Got the Nilakka - Couple Observations and a Potential Issue

AF

AF

Joined
Jan 14, 2000
Messages
6,015
Sorry no pics right now.

First off I think this knife is thinner behind the edge than any knife I've ever seen. I don't have calipers.
The fit is superb. The finish is good too although the easy-to-see locking liner is somewhat roughly finished. It has sanding lines going in different directions.
The clip seems to work well. The ball detent seems like it has the right strength.

Here is the one thing that concerns me. The tang - serving as the surface for the liner engagement - is not ground to its full width. It's ground about 3/4 of the width. I don't think I've ever seen that on a liner lock and I wonder if it was a mistake. I would think that the life of the lock is reduced because of this.
 
I just pulled mine out of the mailbox a few minutes ago. I sort of agree on the locking surface, but given the thickness of the blade stock, I'd guess it would be the difference between lasting a hundred years and lasting 120 years. Just don't use it for an axe. Did you notice the stop pin?
 
Thinking more about it - the blade tang is very thick so the liner has plenty of room to wear. I still find it a curious design element.
 
yablanowitz said:
I just pulled mine out of the mailbox a few minutes ago. I sort of agree on the locking surface, but given the thickness of the blade stock, I'd guess it would be the difference between lasting a hundred years and lasting 120 years. Just don't use it for an axe. Did you notice the stop pin?
Click to expand...

Posted at the same time.
No didn't notice the stop pin at first. That is cool!
 
Here are a few.

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I thought that the scales were brown in the online pics that I saw earlier. They look gray in your pictures. I like the version in your pictures better.
 
They are brown. The color you see is a combination of blue backdrop, digital camera and total lack of photography skill.

Edit to add: here is a pic in direct sunlight without the blue backdrop.

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I got to open mine when I got home. My tang looks the same, don't think it's an issue as yablanowitz said. I like the internal pin, just like the Buck Vantage series. I got a few comparison shots before my camera battery died.

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Hey I got mine today.

First thing I did is headed outside to try it out and take a few pics.

I grabbed a sycamore branch about 1.5" dried and started to see how long it would take for it to whittle it in half.

I tried to use all of the edge and it cut the sycamore like butter.

Unfortunately the dried sycamore, which isn't really that hard tore the edge all to hell.

I believe that I am going to have to take the first 1/32" off the edge, and maybe even back to 1/16.

When a saw how bad that it was hurting the edge I stopped before the final 3/4" before the tip but I think that if you used the tip for carving, which is what Puukko's are good for you could seriously run the risk of snapping the tip off.

I didn't realize that unlike most Scandi knives the blade has a distal taper which renders the point extremely thin.

This knife is going to have to have a convex secondary. I think it would have been better without the distal taper and with a "scandi" grind.

Pekka is a well respected smith right?? It's hard for me to believe that anybody who actually has used a knife would make a blade this fragile.

I personally love a thin edge and realize that the thinner an edge is the better it cuts and the more prone to damage. But this blade, maybe you could get away with this thin an edge if it was 3v or something but not this steel.
 
I had reservations about the combination of S30V and full flat zero grind myself. I didn't really think the steel could handle a 10° included angle, and it seems I was right. This is mine after a few minutes carving on a basswood carving block.

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Definitely going to need a secondary bevel on this one. Oddly enough, the tip fared better than the rest of the edge, and that's the part I was using the most. I'm no stranger to thin edges, I'm used to a Ken Coats custom that measures 0.007" at the back of the edge bevel.
 
That is kind of crazy the way the edge was busted up. Maybe the design would have worked better with some O1?
 
Probably. 10° included is asking a lot from any steel I've ever tried, though. If this had happened on my usual sample of local ash, I could understand, but basswood is soft and easy to carve. That's why it's popular for whittling projects. Clear, straight grain and softer than the cottonwood we grow around here. I thought this was supposed to be a woodworking tool. Maybe I just haven't done enough whittling to have learned how, yet.
 
I read this top down and went from i'm getting one to not a chance. I like the design but obviously something is askew with these.
 
yablanowitz said:
Probably. 10° included is asking a lot from any steel I've ever tried, though. If this had happened on my usual sample of local ash, I could understand, but basswood is soft and easy to carve. That's why it's popular for whittling projects. Clear, straight grain and softer than the cottonwood we grow around here. I thought this was supposed to be a woodworking tool. Maybe I just haven't done enough whittling to have learned how, yet.
Click to expand...

Yea, sure. :foot:
If you're saying the angle is too steel, then I'm sure you are right about it. I'm curious as to what Sal's thoughts will be on this.
 
So the stop pin is fixed into the tang, and moves within channels in the liners? Pretty neat.
That chipping looks nasty, would like to know what the actual 'intent' of the knife is, looks a bit brittle for wood working.
 
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