I've been looking at one of these little knives for a while, and finally ended up buying one. It's the Brusletto Balder, model number 13602. You can find them in stores for around $14. Although this is a pretty small knife (only a 2" blade) it performs much better than I expected. As a side note, Balder is a character in Norse mythology... he's Odin and Frigg's sone; he's the god of light, joy, purity, beauty, innocence, and reconciliation. On with the review...
Blade Specifications and Impressions: The Balder's blade is 2" long and is made of Sandvik 12C27 stainless steel. It has the traditional Scandanavian grind, and goes to about .15" of the handle. That last .15" is the tang. The blade comes unpolished (black) except for the grind line. This is easily removed, if you wish, by use of some sandpaper and simichrome polish. Removal on mine took about 15 minutes to get everything off. The left side of the blade has the Brusletto logo, with NORWAY underneath it. The right side of the blade is blank. The blade is shaped somewhat like a Finnish Puuko; the back is straight, and the cutting edge sweeps upward. It came out of the package sharp enough to cut paper, but was made extremely sharp with a ceramic stick and 1000-grit sandpaper. The tip has a rather sharp point. This does a lot more work than I thought I would get from a 2" blade. It slices very neatly, and whittling wood is almost effortless.
Handle / Sheath Specifications and Impressions: The handle of the Balder is a single piece of 5" long birch. Mine has the curly-grained birch that you find in the more expensive models, although I saw some in the store with normal birch (ie. no visible grain pattern). The throat (ferrule) is German silver. The handle has the typical Puuko-style swell at the butt. It's actually quite comfortable, although it's only a three-finger grip knife for me. The handle has no markings. There's enough to hold on to for whittling and light outdoors work.
The sheath is made of brown cowhide, and is also traditional Scandanavian-style. It is a deep pouch with no straps or line for securing the knife. But they're not necessary here. The knife rides pretty low in the sheath, with only about 1.5" of the handle exposed when fully inserted. Withdrawal is simple; just grab the handle and pull. The sheath has an embossment on the front, and has the Brusletto logo embossed on the back at the belt strap. It's stitched with a single row (not double stitched). I find it quite nice to wear as a neck knife, and the sheath certainly lends to this without a problem.
Overall, this is a really nice knife for $14. I haven't had the time to test it extensively, but it's on my list of things to do. I want to see how this thing handles some random outdoor tasks, and maybe some light batoning. You can find the Balder at... http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=BRU13602
Blade Specifications and Impressions: The Balder's blade is 2" long and is made of Sandvik 12C27 stainless steel. It has the traditional Scandanavian grind, and goes to about .15" of the handle. That last .15" is the tang. The blade comes unpolished (black) except for the grind line. This is easily removed, if you wish, by use of some sandpaper and simichrome polish. Removal on mine took about 15 minutes to get everything off. The left side of the blade has the Brusletto logo, with NORWAY underneath it. The right side of the blade is blank. The blade is shaped somewhat like a Finnish Puuko; the back is straight, and the cutting edge sweeps upward. It came out of the package sharp enough to cut paper, but was made extremely sharp with a ceramic stick and 1000-grit sandpaper. The tip has a rather sharp point. This does a lot more work than I thought I would get from a 2" blade. It slices very neatly, and whittling wood is almost effortless.
Handle / Sheath Specifications and Impressions: The handle of the Balder is a single piece of 5" long birch. Mine has the curly-grained birch that you find in the more expensive models, although I saw some in the store with normal birch (ie. no visible grain pattern). The throat (ferrule) is German silver. The handle has the typical Puuko-style swell at the butt. It's actually quite comfortable, although it's only a three-finger grip knife for me. The handle has no markings. There's enough to hold on to for whittling and light outdoors work.
The sheath is made of brown cowhide, and is also traditional Scandanavian-style. It is a deep pouch with no straps or line for securing the knife. But they're not necessary here. The knife rides pretty low in the sheath, with only about 1.5" of the handle exposed when fully inserted. Withdrawal is simple; just grab the handle and pull. The sheath has an embossment on the front, and has the Brusletto logo embossed on the back at the belt strap. It's stitched with a single row (not double stitched). I find it quite nice to wear as a neck knife, and the sheath certainly lends to this without a problem.
Overall, this is a really nice knife for $14. I haven't had the time to test it extensively, but it's on my list of things to do. I want to see how this thing handles some random outdoor tasks, and maybe some light batoning. You can find the Balder at... http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=BRU13602