Puukko Knife, Hand Forged Carbon Steel with Curly Birch Handle

A day in the woods is mostly small jobs. Points on tent pegs, bark off a stick for a pot hook, bread and cheese at noon. None of it is heavy. It is constant, and by evening your hand knows what it has been holding. This is 4 inches of 1095 high carbon in a curly birch handle, shaped so a knife you hold all day does not argue with you.

Specification

The blade

1095 with no pattern in it, rubbed back by hand to a satin. The grind is flat, stopped at a clean line partway up, so the bevel reads as a band. Flat and high means thin behind the edge, which is what slices. The puukko outline runs straight along the back with the point dropping just under the spine line, so the tip lands where your thumb thinks it is. The spine is squared to ninety degrees. Carbon steel goes grey with use and spots if you put it away wet. That is the steel, not a fault.

The handle

Curly birch, turned into a barrel, fatter through the middle. No scales, no pins. The tang is hidden inside the wood, with a dark spacer and a brass ferrule closing the joint against grit. A barrel has no corners to press into your palm, and you can roll it to change the angle of a cut. The handle runs 4.5 inches against 4 inches of blade. A handle as long as the blade is what makes this read as a woods knife rather than a hunting knife.

The leather sheath

Vegetable tanned leather, stitched by hand, with a welt in the seam so the thread sits clear of the edge. It is a pouch, cut to this blade's own outline and deep enough to swallow the blade and most of the handle. It holds on friction at the ferrule, so there is no strap to undo. The face is plain, nothing stamped. It hangs low and swings, so it moves when you sit down.

Who it suits

This one is for the person whose knife spends more of the day in a hand than in a sheath.

• Anyone who carves or makes camp gear from deadwood
• People who want a grip with no hot spots by evening
• Anyone tired of undoing a strap forty times a day
• A first carbon steel knife for someone learning to keep one dry

What comes in the box

• The 4 inch puukko knife
• The plain leather pouch sheath
• A care card
• Lifetime warranty and free sharpening

Every piece is different

Every blade is forged, ground and sharpened by hand in small runs, so no two finish the same. Curly birch is figured wood and the figure lands where it lands. One handle comes out a loud stripe, the next a quiet ripple. What arrives will be close to the photographs without matching them.

Looking after it

Wipe it dry the moment you are done, especially after food or a wet walk. Oil the blade before it goes in a drawer for the season, and give the birch a little oil while you are there. Sharpen on a stone, then strop it. Do not store it in the sheath for months, since leather holds damp against steel. More is on our knife care and sharpening page.

Put a name on it

Laser engraving is 20 dollars per blade and you add it here on the product page. Around 30 characters fits, so a name and a year sits better than a sentence. We send a proof image before the laser runs, which adds 3 to 5 business days. Engraving is free on orders of 10 or more. The engraving page has the rest.

Questions buyers ask

How long does shipping take? Most US orders arrive in 5 to 7 business days.

Will it rust? It can. 1095 darkens into a grey patina and spots if it is left wet, so dry it and oil it.

What is the squared spine for? A square corner throws sparks off a ferrocerium rod and shaves tinder. A rounded spine does neither. No rod is included.

Is a hidden tang strong enough? Yes, for what this knife does. The steel runs down inside the handle and the ferrule locks the joint.

Will it fall out of a pouch sheath? No. The pouch grips the ferrule and the handle sits low.

Is it sharp when it arrives? Yes, sharpened by hand before it ships.

If you want a full tang and a longer blade in the same steel, the Kephart in hand forged oak does that. For a scandi bevel and flat sided grip, see the bushcraft knife with a walnut handle. It sits with the rest of the bushcraft knives, the plain steel is under 1095 high carbon steel, and smaller carry pieces are in everyday carry knives.