Puukko-adjacent

[Gavin Rondeau]

So, I've never posted any knives here (just a lot of lurking) but I think I could use some feedback, so here goes. 

Hand-forged from Aldo's 1084, blade is 3.5" with distal taper, tempered at 325 F. The handle's 4", bolster is gemsbok horn, PetSmart cow's bone spacer, black walnut for the handle and netsuke. Sheath is wet-formed and hand-stitched 8 oz veg tan, the rings are cold bent from brass rod.

 

[Latticino]

Nice knife and interesting shape.  I personally like the distal taper and the slim profile of the blade, but as you say it is far from a traditional knife of this type.  To me it seems like you have hit a middle ground between leaving the forging marks on the blade and bringing the knife up to a full polish.  I'd like to see you commit to one or the other.  I do like the combination of materials you have used for your handle.  Overall looks like a very effective little utility or EDC blade.

I can see where it is puukko influenced, but the profile, tip, bevel grind and handle diverge enough so I'd say it was a stretch to call it a puukko.  I believe that a typical puukko has more of what many are calling a "scandi" grind, which has hardly any secondary bevel (or looking at it alternately a secondary bevel that extends a fair way up the width of the blade.  Most puukko I've seen have a more rectangular profile with a wider radiused tip (see below)  I'm not sure if you attempted to make a more traditional puukko or not, so please don't be offended by my comments.  This is what I think of when I hear puukko (not mine, just online image):

[Gavin Rondeau]

Latticino, it's definitely not traditional and you make some good points. I do a lot of green wood carving (spoons and such) and a narrower blade/point is handy for that. Thanks for the complimentary remarks. The varied finish is something that I arrived at inadvertently, it was originally much more satiny but after much work on waterstones and stropping it came to look fairly polished. It's pretty close to flat ground with a little appleseed convex at the very edge. I'm actually working on some more traditional puukko-styled knives at the moment, I think they're just about tops for an all-'rounder.

[JHCC]

16 hours ago, Latticino said:

To me it seems like you have hit a middle ground between leaving the forging marks on the blade and bringing the knife up to a full polish.  I'd like to see you commit to one or the other.

I agree with this. The design is very nice, but the level of finish on both blade and handle are in an uncomfortable middle ground between kind of rough and highly refined. Since it's too late to stick with rough, I'd suggest taking the blade to fully polished and the handle to sanded completely smooth, with nice crisp edges.

[Gavin Rondeau]

JHCC, I'm starting to feel like there's a theme here.   

I appreciate the feedback and I think you both make a good point, re: moving fully into either a more rustic or refined aesthetic. That's something I've been thinking about a lot lately and finding tricky in execution.

I'm not going to change this knife, though. It's usable and carves well (and hasn't sold on my etsy page so it's mine now) and I'd rather take a fresh crack at another iteration than continue to faff with this. 

[Latticino]

 

27 minutes ago, Gavin Rondeau said:

I'd rather take a fresh crack at another iteration than continue to faff with this. 

Good plan. Onward and upward.

[JHCC]

Good plan!