I received my HI 21 inch Gelbu Special Thursday after sending off a m.o. Saturday. Very fast service, especially considering that Uncle Bill must have been busy getting ready to leave on his trip to Kansas. I was very impressed by the workmanship as this is the first hand made blade I've ever had. The balance really blew me away - it feels so light in the hand that I thought it was made of aluminum at first
. Especially since it's so thick - nearly half an inch at the thickest part of the spine. It's not perfect - the groove incised on the left side of the blade is noticeably shallow in one spot and there's a small nick on the rearmost raised ring on the right side of the handle. When I fondle, er, run my fingertips over the blade you can feel minor waves and ripples which really show the handmade nature of the beast.
I ran out and started chopping some branches at the first opportunity. I also ran into my first setback. While chopping, I accidentally sent about three inches of the tip into the ground and on pulling it out discovered three fairly good nicks in the edge. I was pretty dismayed until I logged into the forum and did some research. I found out that the tip is left pretty soft for just contigencies and that nicks can be filed out, which I proceeded to do with a diamond file. I still have a little work to do but it's almost there.
Overall, I'm very pleased and will post more impressions later.

I ran out and started chopping some branches at the first opportunity. I also ran into my first setback. While chopping, I accidentally sent about three inches of the tip into the ground and on pulling it out discovered three fairly good nicks in the edge. I was pretty dismayed until I logged into the forum and did some research. I found out that the tip is left pretty soft for just contigencies and that nicks can be filed out, which I proceeded to do with a diamond file. I still have a little work to do but it's almost there.
Overall, I'm very pleased and will post more impressions later.