Survivorman and Helle knives collaboration knife.

COEC said:
Th Temagami has a carbon blade.
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Is this the same guy/company that carries (or did carry) a decent selection of Enzo Trappers?! Now THERE is a nice knife, worth the cost, IMO. Especially the flat (or convex?) ground D2 version. Too bad Enzo doesn't make that one in O1, then you'd have a REAL knife. ;)

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.... the one that I pointed out is a nice knife, that I have, is, IMO, a much better knife, in spite of being stainless, and rat-tailed (for lack of a better term). And worth the money, it being less expensive.

I like Les Stroud. I think he is probably the best outdoors guys I've seen on TV. But his name does not net, IMO, nearly $100 more than I consider the Temagami to be worth. And that is really what it is all about. If there are more people like me, this knife is going to be a flop, regardless of how good it is.
 
I just received my monthly newsletter from a Canadian knife dealer and it says the Temagami is available for preorder for $179.99! :eek:

Leaves me out.

Doc
 
rockspyder said:
I like Les Stroud. I think he is probably the best outdoors guys I've seen on TV. But his name does not net, IMO, nearly $100 more than I consider the Temagami to be worth. And that is really what it is all about. If there are more people like me, this knife is going to be a flop, regardless of how good it is.
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I agree with your assessment of both Les Stroud, as well as the extra $$$ this particular Helle knife will cost. I have owned/used two Helle knives. The Eggen, as well as the Fjelkniven. Respectable materials, as well as fit and finish at a price that wasn't too unbearable.

Hopefully Helle will offer this new addition at a "working man's" price once the hype wears down a little. We will see I guess.
 
Don't expect to see the price come down to an equivalent helle sans endorsement. Helle (like all companies) has a profit margin that they are trying to hit. Some marketing genius somewhere polled some people, did some calculations, then made a guess as to what Les Stroud's endorsement is worth. That marketting genius talked to the Helle marketing geniuses, then they all called their corporate lawyers to hash out the details of an agreement where Les would endorse a Helle knife and then be paid some amount of money (either up front or based on sales). Marketing genuises are expensive, lawyers are expensive, and celebrity endorsements are expensive... That all cuts into profit- thus the price has to be greater in order to preserve the profit margin.

Anyone ever wonder why camouflage shirts used for duck hunting are many times only camouflaged over the top 25% or so? And why they cost more than an equivalent "plain" shirt? You usually (or many times anyway) are wearing chest waders when duck hunting and it costs the shirt maker more in licensing (they are paying per unit of surface area) to make a shirt all camo than it does to only camo what will be exposed above the waders. They could probably sell either for the same price as the plain shirt, but at the expense of hurting profit margin.

You will probably see the Stroud/Helle colab knife for less than MSRP, but it's not going to hit the prices of other Helle knives- unless a vendor is trying to recoup what would otherwise be lost investment...
 
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cramsey3006 said:
I might buy one if they can get them to $100 or less. Helle is good stuff. Beautiful knives for sure.

I don't care about a signed version. I'd wear the signature off eventually.

Still kind of hard to shell out more than $100 for one though, when I can go here:

www.graywolfknives.com and get a full tang custom for under $100. No sheath, but that's no big deal to me.
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Cramsey. You have any experience with those gray wolf knives?? I really like the looks of em. :)
 
I haven't bought any YET. And that is solely due to tough finances right now. I've talked to Aaron through email and I'm planning on getting one of each of them when I can. He came across as a stand up guy, and I have NO PROBLEM ordering the knives without handling them first. He and his brother Adam (who hand forges his blades) do sell on ebay and have great feedback.

They appeal to me more than any other "bushcraft" blade I've seen. The price is right. 1095 at 59RC is great. Choice of wood or micarta, along with different blade finishes. I think that one of the major selling points for me, honestly, is the blade thickness on them. They are 1/8" or 5/32" depending on the model. I love my Mora knives, but I've always wished they were around 1/8" thick. That makes for a blade that is more durable than thinner ones but still slim enough that cutting and slicing efficiency isn't compromised. They are full tang blades as well (not so important to me, but very important to some). The biggest reason? They are MADE IN THE USA.

Helle, Mora, Brusletto, and other scandinavian companies put out first class products, but if I can support an American maker for the same amount of money or less for a product, then that's what I want to do. :thumbup:
 
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COEC said:
I think the Helle Temagami knife is priced higher because it is of far better quality. It's crafted in Norway by people who have been making knives for 80 years and not spit out of an assembly line in China somewhere like a Gerber. Just my two cents.
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It's not far higher quality than the other blades Helle offers, most of which are well under $100. There's not another $80-$100 worth of quality in the Temagami. Plain and simple.

Of course, you ARE going to give the knife a glowing endorsement, since you are selling them on pre-order for $180. :rolleyes:
 
DOC-CANADA said:
I just received my monthly newsletter from a Canadian knife dealer and it says the Temagami is available for preorder for $179.99!
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That doesn't sound too bad. As far as I can see online, it's comparative with BRKT Aurora or NorthStar or with Falkniven S1 or with a custom from Fiddleback (all knives I've considered bying).
It is 3x the price of the Bear Grylls Gerber knife, but I suspect it is more than 3x the quality. :)
It is 5x the price of a Mora. Is it 5x the quality?

I suspect I'd go for a Helle Viking or Symfoni, though.
 
Guys, once again, they are selling for $100 at the SHOT show. The $180 is probably the Canadian price with all their import fees and such.

If you're in the States and have to buy from a Canadian dealer, you have to pay their import fees and then the fee to ship across our border. Helle isn't gouging anyone on this, nor is Les.

If you don't want to buy it because you only want the cheapest thing you can possibly find, that's up to you, but it does not detract from the usefulness and ability of the knife.
 
Like I said many posts back :p if the price was $100 or less, then I'd seriously consider the knife. And at the price, I will consider it. :thumbup:
 
I thought the $180 was for the special limited edition first run of 500?
I'm sure the price will come down after that.
$180 is in the Bark River Aurora price range and plenty of people here seem to be willing to shell out the bucks for those.
 
With all due respect on the price. Helle should get as much $$$ for the knife as they possibly can. Why the helle not? First, they are losing profit margin by entering a collaboration with Les. Perhaps they will gain additional market share through this, which is the whole point of the signature knife, but it would be absolutely stupid to offer this knife at the same price point as their other line. They DON'T want all the people who already buy Helle knives to forgoe their next purchase of a helle knife to get this one. They want New people buying this knife, coming to like Helle and buying other cheaper knives.

Now for all the hand wringing about the price point, lets look at the simple facts. Despite this crowd being more edu-medi-cated about knives, the thread has generated 9 pages and 174 posts. Was all this interest simply because Helle is releasing a new knife? NO. Was all this interest because it is a Les Strout Collaboration? Yes. Will a pile of people looking at and posting to this thread end up buying one even though they know its more expensive than its worth? Yes.

Why? Because people bought more expensive than they were worth Bear Gryllis knives including >$300 models and the Gerber one. People bought more expensive than they were worth Dave Cantebury knives from BHK even after BHK jacked up the price following Duel-Survivor. People routinely buy more expensive than they are worth custom Ray Mears (you can buy woodlore clones all over the place for the sub $200 mark). In the end, people will also buy more expensive then they are worth Les Stroud/Helle knives. I won't be one of them, but I'll bet a soda pop that I'll be looking at a review here on BF within a month of them shipping out.
 
i'm more interested in this knife because it's a new Helle :) Helle Yeah!

that Les Stroud was involved is nice, him being a professional and all, and perhaps more well known than some Designers... i mean, Becker's book is practically in every house in the world right? he's not charging huge money for his stuff. heh.

now, what may also happen is a lot of people will get to looking at this knife, and see the price and wince, and then notice the other Helle's and their prices, and choose something else.

given the extra word for the mortise tang, $100 is probably a Helle of a deal.
 
What might be worth the few extra dollars is buying the knife at the Toronto Outdoor Adventure Show, booth 501, while chatting with Les Stroud and Torodd Helle in person.

Heck, I can make it there in 30 minutes.
 
I was pretty excited about this knife when I heard about it, and while I was not expecting super bells and whistles from a Helle knife, I was expecting the superior craftsmanship I have come to know from such a good company. With an MSRP of $100 (putting it around $60-$80), I was let down by what I saw in the prototype.


Edit:: Prototype was rushed, the production version is 1000 times better. I've seen multiple samples of it. I should have waited before such harsh criticism.
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First, while the grind was an even, well ground scandi, it was buffed wrong and had an odd shine to it

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The rivet did not sink into the hole and was inset, leading me to believe either the wood had swelled or it was not finished.

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The rivets themselves did not seem completely finished. They had scratches going one way on half of the rivet and then some going the other.
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And the half tang was filled half way with epoxy.
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Good: The handle was ergonomic, and the knife was not overly thick. The tang missing from the bottom portion of the handle allows for modification if you dislike the swell. There was no “Les Stroud” Logo on it, surprisingly, and that may be modesty points for the gentleman.
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Normally I would not be so critical on a knife, but I would be hesitant to pay more than $40 for the prototype. The sheath supplied with the knife that I saw was pretty good, and the fit of the sheath was proper. On the back of the spine, in the handle, the fit was flush. The front of the handle didn’t matter as the blade went half way through, vertically. All in all, I would probably pay a max of $45 for a production knife of this craftsmanship. I still like the knife, and think it is a good design, but in my honest opinion, based upon the model that I saw.


Edit: If the production version has a better fit and finish, then it would be worth some of the prices that people have thrown out.
 
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How does it perform? What do you think of the steel? Probably too soon to really make that judgement.

Plus, I don't know how Helle handles their MSRP amongst their dealer network, but I would think that $100 MSRP leaves quite a lot of room for a $40-60 actual retail.
 
What is the general fit and finish of Helle knives? That one looks like rush job.
I've been looking at some of their other models and I am tempted :)
 
About design: the overall design does seem pretty good.
What people don't realise is that it is probablt more difficult to do that than a standard full tang, and it is probably better in terms of usability.
The handle seems quite appealing to me.
The laminated blade is also appealing.

About fit and finish:
Arguably the fit and finish seems quite rushed on those pictures. It would consider it essentially aesthetic flaw yet it's not like they were giving them away for free, they should care a bit more about what they are doing.

About price point,
Well that's probably the most complicated part.

$180 is big money yet it is not as horrible as the Spyderco bushcraft for $300 (people even considered getting it with cracked scales a bargain at $90 -which is beyond me since I'd consider this a major flaw).

Since they have the Les Stroud name associated with it, it's quite obvious they'll try to squeeze a bit more money out of it. Since their usual price for that type of knife is about $100 that's a pretty big premium.
 
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