Becker bk9 vs Leuku 8"

deltablade

deltablade

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Could you comment on your preference of one of these vs the other for use as a hiking-camping-survival knife?
 
Depends on what your going to use them for. I feel that any normal fixed blade with a stick/rat tail/tapered tang will do just fine when it comes to hard usage (i.e. NO batonning, prying, screwdriving, etc) as one should have the proper tools for such jobs (hatchet/camp axe, prybar, screwdriver) but if you want a knife to use and abuse well a full tang design is a much safer bet.

between the two designs youve selected I think the Bk9 would probably be able to do all of these things, however I would prefer a proper selection of tools and the Leuku. 1. because im partial to scandi knives, and 2. because I prefer a scandi grind to FFG when it comes to fixed blades
 
do you have any problem keeping your hand off the blade with a Leuku? and is the flared butt comfortable to use, i e in your hand?
 
no problems with comfort for me and the lack of guard teaches you to pay attention when using the knife.
 
deltablade said:
Could you comment on your preference of one of these vs the other for use as a hiking-camping-survival knife?
Click to expand...

Another "depends." They are entirely different designs designed for different tasks in different places. That said, if your hiking-camping-survival doesn't involve chopping big hunks of wood or bashing the bejeebus outta stuff, the Leuku will serve you very well. Its a hiking-camping-survival knife that has been around for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
 
deltablade said:
do you have any problem keeping your hand off the blade with a Leuku? and is the flared butt comfortable to use, i e in your hand?
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The lack of guard will teach you to work keeping your concentration high while the flared pomell must be like this if you want to properly chop with a leuku.

A leuku blade could be devided in 3 parts: the closest to handle for finer works, the central for batoning, the curved belly for chopping.

For chopping efficinetly with a leuku you should use a 3-4 fingers grip (thump-index-medium plus annular if you feel like), holding only the pomell and using a wrist action, leaving the leverage action and the weight of the knife working for you.

If you want to use it mainly for processing firewood I would say to go for convex grind, if you will also use it for raw carving than go for flat grind.

In any case I suggest you to concider also the opportunity of a custom made one with 4,5-5 mm thick blade as the factory made ones with 3 mm thick blade could be too much light for working efficiently in a different enviroment than their boreal forests.
 
who would be a good maker to make a custom?

Frederick89 said:
The lack of guard will teach you to work keeping your concentration high while the flared pomell must be like this if you want to properly chop with a leuku.

A leuku blade could be devided in 3 parts: the closest to handle for finer works, the central for batoning, the curved belly for chopping.

For chopping efficinetly with a leuku you should use a 3-4 fingers grip (thump-index-medium plus annular if you feel like), holding only the pomell and using a wrist action, leaving the leverage action and the weight of the knife working for you.

If you want to use it mainly for processing firewood I would say to go for convex grind, if you will also use it for raw carving than go for flat grind.

In any case I suggest you to concider also the opportunity of a custom made one with 4,5-5 mm thick blade as the factory made ones with 3 mm thick blade could be too much light for working efficiently in a different enviroment than their boreal forests.
Click to expand...
 
Koyote does a leuku shaped blade with more modern handle shape for a reasonable price - check his subforum or his website for "full tang Leuku" pictures.
 
Hey, what brands of Leuku have you looked at?
If you go to the website of the norwegian company Stromeng you can actually see the version he made for the Norwegian Army.
This is the issued knife for use in service, 8" blade, black coating, AND a fingerguard.
I have the original one with 10" blade, and I am very pleased with the performance of this knife.
I think maybe Ragnar at Ragweed forge has them on his website too.
Addy for Stromeng is http://www.samekniv.no/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=49&Itemid=64
 
You might also try Ragweed forge, they have some pretty interesting stuff and all of it is scandi based. like Khukri house but for Northern Europe
 
Can't compare and contrast - for all I know the Leuku is the ultimate knife to end all knives. I can speak to the merits of the BK9 though. I carry mine extensively from September through February (hunting season) and it gets tons of use clearing brush, building blinds, building hunting furniture (when the deer make me feel like a bored doofus) and so on. It is an excellent hard-use knife with outstanding steel and heat treat and so forth.

No way to go wrong with this beast.

It even poses pretty...

20120116_ac_0005.jpg



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Beckerhead #42
 
deltablade said:
who would be a good maker to make a custom?
Click to expand...
I can reccomand both Pasi Hurttila
http://www.hurttilanpaja.suntuubi.com/?cat=1

and Ilkka Seikku
http://tuluskivi.suntuubi.com/?cat=27

Old school blacksmiths, bowmakers and traditional craftmen. Pasi is also a certified wilderness guide and dog sleds driver while Ilkka is a survival/bushcraft instructor. Both have good english and are great guys to deal with.

They have very similar pirces and quality and with 140-150 $ you can get a custom leuku to your specs.

For leukus they use spring steel, like saying 5160, taking it to about 59-60 HRC at the cutting edge.
They heat treat in the smithy, on the forge, without ovens. Hardening under the charcoal of the forge, partial oil quenching for getting softer sides and spine and temperings over the charcoal.

I said all this as I've asked it already myself and I thought to anticipate few questions you would have maybe liked to ask.
 
Ordered one from Pasi Hurttila, who got it to me very quickly. pictured here on my dining room table, and it is great. 8", 1/5" steel. Thanks Fredrick for recommending him. May have to order one from Ilkka as well, I am so pleased with Pasi's. Now if I can learn how to sharpen a scandi grind I will be in BIDNESS!!!!!!!


IMG_1410 by deltablade2, on Flickr
 
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