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- Jun 29, 1999
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Hultafors pops up occasionally on this forum, most recently in a post in the General Knife Discussion, where a guy named Victor in Hungary was looking for a suitable knife for military/campsite use. Among the suggestions was the Hultafors Heavy Duty knife, Model GK. That’s GROVKNIV in Swedish (or IKEA). Hmm, said I, looking out the window at the howling gale, -15 F., feeling around -26 F. with the wind chill. Might be a good time to pick one of those up. After all, it’s been almost a year since I bought a new blade. (As if I needed an excuse...
)
Hultafors, a competitor to Mora, is a large Swedish industrial group that makes all kinds of hand tools, including hammers and some pretty nice looking axes, in addition to safety gear and workwear. You don’t see their tools in the brick & mortar knife shops or home improvement outlets hereabouts, but I located a Canadian on-line dealer in Vancouver that had them in stock. The cost and the mailing charge were almost equal, total about $39 loonies, not bad, so I placed the order.
Hultafors knives are produced in Taiwan, like a lot of other excellent knives these days. Hultafors calls the GK “A powerful and durable ground knife suitable for tough tasks such as prising, breaking and hacking. It features a unique function for attaching the holster around a button on your work clothes so that it does not come loose whilst still being easy to remove.” Think of it as a Mora 510 on steroids. Hultafors makes a couple of very similar “outdoor” models, with slightly different handles and an electrophoretic deposition coating (EPD) for rust protection, at roughly double the price. Their spines are ground for fire steel sparking and the sheaths are more compact, with a nylon web belt loop.
The Japanese-made steel is SK5, a.k.a. 1084 (or close enough to make no difference), often used in tools like hammers and saws, as well as railroad rails. Much as I appreciate the latest and greatest super steels (Yea, Magnacut!), I still like high carbon steels for their durability, ease of sharpening and ability to take an atom splitting edge. Cold Steel uses SK5 in several of its blades. Grohmann’s carbon steel is something very similar. SK5 will rust, like all high carbon steels, and probably take on a patina.
Miraculously, a mere two days later, the Canada Post dogsled pulled up through the latest blizzard and tossed the Hultafors into the igloo entrance. First impression: This is a chunk of a knife. It weighs 4.2 ounces (a Mora 510 checks in at 2.3). The blade is 3 mm. thick, just a hair off 1/8”, significantly thicker than most Mora blades (2 mm.), 7/8“ wide, 3 5/8” long. The tang extends three quarters the length of the handle. You don’t need to worry about popping the lid off a can of paint with this thing. There is no ricasso; the cutting edge goes right up to the handle. There are no gaps where water could infiltrate into the tang. There is a useful finger guard that also helps retain the knife in the sheath. The factory edge…meh. Hultafors grinds the blade at 10 degrees per side, then adds a secondary bevel which it claims stands up better to rough use. Which I found to be barely scraping sharp; I prefer edges that cut. A few minutes with a fine file easily re-profiled the bevel to a more acute angle and a couple minutes on the DMTs produced a hair popping edge. Scary sharp.
OK, out to the lab for scientific testing, conducted as per usual under strict protocols. I whittled a stick of seasoned pine down to shavings in about ten minutes. The GK glided through the wood, split a few thicker pieces no problem. Sheared through several small knots with no problem, no edge rolling, no chips. Still sharp enough to slice paper at the end; a couple strokes on the fine DMT and it was back to hair-popping sharp. The big, hand-filling green polypropylene handle is lightly textured and long enough to accommodate heavy winter gloves -- a significant plus in this part of the woods. It’s extremely comfortable and grippy – it would work great when field dressing game or cleaning fish.
The black polypropylene sheath is a big clunky affair, almost a bucket. It is easy to re-sheath or withdraw, holds the knife quite securely, and there’s a drain hole at the bottom. There is a rather odd (for North America) tab with a slotted hole to attach it to a button on your vest (Hultafors also makes those). That seems to be a European feature, I’ve never seen it in North America. The tab can be adapted to slide a belt through, but with its size the sheath is pretty awkward. I plan to make a more compact leather sheath out of some latigo leather I have lying around. I may consider shaving down the grip a tad if I’m planning to throw it in the daypack. As it is, it would be a great addition to the toolkit or bugout bag in a SUV, truck, boat, or snowmobile.
)Hultafors, a competitor to Mora, is a large Swedish industrial group that makes all kinds of hand tools, including hammers and some pretty nice looking axes, in addition to safety gear and workwear. You don’t see their tools in the brick & mortar knife shops or home improvement outlets hereabouts, but I located a Canadian on-line dealer in Vancouver that had them in stock. The cost and the mailing charge were almost equal, total about $39 loonies, not bad, so I placed the order.
Hultafors knives are produced in Taiwan, like a lot of other excellent knives these days. Hultafors calls the GK “A powerful and durable ground knife suitable for tough tasks such as prising, breaking and hacking. It features a unique function for attaching the holster around a button on your work clothes so that it does not come loose whilst still being easy to remove.” Think of it as a Mora 510 on steroids. Hultafors makes a couple of very similar “outdoor” models, with slightly different handles and an electrophoretic deposition coating (EPD) for rust protection, at roughly double the price. Their spines are ground for fire steel sparking and the sheaths are more compact, with a nylon web belt loop.
The Japanese-made steel is SK5, a.k.a. 1084 (or close enough to make no difference), often used in tools like hammers and saws, as well as railroad rails. Much as I appreciate the latest and greatest super steels (Yea, Magnacut!), I still like high carbon steels for their durability, ease of sharpening and ability to take an atom splitting edge. Cold Steel uses SK5 in several of its blades. Grohmann’s carbon steel is something very similar. SK5 will rust, like all high carbon steels, and probably take on a patina.
Miraculously, a mere two days later, the Canada Post dogsled pulled up through the latest blizzard and tossed the Hultafors into the igloo entrance. First impression: This is a chunk of a knife. It weighs 4.2 ounces (a Mora 510 checks in at 2.3). The blade is 3 mm. thick, just a hair off 1/8”, significantly thicker than most Mora blades (2 mm.), 7/8“ wide, 3 5/8” long. The tang extends three quarters the length of the handle. You don’t need to worry about popping the lid off a can of paint with this thing. There is no ricasso; the cutting edge goes right up to the handle. There are no gaps where water could infiltrate into the tang. There is a useful finger guard that also helps retain the knife in the sheath. The factory edge…meh. Hultafors grinds the blade at 10 degrees per side, then adds a secondary bevel which it claims stands up better to rough use. Which I found to be barely scraping sharp; I prefer edges that cut. A few minutes with a fine file easily re-profiled the bevel to a more acute angle and a couple minutes on the DMTs produced a hair popping edge. Scary sharp.
OK, out to the lab for scientific testing, conducted as per usual under strict protocols. I whittled a stick of seasoned pine down to shavings in about ten minutes. The GK glided through the wood, split a few thicker pieces no problem. Sheared through several small knots with no problem, no edge rolling, no chips. Still sharp enough to slice paper at the end; a couple strokes on the fine DMT and it was back to hair-popping sharp. The big, hand-filling green polypropylene handle is lightly textured and long enough to accommodate heavy winter gloves -- a significant plus in this part of the woods. It’s extremely comfortable and grippy – it would work great when field dressing game or cleaning fish.
The black polypropylene sheath is a big clunky affair, almost a bucket. It is easy to re-sheath or withdraw, holds the knife quite securely, and there’s a drain hole at the bottom. There is a rather odd (for North America) tab with a slotted hole to attach it to a button on your vest (Hultafors also makes those). That seems to be a European feature, I’ve never seen it in North America. The tab can be adapted to slide a belt through, but with its size the sheath is pretty awkward. I plan to make a more compact leather sheath out of some latigo leather I have lying around. I may consider shaving down the grip a tad if I’m planning to throw it in the daypack. As it is, it would be a great addition to the toolkit or bugout bag in a SUV, truck, boat, or snowmobile.
