German Pilot Knife made by Hirschkrone

M

ml100

Joined
Jul 19, 2005
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my latest aquisition.

Hirschkrone Pilot Knife.


These knives are officially issued to pilots of the German Airforce. Originally these knives were made by PUMA, since 1983 Hirschkrone is the supplier.

stainless steel 1.4116, full tang
HRC: differential heat treat tip: HRC 57, tang. 53-54.
blade length: 6.3 in.
thickness: 2.2 in.

Once in a while Hirschkrone makes some of these blades as a carbon steel version, and this is what you see here in the pics
steel: carbon C64, HRC 58.

Fit and finish:
The knife that I got has ups und downs. The finish on the blade is one of the nicest I have ever seen. Excellet polish, perfectly symmetrical grind.
However, I am sure that the guy that did the blade is not identical to the one that assembled the knife. Between the scales and the guard is a significant gap. Doesn't impact functionality, but still to bad, it would have been perfect. The knife comes with a leather sheath which is very,very nice

Due to the blade shape the knife is blade-heavy. And yes, it does chop well.
Chopping and batoning, that's where the knife excels.

Still, finer tasks can be done.







The knife will go with me on the next occasions, so I will report further.
 
I carried it around a bit, and so far, I'm very happy with it. However, after a few walks with the dog through the wet forest, some tiny little spots of flash rust appeared on the blade. After removing these, I therefore decided to gun-blue the blade. So now it's black.

@moxie: No idea where they put it. I tried to find a pic where I could see it, but had no success.
 
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