Absintheur
Banned
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2008
- Messages
- 3,280
As I stated in a thread a few days ago I ordered a new Helle Fire from Ragnar at http://www.ragweedforge.com. Much to my surprise it arrived today, very fast service indeed. The blade is of laminated stainless steel and is about 2 5/8" long, 1 1/4" wide, and .117" thick, very stout. Also very sharp, I did what most of us do when we pick up a knife...I scraped my thumb over the blade to judge the sharpness. I have very little fingerprint left on that thumb...this is an extremely sharp blade. My initial impression was that this is a very handsome knife, full tang with the wood slotted to accept the tang. On the bottom the wood is solid with no metal exposed. At first the sheath design took me by surprise, the retention strap wraps around the handle and snaps in the back so the snap is against your body. I slid the knife onto my belt and immediately saw the wisdom behind this, in the woods I will never have a snag unsnap the strap by accident. It is easy to draw and resheath with the snap in this position....very well done. I also love the way the knife is fit to the sheath with the leather following the contours of the grip, it is a very secure fit. The wood grip has some nice burl and is good looking and the shape is just right to fit my hand.I don't think hand cramps will ever be a problem when cutting. It was shipped with a nice Helle polishing cloth as well. Seeing as I was doing chicken for dinner I used it instead of one of my custom damascus Japanese kitchen knives and it does cut nicely.
Ok...now for the downsides. The tang stands a bit proud on top of the grip and it is a sharp edge. Not even enough to really measure but it is very obvious to the touch. As you can see in the pic the wood also gaps a bit in one place. There is a hole in the tang for the carabiner that came with the knife so it can be hung from gear or belt loop but the carabiner is really shoddy quality...no biggie I can replace that.
All in all I am pleased with the value for my money, this is an $80.00 knife and well worth it. I can easily see this being an edc fixed blade. It is fairly PC and at the same time should handle any cutting chore a small FB should.
Ok...now for the downsides. The tang stands a bit proud on top of the grip and it is a sharp edge. Not even enough to really measure but it is very obvious to the touch. As you can see in the pic the wood also gaps a bit in one place. There is a hole in the tang for the carabiner that came with the knife so it can be hung from gear or belt loop but the carabiner is really shoddy quality...no biggie I can replace that.
All in all I am pleased with the value for my money, this is an $80.00 knife and well worth it. I can easily see this being an edc fixed blade. It is fairly PC and at the same time should handle any cutting chore a small FB should.
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