replacement Widder recommendations

[mossriver]

I recently moved to a place in the mountains with only a wood burning fireplace and so I have been needing a good knife for fire making. Now that it is getting cold I routinely have to spend 15 minutes preparing kindling every night and need a comfortable and capable knife for the job.

Currently I have a drop point Gerber and a Widder Solingen I bought in high school at a pawn shop many years ago (pictured). I paid more for the Gerber but it turns out the Widder is much better for kindling prep. I think it's a combination of the blade shape and curved stacked leather handle which fits my palm nicely.

All would be fine except I can't help but think there may be a better knife/steel out there for the task, so I'm hoping someone can suggest a similarly shaped knife or one they have found great for kindling prep.

Some knives I was considering were the Fallkniven Idun, Iisakki Järvenpää's Aito Puukko, or perhaps something by Bark River.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

I'm going to move this to Wilderness & Survival Skills.
You will get your pick of expert answers from those guys.

 

[Brian_T]

The bark handled IJ 8-0 (Aito) is a fantastic blade. You might check to see if Ragnar's got them in stock though. I don't have the stacked leather version to compare.

Here's a pic in-hand:

B

 

[spidyman]

Definately check out the BRKT line a lot of good choices for you there.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

A really good possibility is a custom knife. I don't mean some art knife with gold, silver, and engraving. We have a number of new knifemakers in W&SS who do knives the old-fashioned way, the kind of knives that Widder was copying.

Some of these guys have their own forums here:

Koster Knives
Gossman Knives
Fiddleback Forge Knives
Koyote Custom Knives
JK Handmade Knives

All good examples of the kind of knife designed for life in the outdoors.

 

[mossriver]

Brian, how well does the bark handle hold up on your Aito? Do you have to be careful to avoid crumbling it? Also, do you get a smooth motion with that straight blade shape when making shavings?

In the BRKT line I was wondering if the mini-Canadian makes a good kindling knife.

Thanks for the knife maker recommendations. Can you give me an idea about what that route would cost? Too expensive and I might be timid about using it rough.

 

[Brian_T]

I've never babied the handle on the IJ and haven't had any problems with it.

The Scandi Grind makes wicked curls when carving fuzz sticks.

The MiniCan also works very well for making curls but the blade is quite a bit shorter than the IJ and the handle is a bit more specialized.

B

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Birchbark handles are a tradition in northern Europe. Rosarms has a number of Russian knives with bark handles available.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=811

 

[valcas1]

Thanks for the knife maker recommendations. Can you give me an idea about what that route would cost? Too expensive and I might be timid about using it rough.

It wouldn't be more than you seem willing to spend on a BRKT.