OT: To buy or not to buy...

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Dadao

Joined
Aug 2, 2003
Messages
32
Just registered, but have been lurking around the HI forum for awhile and learning a lot. Just got my first khuks (18" WWII and Chainpuri... yes, the Chainpuri is amazing), but this post is about other knives, and I would appreciate your opinions. Have looked at the European knife forum, but it's pretty dead.

Thinking about getting some Brusletto Millennium knives. Interesting looking puukka type knives, supposedly representing different periods of Norwegian history, and I think Brusletto has a good reputation. But they're pricey, and I wonder if I would be better off buying a JKM-1 instead.

Also another consideration for me. As a form of mild protest, have been avoiding buying products from European countries that have been more anti-American recently. Am not a France or Germany basher, mind you; my daughter is named after our favorite French city, and have travelled extensively in France and made quite a few friends there. I just prefer my dollars to benefit the US and her coalition allies (Italian and Spanish wine rather than French, for example). There have been some anti-Americanisms coming out of Norway, so thus some hesitation on my part. Has this ever been an issue for anyone else here?

Any input, especially from Eikervaering, would be welcome.
 
Depends on how strongly you feel about the whole thing. I don't go to many movies, don't drink or listen to the Dixie Chicks, so really there aren't a lot of products I could really boycott.

Welcome to the forum though. Smarter people than I will be around shortly to answer your question.
 
Now that's a line to stop the conversation! Smarter or not, there are a bunch here into the type knives you are talking about. Pen, Sarge, aiyee... old whatshisname - my mind has gone out without me tonight - the runes guy.

Anyway, welcome to the Cantina, Dadao
 
You mean Iron Tire. His last post was in the honest guy thread. :rolleyes:

What happened there? A double, double post. :confused:
 
Ferrous Wheel? Welcome, Dadao. I can vouch for the JKM-1. Nice little knife. Not so little as I was expecting but maybe so much the better. Offers a good grip and has a very usable blade. Looks to be about 3/16" thick but sharp enough to push cut paper without effort. I highly recommend one. I haven't yet picked up anything from Ragnar but I've heard only good things about him. If you want a puuko and aren't convinced the JKM-1 is the way to go you might check out Ragnar's Ragweed Forge.

Frank
 
Another good source for Puukko style knives is Kellam Knives. They have an extensive line of Puukko knives. Mamav doesn't like her JKM as much as Kumar Karda. Says it's just not comfortable.
 
a gift, and an absolutely lovely knife with a perfect edge and handsome sheathing...plastic insert to protect the leather...wonderful in every way, and the perfect size for me.


I Never use it.

Not once, unless you count cutting my finger to see how sharp it was.

Now, HI products on the other hand....get used on the BOXES they arrive in! And then outside on some perfectly innocent wood, and then brush around the house, and then low-hanging tree limbs that annoyed me when mowing the lawn...and then......

you get the idea.

Your choice, of course.
(By the way, Bill Martino is threatening a TWO for ONE sale when he gets back from visiting his Dad and brother. Not that that should influence you in any way.):rolleyes:
 
I've got a Brusletto with a short wide blade. The Rognald. It's nice, gets plenty sharp, and the fairly thin blade is very useful, but it's quite obvious that the blade was cut or stamped out of a sheet of metal. And a few other similar knives.

Comparison with JKM-1???

kinda different beasts--JKM-1 might be more of a small, thick bladed Leuko.

Brusletto..........................JKM-1
about 1/8" blade...................about 1/4" blade
hidden tang, sometimes short........full tang, slab handles
molded leather sheath, tight fit.....loose fitting pouch sheath
generally lighter weight............6+ oz
Nearly all models stainless(?).........5160 carbon steel

JKM-1 has a short handle. Some reshaping like reducing some of the flare on the top of the handle has been needed for me. Filing a finger choil lets one get their whole hand on the knife, otherwise it's a three finger handle, at least for me. There's nearly an inch of unsharpend ricasso anyway. The tang thickness is tapered towards the butt.

There's some distal taper to the blade, and with a little stonework or ginding to convex the bevel, and maybe even out the flats, the JKM-1 is a good cutter. But keep in mind how thick the blade is--it ain't gonna be the best for a filet knife. But one could pry with a JKM-1, I'd have 2nd thoughts about prying with my Brusletto.

The Brusletto will be lighter weight, longer handle and ready to go out of the box. The handle on mine is a surpisingly nice chunk of curly birch with lots of figure--burly.

The JKM-1 will be heavier, weight forward, with a thicker blade and a shorter handle. Obviously forged and hand-made. With a couple of fingers gripping the back of the handle, one can actually chop with it. Will benefit from some handle shaping and perhaps other mods. Most will want a more secure sheath of more substantial leather than my last one came with.

Not a great comparison, since the blade shapes are pretty different, so the knives are suited to somewhat different tasks.

For no nonsense work-knife of scandinavian style,(and weight) I'd prefer the Iisakki Järvenpää line that Ragnar carries--Most have full-length hidden tang with pommel rivet, and are available in carbon steel. But some of the Bruslettos are very pretty and offer some shapes of blade and handle that others lack.

The JKM-1 isn't quite comparable-it's simply a massive tank of a knife in comparison. If you've wished for a karda like those that come with the khuks, only bigger, and with heat-trating as good as the khuks' then you'll like the JKM-1 and Kumar Karda.

Hope that helps.
 
Dadao
Welcome to the Nut House.

I basically agree with Firkin, I'd just emphasize the difference in blades and the jobs they'll do.
 
brushetto6inch.jpg


If this one works for you, drop me a note.

n2s
 
Bruise, I don't feel all that strongly about the whole thing. The local Sam's Club has stocked some excellent 2000 Bordeaux at $8 a bottle, so my principles will probably weaken in the near future (cheap booze has that effect on me).

I may eventually get the Brusletto knives. They're just too pretty to pass up, though I may end up like Kismet and not use them; they really are gorgeous. Thanks, Firkin, for the detailed info. You answered one of my main concerns with the JKM-1: the handle size. Because this knife style doesn't have a guard, I'd want as secure a grip as possible. My wife sliced the tendons of two fingers when the knife she was using slipped, and seeing that was enough to make me obsessive about safety.:eek:

But... I will definitely see what Uncle Bill has in store for Monday before deciding for sure.
 
Originally posted by Dadao
Bruise, I don't feel all that strongly about the whole thing. The local Sam's Club has stocked some excellent 2000 Bordeaux at $8 a bottle, so my principles will probably weaken in the near future (cheap booze has that effect on me).
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Ha, not likely. The 2000 vintage is probably the best, and most expensive, wine to come out of Bordeaux for 50 years (maybe 100). If you can get an "excellent Bordeaux" for 8 bucks, I'll take 100 cases and put my grandkids through college. :D :p
 
Dadao: by the way, an excellent name you picked as far as this forum goes.
 
Originally posted by Dadao

supposedly representing different periods of Norwegian history, and I think Brusletto has a good reputation.
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All Norwegian knife manufacturers are good. A bad knife quality simply doesn't sell in Norway.

Originally posted by Dadao

But they're pricey, and I wonder if I would be better off buying a JKM-1 instead.
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I have never tried a JKM-1. But honestly it looks like made by someone who knows how to make khukuris and not little handy knives.

Firkin gave a good report on the differences.

I think the Brusletto will be the better for using because the handle is very ergonomical.

Originally posted by Dadao

I just prefer my dollars to benefit the US and her coalition allies (Italian and Spanish wine rather than French, for example). There have been some anti-Americanisms coming out of Norway, so thus some hesitation on my part.
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Originally posted by Dadao

Any input, especially from Eikervaering, would be welcome.
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I don't know exactly what you put into the word anti-American. To me it sounds rather dramatical. Could you tell me what you mean with that word?

If you mean being against the invasion of Iraq as the case stood when it was done then yes, the majority of Norwegians are anti-American, just like the rest of the world. But if critisizing politics calls for being anti-something then most Norwegians are more anti-Norwegian than anti-American. And I guess you have a lot of anti-Americans among the true American born Americans also then in that case.

About the Spanish. I have friends in Spain who are politically active and they have informed me that the majority of Spanish people were against the invasion of Iraq. The Spanish government acted against the will of their own population in supporting USA. So if you don't want to support those who were/are against the invasion of Iraq then you shouldn't buy Spanish products I guess.
 
Thanks, n2s, for posting the picture of the knife. A Bamse, isn't it? Very nice. However, I think I will still go for one (or all) of the Millennium knives, as I like the styling so much.

ichor, the 2000 vintage of Bordeaux indeed is possibly the best in decades, though no one will really know until it ages for a few more years. Surprisingly, it's not as expensive as previous inferior vintages have been. Part of the reason is that there are so many good and cheaper alternatives being produced by other countries so the competition is more fierce... Bordeaux has been overpriced for years, and the market is finally reacting. Another reason is, ironically, the ragtag US boycott of French products actually is having an effect on wine sales; French vintners cringe every time a French politician lets loose with another anti-Americanism. They're hoping the 2000 vintage will reverse their fortunes, which it probably will. In terms of putting your kids through college... what Sam's has is some cru Bourgeois, not investment grade like Latour or Margaux, but good enough for some nice sippin' in about five years. :D

Eikervaering, thank you for responding, and thank you for your knife advice as well. By anti-American, I do not mean anti-"war in Iraq". Nor do I mean anti-"American foreign policy". It is the right of both Americans and other countries to protest these. What I mean is the expression of sentiments that are against Americans as a whole, as a people, which I think is unjustified and irresponsible, especially when it comes from the leaders of those countries. At the risk of overly-simplifying, sometimes I think their comments boil down to this: "You Americans are arrogant, selfish, ignorant, and a menace to the stability of the world. However, boycotting us would be childish, because we still love your American dollars. So do keep them coming." (The mayor of London actually said something very similar to this a couple of months ago.) Frankly, I find this attitude deplorable

Having said this, I realize boycotts hurt people you don't intend to hurt, like the aforementioned French vintners. Or Norwegian knife makers. :) So it's probably not something I'm going to do for much longer.

Rusty, thanks for the compliment. Believe it or not, the ancient root of my Chinese surname is "big knife"! How cool is that! :D
 
Ha! Exactly like that, Red! :D

Incidentally, I found out the Germans have a weapon that looks very similar, the Grosse Messer. Translation? Big Knife!!! :D :D

I definitely have to get out more...
 
Originally posted by Dadao

What I mean is the expression of sentiments that are against Americans as a whole, as a people, which I think is unjustified and irresponsible, especially when it comes from the leaders of those countries.
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In Norway you will not find political leaders making any such statements as that would not be acceptable manners in Norway. Our politicians are probably the less colourful in the world when it comes to verbal abuse. For example, statements that I have heard made by American and Italian politicians would be enough to end your political life in Norway. Not that we have any laws against it but the people would simply not accept that. Differences of culture I guess.



Originally posted by Dadao

At the risk of overly-simplifying, sometimes I think their comments boil down to this: "You Americans are arrogant, selfish, ignorant, and a menace to the stability of the world. However, boycotting us would be childish, because we still love your American dollars. So do keep them coming."
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Those adjectives that you mentioned above (arrogant, selfish and ignorant) for describing Americans have been around even since the 1800 century.

Describing Americans in such a way does not mean that people are against you. It it just their description of you, or stereotyping if you like. I think many people here would agree with such a description and leave it with that, they don't care about being against you (and again the same goes for most parts of the rest of the world and not just Norway). Just as other people of other nationalities are also described or stereotyped in some way. For example in Norway, French people are known to be weird, simply. And further south in Europe we view people as corrupt and male chauvinists.

Originally posted by Dadao

Having said this, I realize boycotts hurt people you don't intend to hurt, like the aforementioned French vintners. Or Norwegian knife makers. :) So it's probably not something I'm going to do for much longer.
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I think that if some Norwegians had sentiments against Americans as a whole, as a people, they would do as you do and start changing their private purchasing habits. But nobody does, not even the most headstrong critics of America in Norway have ever uttered any thoughts about such actions.
 
At the risk of incurring the wrath of some I must add a comment about "anti-whoever". When I was stationed in Germany there were a lot of fellow Americans who thot the Germans hated us. But that was not my experience at all. I found all the people I delt with from my landlords to the gausthaus owners and clientele were very kind and respectful to me. (I suppose some of it had to do with unloading entire paychecks at the tavern, but oh well;) )I never had a problem and really hated to come home. I would have gladly stayed there forever. Maybe it is my German heritage.:D The thing that saddened me was the way a lot of us Americans were so very rude to our hosts. Well if you want to be treated with respect you must respect the others. It was a No-Duh situation to me.

Then I went TDY to Denmark. Hello brother and sister Americans... We were there to work as a team with several countries and not to show that we are a superior group of individuals. But from the commanding officer on down the Americans left there mark on a nice town in Denmark that was not probably soon forgotten. Every night down to the bars to get drunk, start fights, and see how many local girls you could do in one night. I went into town one night and ended up talking with one of the local guys and the whole town was ready to ban us from even being there. His story was not unlike what I listened to every morning at work when the gang came in bragging about the night before. It was very sad. When I went into town the next day shopping I found the storekeepers very leary of me, but I did manage to get the doll I wanted and a lot of other goodies and tried to be as nice as could be. I'm sure there are lots of stories to tell but I just want to make the point that as a person from another country visiting another country, our actions speak loudly and reflect the whole country. Why?, I'm not sure but it does. I wanted to ask the guys how they would have felt if an entire squadron of Danes came to there home town and did the same to their sisters and girlfriends. Maybe the locals should have kept there own in, but you know what I mean. I don't want to be the ugly American and I know many here feel the same way, but what about the rest??

End of rant. Sorry to be so long winded, but this is one of my soapboxes and I just couldn't let it pass. I know it is mostly only one side, but it was my feelings in most of the places I've lived around the world. OK Really end of rant:D :rolleyes: I love you all and think you are a great bunch of guys and gals..
 
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