I don't think I ever posted this before. I got this in northern Norway in 1984 about 220 miles north of the Artic circle. it is made by the Lapp's, the gypsies of the north. they are reindeer herders and move from country to country. this knife is made from a car spring with kerilean birch handle and reindeer hide sheath. they don't sell their knive, but they will trade if they like you. a soldier took me to their camp and we had a meal with them and he told them I had seen his knife and wanted one. they laid out several and this one had the nicest handle. when I traveled from Germany, I always took at least three buck 110s. I offered the guy one and when he opened it and felt the edge he lit up like a Christmas tree and handed me this knife. one of the best trades I ever made. it will almost shave, will chop, slice and I've only sharpened it three or four times in 33 years. yesterday I "pruned" some crape myrtles with it. lee

I just edited the text to change to the correct wood for the handle. thanks to Kurac. lee

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Beautiful knife !!! I bought one that resembles that one some years back and was really impressed with it.it is "dangerously sharp!"

Very nice! One of the best "working" patterns there is. It must have been forged very well.

Note the similarity to the Finnish puukko.

Larry

Very nice. Reminds me of the Helle brand of knives which are from Norway too.

Knives - Helle kniver

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BCCI Life Member #2068

Nice blade and story, the handle appears to be Kerilean Birch, that is a good thing, it is more rare than birdseye maple which is rather common since I can get it almost anywhere, Keriliean Birch not so much.

Kurac, that would make sense since you can't swing a dead cat up there without hitting a birch tree. thanks. lee

Not much. These are called Leuko and are much fuller and more square looking than a real puuko.


I've always wondered why the handles are so short.


The Finns and the Lapps are different cultural groups.


BTW, Finnish is only related to Hungarian, in the Finno-Ugric language group. I read that somewhere.


We had a Finnish exchange student in HS, from Helsinki. He taught me to pronounce Sako correctly, and he owned one, for moose hunting.

I have a similar one somewhere in the safe.

Got it while working with the Norwegian armed forces in 1987. It is one of my favorite keepsakes.

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Mike SWCA 2865 NRA Benefactor

Nice knife and its even nicer with a story =)