On a recent medieval reenactment fair near my home I had the opportunity to get me a Puukko cheap. It´s distributed by Sampo corporation, and according to Klaus, whom I met on the fair, and who is the owner of the shop, is made by hand in Finland. It costs 77,00 € when purchased regularily. It´s made from beautiful birch burr and reindeer antler. The tang is peened over a brass disc and the reindeer buttcap, which shows the natural surface at the end. The blade is 90x3,5mm, made from some unspecified carbon steel, but it appears to be something with manganese in it. Even as is, it would have been a good enough buy, but the surprise came when I checked the hardness on the edge. I estimate it to have 62 - 63 HRC IN THE EDGE. I emphasize this, because this appeared to me that someone got off his rocker on a production knife and cut short on the heat - treating process, until I realized the blade gave that familiar ringing sound only selectively tempered blades have. I then checked the spine hardness, and it came in at an estimated 49-52 HRC. At this prize, this is frankly insane! Out of the box the knife came wickedly sharp. Without any work by myself, it was hair-splitting sharp, and this after being transported all over Germany and lying in the heat, and the cold, and the rain, and the cold again, being fingered by thousands of customers and such. As is to be expected, it´s a most able whittler and even should stand up to quite an amount of abuse. If you use it for light batoning, it should even handle this, but remember that no rat-tail-tang is made to be pounded with a heavy baton through knotted hardwood burr constantly. The sheath is made from top - grain leather with a plastic insert that is actually molded into shape, not just some piece stuck into the leather as with those Roselli sheaths. One complaint is that the belt loop could be more caringly put together and drilled together.
For most any bushcraft and camping tasks, however, this is one knife you can bet your arse on. It´s also a great first knife for beginner viking reenactors, and, last, but in no way least, it´s a beaut.
And best of all, there´s plenty more of them, including Saami sets, Leukus, whittlers and whatnot.
Sampo also sells those wonderful reindeer hides... so pay their site a visit!
Those are the adventures of Mr. Fimbulmyrk, in bushcraft and blacksmithing, mountainbiking and hiking, reenactment, writing, singing, dancing, stargazing and having a piece of cake and a coffee. Pray have a seat and look around you, but be warned - the forest´s twilight is ferocious at times.
Donnerstag, 10. Juli 2014
Short review of a Sampo Puukko
Labels:
birch burr,
carbon steel,
Knifemaking Tribal Smithing Bushcraft Survival Mushroom Hunting,
Puuko,
reindeer antler,
Saami knife,
Sampo Rügen,
selective tempering
Beliebte Posts
-
On request I am doing a personal evaluation of a very classic bushcraft combination. The famed Roselli hunter and carpenter´s knife. I pur...
-
I like to think that I am a thinking man. I like to think that I have a reasonable amount of common sense. I have a day job like so many ...
-
Hyourougan are so - called "hunger pills" in use by the famed Shinobi of ancient Japan. They are actually a military ration for sc...
-
Made a fast herb chopper for the most extremely bestest magical sorcery troll. File steel, selective quench and triple temper.
-
Well, this is a really old and treasured knife I have had since the 1990s, a Helle Fjellkniven in H3LS steel. I have used this really slic...
-
So, this is just the beginning of a series of posts about one of the best times I have ever had at the Solingen Knife Fair, which took pl...
-
At my recent visit to Solingen I also dropped by the Otter knives booth. Now they were very persuasive;-) and I got this beautiful tradit...
-
This is the common birch polypore, fomitopsis betulina, also known as birch bracket or razor strop. For a bushcrafter, it is a treasure ...
-
This is something I have in the works at the moment with some thoughts on knife design. The lecture on Puukko design by Anssi Ruusuvuori ...
-
That´s how it looks now, blade coarsely ground, copper ferrule fitted, handle tanned and glued in place, tang riveted inside. Have to fill t...