Fallkniven owners and Laminated steel experts

MicroAlign

MicroAlign

Gold Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2004
Messages
502
I just got my Fallkniven Thor bowie knife in today. Ahhh, just holding it in my hand I can see what all the fuss is about this knife. Very well made, and and the grip is very secure and comfortable. However, when I looked closely at the laminate lines I saw something odd. The laminate seemed to be curving off center between the edge portion of the blade and the guard. It isn't really that visible on the spine of the blade because the grind goes with the lines of the laminate, but on the part between the edge and the guard the grind goes against the laminate lines and is clearly visible. I thought about it and I suppose it might be that the laminate ends at the guard and the steel that runs through the grip and secures the pommel is solid. In fact, when I look at the steel that is visible on the end of the pommel it doesn't have any lamination lines. I just want to know of this is a manufacturing error, or was the knife designed to have the lamination stop near the guard, and the steel that extends through the grip is supposed to be solid.



Sorry if the picture isn't all that clear.
 
The lamination lines appear to continue through the guard in your photo.
 
It does, but my concern is more that it is no longer straight and even as it is throughout the blade. I have no idea how far the lamination goes since I'm not going to take apart the handle. The core turns before it gets to the guard which tells me that either there was a major defect, or that it was purposely done to keep the handle steel solid and more tough. I hope it is the latter. I figured if there were any Fallkniven owners out there they could tell me if their knives have anything similar to mine.
 
That looks odd indeed.
Both my Fällknivens have the laminate lines going straight into the guard or handle.
 
Le Seb said:
So are mine.
You should ask Peter (aka VG10, boss of Fällkniven) on his forum.
Click to expand...


So your Fallknivens also have the curve to the laminate?

I wrote an email to Peter and he told me that there are a number of samples in the NL1 models that have some curvature not unlike mine and that this is not a defect. Apparently it isn't an issue to be concerned about. Which makes sense since there is just as much of each of the soft and harder VG10 when the laminate starts to curve......so theoretically there shouldn't be really any change in strength.

When I get the opportunity, I'll put my Thor through some hard use and see how durable it is.
 
I don't own any Fallknivens. That curvature would bother me as well. It creates an asymmetric spot on the knife where there is more soft steel on one side of the ricasso versus the other. I think you are unlikely to ever find an application other than extreme prying where that small curvature might matter. However, in a reasonably expensive knife you don't expect to find "hygiene" issues like this just as you don't expect to find asymmetric grind lines, etc. The knife will probably work just fine, but it's just not right.
 
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