Great Pukko - Great Deal

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Blackhorse

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Just picked up a new Pukko knife from ETSY. It was/is on sale for about half the normal price. I’ll post a photo below of a knife “identical” to mine below. It uses a Puronvarsi C75 carbon steel blade with nice Desert Ironwood handle. This looks to be an incredible deal…the EXACT same knife is at another website (Northmen Guild) for close to $700!!!

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I’m familiar with the northmen guild, very high quality, high end master crafted tools and such. I got stuck drooling over an axe with a wildly long waiting list on there, some time ago. And that is a beautiful little knife. I probably would’ve written it off as a knock-off if it was on Amazon, but Etsy has higher moral standards lol. Maybe it’s a reseller or a second line or something, but that is a substantial discount regardless. You’ll have to let us know how it turns out.
 
The thing is…the pukko that I bought from ETSY…the exact same series of descriptive photos accompanied a knife on the “expensive” site. Same exact series and composition of spacers and exactly the grain pattern in the Ironwood. I emailed the maker via ETSY and asked why the half price. He came right back and said he had been making knives since 2005 was just trying to gain more exposure. I wrote back saying I would post a thing on our site and that I had seen his knives on that other site for a huge price difference. He then responded he had no problem with my posting his knife to our members…but didn’t say a thing about my comment re the other site’s big price. Hmmmmmm. Saw a notice somewhere on the ETSY site re items shipped were not necessarily the exact item posted due to some minor differences between one knife and the next. Not surprising.
 
Surprising indeed. I checked out his Etsy shop, some really nice looking blades for sale. Axes too. I am all for open markets, I just didn’t think the northmen had any issues moving their product. Every time I looked over there, they were sold out and taking back orders. That Puukko is already sold out, or at least in others’ carts already. I’m itching hear what you think of it when you get it. I love a good quality Scandinavian knife.
 
Heh, heh. If you look through the thousands of items offered across ETSY you’ll begin to notice that about 90% of the items are “already in three other peoples cart”. Right. Fear of loss salesmanship…or was that plain ol’ BS? Take your pick.

Anyway…I checked out the Puraonvarsi C75 blade over on the BRISA website and it’s close to $60 USD. BRISA and Thompson’s are where I used to buy the blades I used. Add a block of garden variety Desert Ironwood and the spacer materials to the pile and there’s likely $80 in materials there. I’ve made quite a number of knives just like that (still have a few tucked away to leave behind for the kids) so I know how long it takes. For the $100 I paid he’s sure not making much of a hourly rate.
 
How would you rate this against a standard Roselli model?
 
Ooooooo. Now that’s not easy. I’ve made knives from both their standard and Ultra steel. Still have a sweet UHC carving blade set Nordic style in a longish handle of Snakewood. Gorgous. I suppose it depends on one’s intended use and all that…and if you want a wood handle. Why Rossali puts nicer wood and a nicer sheath with their standard Carbon Steel is beyond me, but they do.

So here’s my breakdown…totally opinion…

Blade:
Rosseli…Carbon Steel that is proprietary to the maker, blades are a little short & fat for general use but that makes them better for skinning. These sharpen well and hold a very keen edge. I like the Carpenter blade.
Benchmade: CPM 3V at 60-62. This is arguably the best knife steel in the world today. Takes a great edge and holds it really well. Very tough, I’ve heard. This is a steel you want to sharpen in your shop or home, not in the field. Unless you put a convex edge on it and know how to do convex field sharpening. I don’t do extended field trips any more and could also toss a few other knives in the trunk, etc.

Handle:
Rosseli…Well designed Curly Birch handles, fat in the hand, plenty of purchase. You REALLY need to try out a handle or be sure the vendor will pay for return shipping and not charge you restocking fees, in case you don’t like it.
Benchmade…Oval shaped handle covered in “Santoprene” which feels like hard/soft plastic. I’ve never tried it but I think it would perform better re being slippery when bloody. But I’ve only ever had one knife handle that did well inside an animal…an old Gerber with a thin blade of L2 or L6 steel. They sprayed something on the handle that was like sand…then let it cure. It was grippy no matter what.

Sheath:
Rosseli…fairly common hard working sheath. A decent piece of gear. Trustworthy.
Benchmade…when you first get the new knife, remove it from the sheath then throw the sheath as far away as you can. OR…get a pad used for chair legs that’s sticky on one side and stick it inside the sheath, along the axis on the front side. Or, you could figure something else out but straight from the factory the sheath is worse than useless, it’s dangerous.
 
The benchmade 200 was actually designed with one of many goals in mind being impressing the Dutch idiots from Dutch bushcraft knives on YouTube. I love those guys, and value their opinions. They said it was a great knife, maybe best in class for the money. Except for the sheath, but hey, they were trying to keep the price point low I think. They make a leuku also that is designed in the same vein. I would love to have them both, personally.
 
I’ve watched a number of the Dutch guy shows. If I’m thinking of the same shows I wasn’t impressed. Guys seemed very snooty and more experienced in the studio than in the woods. Just a quick impression though as I didn’t watch them much. If Benchmade designed the twins with the goal of impressing THEM I’m immediately upset with them. 😁.

Do love the big brother though…nice looking blade. A well treated piece of CPM S3 like that should have LOTS of uses. Except for me…now. At one time it might have been the ideal tool but I just don’t get out there like I used to. A 3” - 4” Pukko is a different matter. For me it’s the perfect fixed blade EDC.
 
I’ve been watching them for quite awhile myself. Their channel has changed some over the years. When it was mostly just marten it was more bushcraft skill related videos and minored in gear review. The channel took off when Mikkie joined him full time. They did a lot better in views and subs when they started doing more knife reviews. Also, a lot more funny video content and better production quality. I think between the two they own more than a few hundred knives they’ve reviewed, which may contribute to the somewhat elitist way they talk about knives. They are pretty friendly with some of the bigger industry names though, and some really talented smaller craftsmen.
 
My edc is a 3.8” bark river guardless drop point hunter in cpm 154. Love that knife.
 
My edc is a 3.8” bark river guardless drop point hunter in cpm 154. Love that knife.

Do you remember what model Bark River it is? I think they do the best production knives anywhere…have a number here. My favorite is a Gunnie Scandi I got that has Desert Ironwood scales. They do a very excellent convex grind.

The Dutch Guys on the Gunnie Scandi in 3V.

 
That is a really nice knife and esp. a deal! My question the wood looks very slick/greasy and does not have finger guard for hard cutting. Is that OK?
 
I think the wood is stabilized. So it’s impregnated under pressure with acrylic something. The surface isn’t slick at all. The acrylic polishes up nicely. Re the lack of a finger guard? Many, many knife patterns don’t have a guard. Not many of mine do. If the cutting in question is dangerous to do with a guardless knife…I use my hatchet or axe...and caution.

Re: the “deal”? This might be an older vid. Prices have a tendency to sneak upward.
 
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