Hi guys- Most of us are probably familiar with the Mora Classic knives - I’m looking for a ‘Mora on Steroids’. Full tang with a good steel & heat treatmeant for ‘bushcrafty’ tasks, especially carving wood. Scandi edge with no micro-bevel. It’s particularly important that the handle be scaled up for my 2XL glove wearing hands. For example, I want the handle to be about 1 inch in thickness, or so. It should be of the general Mora Classic barrel shape, with oval cross section. This is comfortable held in just about every orientation. Here’s an example of a hand made knife that was offered years ago through a small wilderness skills school, but is no longer available through them - Does anyone know of a maker providing knives similar to this today ? I’d want one with a leather sheath and dangler. Thanks in advance for your comments & suggestions.
I would recommend a custom knife maker like Pasi Hurtilla. If you search Pasi's name on this forum you will get some pics but no major thread. Watch his website and buy one quick when they appear! http://pyrypuukko.blogspot.com/ or, a true custom made to your specs from Saku Honkilahti. https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/from-finland-with-love-puukko-by-saku-honkilahti.1525344/ For factory knives in that style that are a step above Mora you can look at all these from Finland. Ahti, Jarvenpaa, Martini Puukko Knives, Roselli Knives, and wood jewel knives. Some of these brands have very fat handles which you will probably like. have fun! p.s. I know you wanted a "Mora on steriods" but how about a Mora on LSD?!!! you want a Rautalampi style puukko. This is probably "the one" knife for me. https://nordiskaknivar.wordpress.com/2018/04/15/jari-liukko/
A couple of things before going into suggestions. A full width tang is not necessary if the primary use will be wood carving, it will just add weight to an already handle heavy knife, making it more tiring to use on the long run. If you'll get a Finn made puukko a tiny microbevel will be most likely present, but will be really tiny indeed; given that puukkos are grinded more acute than Scandinavian knives a micro secondary becomes necessary more often than not. I'm not sure Pasi will craft anything before the next summer, since his winters are devoted to guiding and sled dogs safaris, but you can never be sure... Anyway he usually crafts puukkos slightly beefier than the majority of the other knifemakers. Another great smith and a very nice guy to deal with is Martti Malinen. He too crafts beefy handles and you can always specify it when chatting with him. He has a very good english. https://nordiskaknivar.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/martti-malinen/ The already mentioned Jari Liukko provides the classiest fit and finish I've came across so far. Again a very nice guy to deal with and with extremely reasonable prices. You can reach him on Facebook and will probably take new orders in January, after the Helsinki knife show. His handles are thickest in the very centre and taper quite strongly towards the blade and pommel. I wasn't sure myself about it, but then found it extremely confortable and effective.
Thanks guys. I have one of Pasi’s puukkos. It is a beautiful knife with stacked birch bark handle. It’s one of my favorite knives. It wasn’t custom built for me, however. So, it’s handle dimensions are not the optimum for my hand in this application. But I’ve actually been considering a stacked birch custom puukko
Thank you @Frederick89 for your comments & suggestions. I read your article on Saku Honkilahti awhile ago and the heavy puukko he made. That caught my interest. I’m looking for a knife with the dimensions suitable for my hand for bushcrafting and also want it to be heavy enough to serve as a ‘survival knife’ if it happened to be all I was carrying in the woods. Thanks again. https://nordiskaknivar.wordpress.com/tag/saku-honkilahti/
Thanks @Elgatodeacero ! Good suggestions The one ‘disadvantage’ of the puukkos made by custom bladesmiths is that they are so gorgeous that it’s difficult for me to want to use them hard in the field !
Or at least a plain Jane working model (I wonder what the Finnish term is for a rather plain looking, but totally capable and reliable gal ?)
I think I saw a photo of a knife that kinda looked like the handmade knife above. I believe the maker is from the UK ? Maybe its owner will see this thread
Thanks @Frederick89 I will keep that in mind while contacting Finnish puukko makers. I missed out on Pasi’s most recent selection of those offered last summer.
