Noob goes batoning - Benchmade Puukko

Irishrally

Irishrally

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Hey everyone, this is my first real post and I wanted to share my first batoning experience today. I've read and learned on this forum for probably hundreds of hours and have now purchased a few knives.

Until today I've spent a lot of time holding and admiring the knives but I have always intended on actually using them, and today was that day.

We needed some smaller pieces of wood to build a fire, the perfect opportunity to try out one of my knives. I chose the Benchmade Puukko Leuku because, from what I've learned here, 3V is a tough steel up to the task. The knife performed really well and I had a blast doing it. Although silly, I was worried the knife was getting destroyed from this violent activity but it came out unscathed with no visible damage to the blade and it still cut through paper afterwards.

This might need to be filed into the "nobody cares" section but I just wanted to share my first real knife experience that was so much fun and rewarding (as lame as that may sound).

Pictures (couldn't figure out how to embed): https://photos.app.goo.gl/BUaK4cP2Z41mrEY16
 
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Looks like you picked a nice gnarly and twisted piece to do it with.

Like fishface5 said- Using them like they were made to be used. There's nothing more satisfying.
 
Bastler said:
I didn't know we had a "nobody cares" section.
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Oh man, this community is great. I didn't know if I was going to get laughed off the internet. I usually don't post on forums but it was such a powerful experience that I felt the need to share with a group of people I thought might relate, and so glad I/you did.
fishface5 said:
nothing is so gratifying as finally using a new knife as the tool it is meant to be!
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So true. I was so impressed with seeing the knife and steel in action and perform its task. I think the gratifying and rewarding feeling may be proportional to how coveted the knife is, and if I used the most beautiful and admired knife the feeling might be even more rewarding. Seeing a work of art get beaten violently, perform perfectly and come out the other side looking as good as new must be special.
braillediver said:
Looks like you picked a nice gnarly and twisted piece to do it with.

Like fishface5 said- Using them like they were made to be used. There's nothing more satisfying.
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Yeah, my noobness extends beyond knives and into wood selection as well apparently. A couple of the pieces came off smoothly with two or three whacks, but some of the others had a lot more resistance. I was really worried on some cuts where the knife angled in making it a thicker slice and only the tip of the knife was available for whacking, but it still held up no problem. I wiped the knife off a bit before the pictures because there was a ton of wood and dirt on the spine that I wanted to clean off to check for damage.
Bob Denman said:
Glad to read about a happy ending...
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I know now that as rewarding and fun as it is to look at, admire, hold and clean knives, it's 100 times more so to use them.
 
Nice work! Keep it up.

Beware however that the pieces you were cutting were about as large as I’d go with a knife that size with wood that twisty. I love to baton, and I’ve never broken a blade from batonning, but I did bend an edge once and it didn’t feel good. 🤢
 
Also, if you think batonning is fun, wait until you try chopping wood! Do some more reading here then pick up a used axe, machete, or large knife in the marketplace and start making chips fly - just be careful!
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Welcome to The Forums ! Didn’t know Benchmade makes this model… Seems very capable, I hope/guess it’s a full tang ?
 
POCEH KOCEB said:
Welcome to The Forums ! Didn’t know Benchmade makes this model… Seems very capable, I hope/guess it’s a full tang ?
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Thanks!

Yep, full tang. There's a video on YouTube where someone rips off the handle material and there's a big beefy tang underneath.
 
Good to know, thank you. Also I think this is Leuko and not Pukko but I’m not much into those and could be mistaking…
scdub scdub did you have some regrind on the Syko ? Looks more wicked that they usually are… :cool::thumbsup:
 
I thought this was going to end in tragedy but I was pleasantly surprised! Congrats on the sweet blade! I'm glad that it performed well.
 
POCEH KOCEB said:
Good to know, thank you. Also I think this is Leuko and not Pukko but I’m not much into those and could be mistaking…
scdub scdub did you have some regrind on the Syko ? Looks more wicked that they usually are… :cool::thumbsup:
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Yessir! Got it reground by David Mary David Mary .

He also made a sweet Bolatron sheath for it - highly recommended.
 
Welcome to the club Irish! Many of us never tire of the use, care, embellishment, and collection of modern mans most primal tool.

See if you can use that 3v until it needs an edge tune up - a whole 'nother can of fun.
 
That Leuku by Benchmade is definitely been on my list for a while. 3V steel at that price, from a company that makes good blades, is pretty hard to pass on. The high sabre grind on that beast doesn't give you the power assist of a scandi for feather sticking and similar fine woodcrafting tasks, but it's going to hold an edge longer than a scandi and be better for a lot of other camp activities.
 
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