I bought this knife from Amazon for 65 dollars on impulse (we all have them!) as I couldn't really find any information on his knives other than what cloudberry market said.
http://www.kolumbus.fi/harri.merimaa/Puukontekovaiheet.htm
Here is the knife that I purchased and my thoughts.
This is the knife (Though the sheath came a much lighter color but my treatment of it made it nearly black! oops) It fits wonderfully in its sheath and is surprisingly light. As this is my first puukko style knife The look and shape of the sheath took some getting used to but it was beautifully crafted.
The knife unsheathed! It has an attractive "forge marked" look to it and I quite enjoy the unpolished blackened sides.
A close up of the blades right side (as I understand is the only side thought proper to write on a Finnish knife) and the makers mark. I was a bit disappointed that my knife had a laser etched logo as opposed to other woodsknife models that have hand engraved logos.
The handle of the knife is a very beautiful medium brown dyed birch with a slight swirling grain and has reindeer antler accents and a brass bolster. It was unpleasantly rough to the touch at first but after I oiled it and man handled it for a while it smoothed out and became quite comfortable. One of my biggest gripes with the Mora knife classics is the small handles as I am 6'3" and have fairly large hands but this knife fits my hand snugly. There are a few areas I had to sand down because they were giving me hot spots but nothing out of the ordinary.
Unfortunately the fit of the brass piece isn't exactly perfect, but this doesn't affect the knives performance in anyway.
Another disappointment....the tang does not go fully through the knife! I can't say how far it does go in but from the pictures the maker has on his site of the knife making process (I posted the link above) its nearly full. Still I like to see the end of the tang but my Moras do well enough with 3/4 tangs.
The spine of the knife is 1/8" thick and unfinished like many of the popular Mora knives and it throws magnificent sparks both with a ferrocium rod and as a flint and steel striker.
Here is a look at the back side of the sheath. This is the first knife i have ever owned with a leather sheath shaped this way but its quite unique. When I first held it the reindeer leather felt frighteningly soft. I felt as though I could cut through it with my fingernails but after waxing it it feels very sturdy and all my fears are gone.
The sheath has a light weight plastic insert that helps give it some rigidity and protection from the razor edge of its companion.
And a look at the reindeer strap that attached the knife sheath to a belt. It was a bit frightening to think that a thin little piece of "too soft" leather was all that was keeping my $65 knife attached to me but after a day of jerking and yanking on it I realized that reindeer leather is much tougher than it feels
My final thoughts on the knife are well....mixed. The knife has many beautiful qualities that made me confident of my purchase and I stand by it but there are some fit and finish issues that may deter others from purchasing one. If I were to describe the knife to someone I would probably say its a mora classic blade (same size and shape as my 612 but considerably sharper) with a more refined birch handle, an upgraded brass bolster and some antler accents. The real winner is the sheath. I'm a sucker for a nicely hand crafted leather sheath and this one is in a league of its own among the rest of my collection, as I have nothing else like it. I give the knife an 8/10 only because the fit and finish weren't perfect but if I were given the chance to do it over with the knowledge I now posses, I would certainly buy this knife again.
http://www.kolumbus.fi/harri.merimaa/Puukontekovaiheet.htm
Here is the knife that I purchased and my thoughts.
This is the knife (Though the sheath came a much lighter color but my treatment of it made it nearly black! oops) It fits wonderfully in its sheath and is surprisingly light. As this is my first puukko style knife The look and shape of the sheath took some getting used to but it was beautifully crafted.
The knife unsheathed! It has an attractive "forge marked" look to it and I quite enjoy the unpolished blackened sides.
A close up of the blades right side (as I understand is the only side thought proper to write on a Finnish knife) and the makers mark. I was a bit disappointed that my knife had a laser etched logo as opposed to other woodsknife models that have hand engraved logos.
The handle of the knife is a very beautiful medium brown dyed birch with a slight swirling grain and has reindeer antler accents and a brass bolster. It was unpleasantly rough to the touch at first but after I oiled it and man handled it for a while it smoothed out and became quite comfortable. One of my biggest gripes with the Mora knife classics is the small handles as I am 6'3" and have fairly large hands but this knife fits my hand snugly. There are a few areas I had to sand down because they were giving me hot spots but nothing out of the ordinary.
Unfortunately the fit of the brass piece isn't exactly perfect, but this doesn't affect the knives performance in anyway.
Another disappointment....the tang does not go fully through the knife! I can't say how far it does go in but from the pictures the maker has on his site of the knife making process (I posted the link above) its nearly full. Still I like to see the end of the tang but my Moras do well enough with 3/4 tangs.
The spine of the knife is 1/8" thick and unfinished like many of the popular Mora knives and it throws magnificent sparks both with a ferrocium rod and as a flint and steel striker.
Here is a look at the back side of the sheath. This is the first knife i have ever owned with a leather sheath shaped this way but its quite unique. When I first held it the reindeer leather felt frighteningly soft. I felt as though I could cut through it with my fingernails but after waxing it it feels very sturdy and all my fears are gone.
The sheath has a light weight plastic insert that helps give it some rigidity and protection from the razor edge of its companion.
And a look at the reindeer strap that attached the knife sheath to a belt. It was a bit frightening to think that a thin little piece of "too soft" leather was all that was keeping my $65 knife attached to me but after a day of jerking and yanking on it I realized that reindeer leather is much tougher than it feels
My final thoughts on the knife are well....mixed. The knife has many beautiful qualities that made me confident of my purchase and I stand by it but there are some fit and finish issues that may deter others from purchasing one. If I were to describe the knife to someone I would probably say its a mora classic blade (same size and shape as my 612 but considerably sharper) with a more refined birch handle, an upgraded brass bolster and some antler accents. The real winner is the sheath. I'm a sucker for a nicely hand crafted leather sheath and this one is in a league of its own among the rest of my collection, as I have nothing else like it. I give the knife an 8/10 only because the fit and finish weren't perfect but if I were given the chance to do it over with the knowledge I now posses, I would certainly buy this knife again.