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- Jun 29, 1999
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Ive been intrigued by puukkos for the last several years. Lightweight and simple in appearance, they are a sophisticated design that evolved out of centuries of practical use.
So I was pleased to find a package from Cliff Stamp containing a lightly-used Fallkniven H1 in the mail last April, along with my Roselli erapuukko, which Id loaned him last year for a workout. Id been curious about the H1 for some time, since the blade appeared very similar in photos to the Rosellis, and I thought it would be interesting to compare them.
They share a Scandinavian heritage but represent two very different approaches. The Roselli is a traditional classic in forged high carbon steel and Arctic birch; the H1 is a modern classic in laminated VG-10 and Kraton. The blades have similar contours, with a continuously curved edge, excellent for slicing and skinning, and a pointed tip with a very subtle drop-point not much more than a flat spot -- for making the initial slit on a game animal. This sharp tip requires more care when opening the gut sack than a true drop-point such as the Master Hunter, but it is handier for fine work than a drop-point.
Heimo Roselli specializes in traditional forged working knives without any frills. Ragnar of Ragweed Forge comments, These knives are all function and no polish, but have a beauty of their own. The blades are forged to shape in dies, then finished by hand. The upper sides of the blades still have the forge scale, and the bevels are ground cleanly to the edge with little or no secondary bevel. They are very sharp and ready to work. The steel is Krupp W75 with a carbon content of .7-.8%, and they are hardened to HRC 59 - 62. They are unique among the knives I carry in that they are forged rather than ground to shape. However they are made, Roselli knives have a very classic minimalist style. Roselli also offers his re-created version of wootz, UHC (Ultra High Carbon), but mine is ordinary old W75 like my Roselli Carpenters knife, it is very easy to sharpen, and takes a wicked edge. The Rosellis blade is about 1/8 thick, just over 4 long and 1 ¼ wide at the base. The cutting edge extends right up to the grip, no ricasso. A shallow fuller is forged along the spine. The tang, which is peened over a brass washer at the butt, was probably welded onto the forged steel. I would prefer a one-piece blade and tang but that would add a fair bit to the manufacturing cost, no doubt, and Ive never heard of any problems with this design. The blade is also epoxied into the handle, which is faced with an aluminum cup, so you dont have to worry about water seeping in and rusting the tang. The bevels are not perfectly symmetrical, being hand ground on a fairly coarse slack belt, but that doesnt affect the cutting efficiency in the least. Its picked up a nice patina, like any well-used high carbon blade, and it cuts like a screaming witch, to paraphrase Ethan Becker, especially after Cliff re-profiled it to a proper convex edge (thanks, BTW).
The H1 is smaller than I had expected, but it is still a hand-filling chunk of a knife. It has a full tang which extends from the butt as on the Fallkniven F1, so you can pound on it. The blade is 4 mm or .2 thick at the spine, almost twice as thick as the Roselli, and about 4 long. It has tough, 420-J2 slabs wrapped around a VG-10 core. These laminated blades are supposedly even stronger than a non-laminated VG-10 blade. (Fallkniven posts the results of independent tests on its blades on its website.) VG-10 is one of my favorite steels; it seems to have more bite than ATS-34, for instance. My buddy and I once skinned a black bear, me with my F1 with the older, one-piece VG-10 blade and him with a Cold Steel/Red River Elk Skinner in Carbon V. Gritty black bear hide, or moose for that matter, can take an edge off like sandpaper. To my surprise, the VG-10 held up just as well as the Carbon V, though it took a bit longer on a DMT hone to re-sharpen.
The H1 obviously had been put to a good test; there were bits of crud sticking to the sides of the blade and a few minor red spots along the spine. A few swipes with a Scotchbrite pad and some dish soap left the blade looking almost new. The lamination line is clearly evident about 3/16 back from the edge and the blade is perfectly ground (to my eye), compared to the Rosellis forging and hand grinding.
Falkniven notes that the H1 is a specialized blade designed for experts, whom I take to mean, people who do not need finger guards to keep from gashing themselves. Id call it a good all-round knife, a variation of the tried and true puukko, rather than a specialized blade. Like the Roselli, its edge extends right up to the grip, with a small notch before a narrow ricasso. It looks a bit like a CS California drop-point on steroids. The Kraton grip has no guard other than a small lip, but it is well shaped and textured. It feels a little harder than the Kraton on my Master Hunter and SRK, and almost as firm as the Thermorun on the F1. On a draw cut or slice, which is what this blade is mainly designed for, I dont see the lack of a guard as a problem, even if youre running the blade forward edge-up to slit the hide of a game animal. If you were to stab it into something hard, you might run your hand onto the blade, in which case you would no longer qualify as an expert. If you need to drive the H1 into something hard, say, to split the pelvis of a big game animal or a leg bone to get at the marrow, the tang extends a bit beyond the butt for precisely that purpose. (If you require a blade for stabbing, check out Fallknivens double-edged WC1 with a 240 mm blade, designed for probing for unexploded land mines. Let me know how it works.) If I have any criticism of the H1 grip, it is that it is a bit short if youre wearing heavy gloves.
The Rosellis grip had to have been designed by someone accustomed to using knives outdoors in the cold, while wearing heavy gloves. It has a huge hand-filling grip of Arctic birch nearly 5 long. There is a swell just before the blade that serves as a finger guard, of sorts; I dont think its really necessary, but it is not obtrusive. The grip is large enough to use when wearing heavy gloves, and the oval cross section helps keep the edge oriented, which is helpful when youre cutting inside large critters in the cold and dark. A coat of Tung oil keeps it looking nice and shrugs off water better than boiled linseed oil. I bored a hole near the butt for a lanyard, just in case.
The H1 came with an open-top swinger sheath of good thick black-dyed leather, fitted with a hard plastic liner. This is a huge improvement over the usual Norwegian and Finnish sheaths in my experience. The ones that came with my Helle Eggen as well as the Roselli were made of thin, flimsy leather, albeit the Roselli did have a hard plastic liner. I used the original sheaths as patterns to make sturdier ones with substantial welts out of heavier, latigo leather. The H1 sheath, at least, this one, doesnt grip the blade particularly tightly; you can draw the knife with one hand. My F1 came with a similar dangler sheath that was so tight you had to use two hands to draw the knife. I dont know if I would trust the H1 sheath on a hike through thick brush. But thats a moot point; usually I carry fixed blades in the pack when on the trail. There is a lined lanyard hole in the butt so you could tie it down for more security.
The H1 came sharp enough to shave with a bit of pressure, but not scary sharp. There were a few tiny chips toward the base of the blade. Ten minutes of work on a DMT red (medium) hone, stroking backwards to maintain the convex edge, followed by the same on an ultra-fine (green) DMT hone and a bit of stopping on a chromium oxide impregnated leather strop brought it to scary sharp. It seemed to sharpen more easily than my F1, possibly because of the softer 420-J2 side panels.
Its not a paring knife, but the thick blade works well in the kitchen preparing vegetables. It tends to pop apart hard veggies like carrots, but will slice softer fruit like tomatoes, no problem. It worked great on dismembering chickens, and the blade is long enough for that most useful survival exercise, scraping peanut butter from the bottom of the jar. It also was handy in the garden, cutting tough, dirty vines, digging into old wood and disturbing fire ants (run!). In short, a handy, all-round knife, not too big to tuck into the back pocket of your jeans, and big enough for about any task for a hand cutting tool. The VG-10 edge lasts and lasts, and a few licks on a DMT ultra-fine hone bring that scary sharp edge back fast.
I havent used it for field dressing or skinning yet; hope to be able to do that this fall. But I have no doubt it would perform superbly. You could hang this one on your belt and head out without a second thought, ready to field dress and skin anything that walks on the face of the planet and darn near everything that swims.
So I was pleased to find a package from Cliff Stamp containing a lightly-used Fallkniven H1 in the mail last April, along with my Roselli erapuukko, which Id loaned him last year for a workout. Id been curious about the H1 for some time, since the blade appeared very similar in photos to the Rosellis, and I thought it would be interesting to compare them.
They share a Scandinavian heritage but represent two very different approaches. The Roselli is a traditional classic in forged high carbon steel and Arctic birch; the H1 is a modern classic in laminated VG-10 and Kraton. The blades have similar contours, with a continuously curved edge, excellent for slicing and skinning, and a pointed tip with a very subtle drop-point not much more than a flat spot -- for making the initial slit on a game animal. This sharp tip requires more care when opening the gut sack than a true drop-point such as the Master Hunter, but it is handier for fine work than a drop-point.
Heimo Roselli specializes in traditional forged working knives without any frills. Ragnar of Ragweed Forge comments, These knives are all function and no polish, but have a beauty of their own. The blades are forged to shape in dies, then finished by hand. The upper sides of the blades still have the forge scale, and the bevels are ground cleanly to the edge with little or no secondary bevel. They are very sharp and ready to work. The steel is Krupp W75 with a carbon content of .7-.8%, and they are hardened to HRC 59 - 62. They are unique among the knives I carry in that they are forged rather than ground to shape. However they are made, Roselli knives have a very classic minimalist style. Roselli also offers his re-created version of wootz, UHC (Ultra High Carbon), but mine is ordinary old W75 like my Roselli Carpenters knife, it is very easy to sharpen, and takes a wicked edge. The Rosellis blade is about 1/8 thick, just over 4 long and 1 ¼ wide at the base. The cutting edge extends right up to the grip, no ricasso. A shallow fuller is forged along the spine. The tang, which is peened over a brass washer at the butt, was probably welded onto the forged steel. I would prefer a one-piece blade and tang but that would add a fair bit to the manufacturing cost, no doubt, and Ive never heard of any problems with this design. The blade is also epoxied into the handle, which is faced with an aluminum cup, so you dont have to worry about water seeping in and rusting the tang. The bevels are not perfectly symmetrical, being hand ground on a fairly coarse slack belt, but that doesnt affect the cutting efficiency in the least. Its picked up a nice patina, like any well-used high carbon blade, and it cuts like a screaming witch, to paraphrase Ethan Becker, especially after Cliff re-profiled it to a proper convex edge (thanks, BTW).
The H1 is smaller than I had expected, but it is still a hand-filling chunk of a knife. It has a full tang which extends from the butt as on the Fallkniven F1, so you can pound on it. The blade is 4 mm or .2 thick at the spine, almost twice as thick as the Roselli, and about 4 long. It has tough, 420-J2 slabs wrapped around a VG-10 core. These laminated blades are supposedly even stronger than a non-laminated VG-10 blade. (Fallkniven posts the results of independent tests on its blades on its website.) VG-10 is one of my favorite steels; it seems to have more bite than ATS-34, for instance. My buddy and I once skinned a black bear, me with my F1 with the older, one-piece VG-10 blade and him with a Cold Steel/Red River Elk Skinner in Carbon V. Gritty black bear hide, or moose for that matter, can take an edge off like sandpaper. To my surprise, the VG-10 held up just as well as the Carbon V, though it took a bit longer on a DMT hone to re-sharpen.
The H1 obviously had been put to a good test; there were bits of crud sticking to the sides of the blade and a few minor red spots along the spine. A few swipes with a Scotchbrite pad and some dish soap left the blade looking almost new. The lamination line is clearly evident about 3/16 back from the edge and the blade is perfectly ground (to my eye), compared to the Rosellis forging and hand grinding.
Falkniven notes that the H1 is a specialized blade designed for experts, whom I take to mean, people who do not need finger guards to keep from gashing themselves. Id call it a good all-round knife, a variation of the tried and true puukko, rather than a specialized blade. Like the Roselli, its edge extends right up to the grip, with a small notch before a narrow ricasso. It looks a bit like a CS California drop-point on steroids. The Kraton grip has no guard other than a small lip, but it is well shaped and textured. It feels a little harder than the Kraton on my Master Hunter and SRK, and almost as firm as the Thermorun on the F1. On a draw cut or slice, which is what this blade is mainly designed for, I dont see the lack of a guard as a problem, even if youre running the blade forward edge-up to slit the hide of a game animal. If you were to stab it into something hard, you might run your hand onto the blade, in which case you would no longer qualify as an expert. If you need to drive the H1 into something hard, say, to split the pelvis of a big game animal or a leg bone to get at the marrow, the tang extends a bit beyond the butt for precisely that purpose. (If you require a blade for stabbing, check out Fallknivens double-edged WC1 with a 240 mm blade, designed for probing for unexploded land mines. Let me know how it works.) If I have any criticism of the H1 grip, it is that it is a bit short if youre wearing heavy gloves.
The Rosellis grip had to have been designed by someone accustomed to using knives outdoors in the cold, while wearing heavy gloves. It has a huge hand-filling grip of Arctic birch nearly 5 long. There is a swell just before the blade that serves as a finger guard, of sorts; I dont think its really necessary, but it is not obtrusive. The grip is large enough to use when wearing heavy gloves, and the oval cross section helps keep the edge oriented, which is helpful when youre cutting inside large critters in the cold and dark. A coat of Tung oil keeps it looking nice and shrugs off water better than boiled linseed oil. I bored a hole near the butt for a lanyard, just in case.
The H1 came with an open-top swinger sheath of good thick black-dyed leather, fitted with a hard plastic liner. This is a huge improvement over the usual Norwegian and Finnish sheaths in my experience. The ones that came with my Helle Eggen as well as the Roselli were made of thin, flimsy leather, albeit the Roselli did have a hard plastic liner. I used the original sheaths as patterns to make sturdier ones with substantial welts out of heavier, latigo leather. The H1 sheath, at least, this one, doesnt grip the blade particularly tightly; you can draw the knife with one hand. My F1 came with a similar dangler sheath that was so tight you had to use two hands to draw the knife. I dont know if I would trust the H1 sheath on a hike through thick brush. But thats a moot point; usually I carry fixed blades in the pack when on the trail. There is a lined lanyard hole in the butt so you could tie it down for more security.
The H1 came sharp enough to shave with a bit of pressure, but not scary sharp. There were a few tiny chips toward the base of the blade. Ten minutes of work on a DMT red (medium) hone, stroking backwards to maintain the convex edge, followed by the same on an ultra-fine (green) DMT hone and a bit of stopping on a chromium oxide impregnated leather strop brought it to scary sharp. It seemed to sharpen more easily than my F1, possibly because of the softer 420-J2 side panels.
Its not a paring knife, but the thick blade works well in the kitchen preparing vegetables. It tends to pop apart hard veggies like carrots, but will slice softer fruit like tomatoes, no problem. It worked great on dismembering chickens, and the blade is long enough for that most useful survival exercise, scraping peanut butter from the bottom of the jar. It also was handy in the garden, cutting tough, dirty vines, digging into old wood and disturbing fire ants (run!). In short, a handy, all-round knife, not too big to tuck into the back pocket of your jeans, and big enough for about any task for a hand cutting tool. The VG-10 edge lasts and lasts, and a few licks on a DMT ultra-fine hone bring that scary sharp edge back fast.
I havent used it for field dressing or skinning yet; hope to be able to do that this fall. But I have no doubt it would perform superbly. You could hang this one on your belt and head out without a second thought, ready to field dress and skin anything that walks on the face of the planet and darn near everything that swims.