on here. I consider the handle on the Leuku dangerously short. There are much better Leukus out there if you want one and making one will, at the very least, get a handle that fits you!

Glad I asked! I'm looking for review now

 

[HillBill]

I could make you a blade, either stick or full tang...

 

[2Tim215]

If you make a part of it it will always be truly yours.

 

[John Fenna]

Make - every time you have to ask the answer is MAKE
Then it is truly yours.

 

[Macaroon]

What they all say above; there's no feeling in the world quite like using for the first time a tool you've made yourself

 

[BogdanS]

Hello Tommy,

The best way to go would be to do it yourself - it will for sure be nice experience and in the end you will have something "custom" especially created for YOUR needs
On top of this before starting this quest be sure you have some basic tools - if you will need info I am glad to help and for sure the other members too.

All the best!

 

[Tommyd345]

I could make you a blade, either stick or full tang...

So very tempted!
I agree with you all, I'm definatly going to go for the make, with regards to tools, my dads garage full of tools/shiney toys I'm sure I can get it sorted
Design wise, would you go for a traditional, palm tree sort of thing, or just custom it for your hand?
Thanks!!

 

[BogdanS]

I would only do what fits me

 

[vestlenning]

Go for personal!

 

[OldJimbo]

Here we have three Mora blades from more than a decade ago.
I'd picked up the leuku and the stub tang bowie blades on sale to try them out.

The top blade hasn't been available for years so far as I know, but I liked it over Lauri blades I bought as blades and handled, because it is 3.3 mm thickness instead of the usual 3mm. Especially notice the blade-tang junction, which is stepped and overall a concave. I believe that that small feature rather than the blade tang junction being a simple 90 cut, makes the knife vastly less likely to break. I could be wrong, but given all the people with broken knives, perhaps not...

The handle on the stub tang was literally made in minutes from a piece of axe handle, and you can still see some yellow paint on it. It's a simple epoxied in job. I wanted to try that handle shape, and I wasn't expecting things to hold together well. I still use it all these years later because the total package did work out much better than expected. The position of the blade in the handle is intentional.

The leuku handle took a bit longer since i had to shape it a bit. There's nothing traditional about it, but then there's nothing traditional about the way I use the knife. A quick shaping with sanding drums, and I even fixed the blade into the handle with molten bullet casting alloy because I was in a hurry. Despite the added weight of the lead, I grew to love the knife after a few weeks of handle shapping with sandpaper as I used it and found what I wanted.

Notice the over-sized handle and handle shape for lots of grip since I'm applying lots of force on the handle in this pic:

The original intent was to find out what I liked in terms of handles first then either make copies of better wood and construction or get them made. But.. I'm still waiting to break these and so I simply never bothered. I'd use these anyway, and other stuff just sits in a drawer. Other than the original Mora which I like, I find most provided handles to be poor - for me.

So I say make a handle to find out what you want - then get the job done properly with a working model - if you want pretty.

 

[Robson Valley]

I learned by experience what handle size suits my large front paws. Blank = 7/8" square. Odd how fussy that gets.
The limits for real comfort and control are the range from 1" to 3/4".
Accidently stumbled across a description from Kestrel Tool, one of the premiere bladesmiths of the Pacific Northwest.
"In a fist grip, palm up, the tips of your second and third fingers should just touch the ball of your thumb."
So in shaping larger tool handles such as for an elbow adze and a D adze, I roughed out 7/8" and carved from there.

I am convinced that you need to mess with handle sizes and then make something which fits you. Your knife. Done as it should be done.

 

[brancho]

I have used a few of those blades

two knives redone by alf.branch, on Flickr

Leuku for Dave 2 by alf.branch, on Flickr

ArisLeuku finished 1 by alf.branch, on Flickr

ArisLeuku finished 5 by alf.branch, on Flickr

 

[WULF]

What they all say above; there's no feeling in the world quite like using for the first time a tool you've made yourself

Agree with that