Shortly before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a small fixed-blade, posted by
r8shell
, caught my eye, and after she told me that it was made by BPS Knives in Ukraine, I thought I would order one myself, both because I liked the knife, and as an act of solidarity. I didn't find it hard to get in touch with the small Ukrainian company, and while the knife was inexpensive, I told them just to keep the cash, if they were not in a position to ship the knife.
A few days later, Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, and with the intensity of the fighting, I did not really expect to receive the knife. A couple of weeks later though, it turned up on my doorstep, and I was very pleased with the usefully-sized knife, which was not only great value, but special in its own way.
The knife is the BS1FTS model, with a carbon steel blade, an ash handle, a Scandi grind, and a 3 1/2" blade. At only 3.17oz it's a handy little knife to take out hiking, and the sheath is of equally good quality.
I certainly don't need anymore knives, least of all belt knives, but I thought I would order some more knives from BPS. I certainly wasn't surprised when I saw that they had had to suspend production though. I kept checking back, just to see if there was any news about the company. A couple of months later, in the midst of the terrible ongoing war, I was quite surprised to see that they were working again. I ordered a couple of more expensive knives, but again told them not to worry if they had to close up again, or if the knives didn't reach me. They turned up a couple of days ago though. The first is their Adventurer model, which comes with a ferro rod, and is nearly 10" in overall length. Like the BS1FTS, it has an ash handle, a carbon steel blade, and a Scandi grind. The shoulders of the blade are very capable of striking the well-made ferro rod.
I prefer flat-ground blades, so I also ordered the BPS Savage, which is 9 1/2" overall, with a 4 1/2" carbon-steel drop-point blade, and bog oak scales. BPS use both stainless and carbon steel, their carbon steel being 1066, hardened to 57-59 RC. While I realise this isn't a premium steel, all 3 knives arrived shaving sharp. Fit and finish is very good throughout.
When it's back in production, I'm hoping to obtain one of BPS's forged knives, and they do an interesting friction folder which has caught my eye too. It's nice to know that, with typical Ukrainian tenacity, despite everything, these cutlers are still going about their business, producing a range of knives which do them credit. Long may it continue.
Slava Ukraini!
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