Helle Fire & Helle Fjellkniven : any experience?

M

Mies

Joined
Jan 1, 2005
Messages
67
Both the Helle Fire and the Helle Fjellkniven are on my wishlist.
Since there's only room for one of them I will need your advice guys (and girls?).

I'm really impressed with the looks of Helle knives, and the thick wooden handles will suit my large hands and make them suitable for winter use.

The Fire is a full tang one with a shorter blade. The Fjellkniven has a more useful sheet.

Oh yeah, on their website : www.helle.no I cannot find info on blade thickness.
Anyone got info, user experience etc?
Thanks
 
I've got the Fjellkniven. It's a great knife. Excellent ergonomic handle, wickedly sharp edge. A very handsome knife at the price.

The biggest shortcoming (imho) is the lack of a plastic insert in the leather sheath to protect against accidental cuts.
 
I assume the blade thickness is 1/8" [ 3mm] as this is the thickness of the bare blade I put a handle on.The Hell Fire looks like one of those things designed for asthetics without much though to practical shape. I'm much happier with the old traditional shape handle of the Kvernstein.This is what I have on my old Helle [1947] and what I put on my new Helle blade.For your chioice take the Fjellkniven.
 
I've also got the Fjellkniven. Pluses are that it's lightweight, has an excellent feeling handle, comes razor sharp, and it's bargain priced. Oh, I think the wood and the sheath on mine are absolutely beautiful too.

The only negative, I'm having a hard time getting behind this "Scandanavian" edge geometry thing, especially when I compare it to my Convex edged Bark Rivers. I can't say it's a bad thing, cause I haven't compared it to any other knives cleaning game or anything yet. Actually it seems to cut most things really well in the kitchen where mine currently lives. I just haven't found the perfect angle for resharpening it yet, and don't see the benefit in the sudden V coming off the flat grind. Isn't that gonna be a pain in a few years when the V is shorter and more pronounced? Also, like Blues said, you really gotta watch it resheathing cause of the lack of a liner.

I'm sure most of my problems are a result of my own ignorance, otherwise this style wouldn't have been around so long.
 
Hmm, so the sheat is a pile of poo...

@ runs with scissors : I think if you resharpen the whole flat grind, the angle of the V will not change.

Where I live (Holland) I can mail order a Helle Fjellkniven order for 59 euro.
Seems like a really good deal for what you get!

Can any Fjellkniven owners be so kind to post some pics?
 
Mies,

Click on the link below my signature and go to the "Scandi" section. I have pictures of the Fjellkniven and other knives there.
 
I have a helle Kvernstein... it looks and feels great now they should be of the same steel and i have posted an issue on this before... but i do feel that i lose the edge of the knife too easily.. as in if i do simply graze it on soft concrete, the edge gets dinged. does it happen to your Helle Knives?
i have seen the Helle Fire, and it looks great!
marcus
 
marcuswong said:
... i do feel that i lose the edge of the knife too easily.. as in if i do simply graze it on soft concrete, the edge gets dinged. .
Click to expand...
You can certainly put a slight secondary bevel on it and this will reduce the delicacy of the edge.

Soft concrete? :D
 
The entire bevel is sharpened . It's easy since it has a laminated blade and only the core is really hard....If you want to 'graze concrete' us a diamond tipped circular saw !! People on this forum do some strange things with knives !
 
I'll chime in as yet another Fjellkniven owner. Very sharp, very beautiful and tough knife. On one occassion I batoned it through some pretty thick branches. When I was done, I happened to noticed the blade had a slight bend in it. I braced the blade, and was able to straighten it using just hand strength. It makes me wonder what would have happened if I had used a less flexible blade.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Soft concrete? :D
Click to expand...

yes soft concrete... as in when they dont make the concrete as hard as it should be a good example is those cinder blocks that you can crumble away with your fingertips... :(
i used the helle knife for gardening :o and my flower trench is seciuoned off wiht that...
I have put a secondary bevel on it. i think... that is the thing that the spyderco sharpmaker does right? the bevel section of the thing?
Thanks for the help
marcus
 
Marcus, yes, the Sharpmaker will put a nice secondary bevel on it.

Also, take a look at the bottom of the Sharpmaker base. It has grooves you can put the sharpening rods into and use it as a benchstone.

In fact, using the triangle set-up at the tip of the blade may round it off. Using the benchstone set-up carefully, you can sharpen the tip freehand.
 
Chris Mapp said:
I'll chime in as yet another Fjellkniven owner. Very sharp, very beautiful and tough knife. On one occassion I batoned it through some pretty thick branches. When I was done, I happened to noticed the blade had a slight bend in it. I braced the blade, and was able to straighten it using just hand strength. It makes me wonder what would have happened if I had used a less flexible blade.
Click to expand...

Bended blade from branches! Now thats a major turn of for me.
Would an EKA be a bit firmer build then a Helle in that regard?
 
Chris Mapp said:
I'll chime in as yet another Fjellkniven owner. Very sharp, very beautiful and tough knife. On one occassion I batoned it through some pretty thick branches. When I was done, I happened to noticed the blade had a slight bend in it. I braced the blade, and was able to straighten it using just hand strength. It makes me wonder what would have happened if I had used a less flexible blade.
Click to expand...
Thats pretty surprising, I dont own one but it is a laminated blade after all, i would guess that batoning would be no problem. Did you jerk or yank blade laterally while it was still in wood, I don't see how else this could happen:confused:
 
Don't view that as a weakness of the knife. Truthfully, it was the first time I'd used a smaller knife to baton through something, so it's entirely possible that it was a little off when I struck it a few times. The bend was very slight, only a couple of degrees. In fact, now that I think about it, I was probably putting quite a bit of pressure on the handle while I was doing this. Now that I have a better idea of how to do it, I wouldn't hesitate to try it again.
 
Fjellknivens are great knives!
I suppose they are meant to bend instead of break, since the outside laminate steel is softer and the inside is harder for better edge holding.

And the scandi edge is meant to be easy to maintain, just lay the whole flat of the edge against your stone and swipe it. You can put a secondary bevel on it, or you can convex it instead. All three methods cut well, although I prefer to convex mine. Seems to keep a better edge that way.

Never tried the Fire, but I do have two other Helles, nothing wrong with any of them. Good performers that look and feel good, hard to top that!:thumbup:
 
Mies said:
Bended blade from branches! Now thats a major turn of for me.
Would an EKA be a bit firmer build then a Helle in that regard?
Click to expand...

The EKA Nordic knives are full tang knives (made with the excellent Sandvik 12C27 steel and African(!) bubinga wood), whereas the Helle knives usually are a triple laminate of hidden tang construction with a birch handle.

Some people prefer full tang for strength, some people say there's not much of a difference, YMMV. Some people have seen Helle knives ending up with a loose handle after some serious batoning. I can hammer a screw into your wall if you want me to, using a screwdriver usually brings better results... Bring an axe if you plan on chopping wood!

The EKA knives aren't scandi ground BTW, the Helle knives are scandi ground with a very small secondary bevel.

I've got a Helle Trofe, a great knife with a very nice handle IMO. Came really sharp out of its tube. Costs a bit more than a Fjellkniven though. Blade thickness on my Trofe is 3.2 mm. Handle finish on my knife was a bit rough, but nothing that a bit of sanding couldn't take care of. After that I soaked the handle in a tung & boiled linseed oil mixture used for floor boards.

helle_trofe.jpg

Inset shows before application with an oil mixture. Nice grain pattern!

On the wish list are a Helle Eggen and a Helle Harding...

PS Stuur me een PM als je in 't Nederlands wil overleggen.
 
Beftus said:
The EKA Nordic knives are full tang knives (made with the excellent Sandvik 12C27 steel and African(!) bubinga wood), whereas the Helle knives usually are a triple laminate of hidden tang construction with a birch handle.

Some people prefer full tang for strength, some people say there's not much of a difference, YMMV. Some people have seen Helle knives ending up with a loose handle after some serious batoning. I can hammer a screw into your wall if you want me to, using a screwdriver usually brings better results... Bring an axe if you plan on chopping wood!

The EKA knives aren't scandi ground BTW, the Helle knives are scandi ground with a very small secondary bevel.

I've got a Helle Trofe, a great knife with a very nice handle IMO. Came really sharp out of its tube. Costs a bit more than a Fjellkniven though. Blade thickness on my Trofe is 3.2 mm. Handle finish on my knife was a bit rough, but nothing that a bit of sanding couldn't take care of. After that I soaked the handle in a tung & boiled linseed oil mixture used for floor boards.

helle_trofe.jpg

Inset shows before application with an oil mixture. Nice grain pattern!

On the wish list are a Helle Eggen and a Helle Harding...

PS Stuur me een PM als je in 't Nederlands wil overleggen.
Click to expand...

Nice one Beftus! And I'm impressed with the sanding/linseed oil treatment of the handle.

I cannot send you PM cos my account won't let me. Email is also not an option cos you've seem to have disabled the option to recieve emails from members. So let's stick to English.

May I ask where you got your Helle knive from?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top