I left my heart in Finland

Recently I was lucky enough to take a small group of friends on a test course out to Finland - words really can not express the wonderful time we had, the Finnish people are among the best in the world, I've nothing but praise for their friendliness and the warm welcome they are gave us.

Landing in Roveminia Airport (home of Santa and right there on the edge of the Arctic circle was a treat, its like Christmas all over again. The time we had in country playing in Temperatures down to a fresh -32 C were great - so as the singer says a picture paints a thousand words .........I hope you enjoy these few .............

I left my heart in Finland mid the snow and the tower spruce tree,

For how that cold land calls to me with the whisper of the breeze.

Neck Knife

Having spent a lot of time over the years working with Scandinavian peoples I've come to appreciate the strengths of the 7" Saami knife - or Leuku as we Brits call it.

But very few northland folk carry the Leuku alone, they nearly always carry a smaller utility knife either a puukko on their belt or a small knife worn around the neck (a come practice among native americans too).

Such a combo for the Northlander replaces the compromises and incompleteness of carrying a medium sized knife with an axe like the SFA and saw as in a frozen land they can do ALL they need with these to knives - prefering a 3/4 or full axes for heavy chopping work and veiwing the popular UK combo as amateurish and not much good for long term living in the boreal forests.

I also find this sort of combo (neck and Saami knife) very versatile and am pleased to announce that we have finally found a UK based maker to produce a small Neck knife for us. These tough little tools are 3mm thick A1 tool steel with rosewood handles and come complete with a hand stitched neck sheath.

Watch the website for this new addition to our range!!

The new BFK and DFK have landed

There are few times in a mans life when he can justify getting excited and the arrival of a new range of cutting tools is one of them - especially if your a bushcrafter!!

Today saw the arrival of the new DFK so before we get them on the website I thought I'd share the information and first pictures with you.

Damascus Field Knife
Modelled upon the more common style of bushcraft knife the Damascus field knife is a real work horse as well as a tool of aesthetical beauty any bushcrafter would be proud to own.

The Damascus steel composition is 125 layers of 1084 high carbon steel and 15n-20 with 2% nickel. The steel is first forged into 125 layers and then forged into a round bar. When the steel is at welding temperature the bar is twisted like a rope and then forged back into billets of Damascus.

The Damascus is then heat treated at 1500 degrees and quenched in oil. At this stage the Damascus is too hard and must be tempered back to a useable hardness. This done at 400 degrees for two hours and then repeated a second time. The blade is then ground, buffed and acid etched to bring out the beautiful Damascus pattern in the steel.

Being hand made these full tang knives are all unique and have a rustic look and feel to them as the maker often extenuates the natural shape or beauty of the materials he uses.
DFK’s are available with Antler, Horn or Masur Birch handles (scales) and come with a veg tanned leather belt sheath with firesteel loop attached – sheaths are available in either black or chestnut brown leather. Please contact with your choices of materials and sheath colours when ordering