Skrama:
- Thread starter GREENJACKET
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I feel the beefy handle helps to prevent hotspots during heavy use. The tang on the the blank is fairly narrow and I couldn't procure a large block or scales suitable to epoxy. If the right material shows up I might reconsider!
I'll shellac it soon to make the paracord more durable/permanent. I'm thinking about some more refined fancywork like this: http://s198.photobucket.com/user/frayedknots/media/examples/knifeset2L.jpg.html
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well, got them all today! a skrama, a small jaakari and a peltonen, all in 80 crv2. I will take pics today and maybe get to use them tomorrow, while also checking out this steel; got a really big bar of it waiting to make a couple of kukris and who knows what else.
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Well I hope you like them. There is a lot to like. Looking forward to any feedback. What sheath options did you go for? There is practical thinking in all these products, which I like.
Its a great steel as used for rotary saw blades. Has to be quality for that work, and I think it is. Heat treatment wise I don't think the Skrama people do anything that tricky with it. A pretty forgiving steel every way you look at it, which being tough and dependable is why its used. Should make an excellent Kukuri. Puukko too with off cuts. And a pig sticker just because. I really like this steel. Its nothing too clever for its own good, and I believe has been made with high levels of quality control from the start. Just the feeling I get.
The lack of stain resistance is probably why its not used for prettier things.
Its a great steel as used for rotary saw blades. Has to be quality for that work, and I think it is. Heat treatment wise I don't think the Skrama people do anything that tricky with it. A pretty forgiving steel every way you look at it, which being tough and dependable is why its used. Should make an excellent Kukuri. Puukko too with off cuts. And a pig sticker just because. I really like this steel. Its nothing too clever for its own good, and I believe has been made with high levels of quality control from the start. Just the feeling I get.
The lack of stain resistance is probably why its not used for prettier things.
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In the time you have thought about it she has bought at least two pairs of shoes! I'm an Anglo Swiss and say you should get one; blame me. They are to save your SAK for the Raclette. A SAK, Skrama and saw and you could make a Cookoo Clock casement. No excuses, who wears the lederhosen in your house!
They have probably sold out again so it will be three pairs by the time they are back in stock.
They have probably sold out again so it will be three pairs by the time they are back in stock.
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got the plastic sheaths. The Jaakari's might be enveloped in leather in a pouch style sheath, or might get kydex. The skrama sheath is sturdier and the top of the handle goes in a little bit, giving it a snug fit, but I already switched it to an aitor hard plastic sheath, because of the belt loop on the aitor. The peltonen was ordered with the leather sheath and it is a well made affair, nothing to change there. In the end I think both the skrama and jaakari will end up with kydex.
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Very cool.
Now I can add another previously unknown knife to my list of knives I now can't live without lol!
Thank you for the excellent review. Please touch base with is when you do finally sharpen it!
Now I can add another previously unknown knife to my list of knives I now can't live without lol!
Thank you for the excellent review. Please touch base with is when you do finally sharpen it!
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I had mine for almost a year. Sharpening is easy, and rarely needed. They come with a very keen edge and maintaining that is pretty easy; I use a DMT Diafold in the field, not that I've needed to use it in the field as it comfortably does more than a days work, more than a few days work. Seems to stay good for loads of green wood work to the point I've taken it to the shed to sharpen and realised it didn't need it... I was gobsmacked it didn't as most of my tools would have by then.
All really depends on what you hit and if you hit something stupid hard its going to take some damage. There is a lot of blade and it really depends how much metal you want to take out to keep it as keen an edge as when new. Frankly I can live with thickening up the edge a bit before attacking the full grind with a full sharpen. Don't think you are going to run out of metal anytime soon. For all the work I've done I've had to do very little. It takes that lovely hell sharp edge easily enough unlike some of my blades that just refuse to "get there".
This year a month ago I hit a buried cast iron angle bar at full whack. Well something had to give. Here is the picture:
Well I can live with a few of those for a while before getting out some heavy duty sharpening device. For the price of this blade I might just get the belt sander out and take some metal off. Crude and I'll have to be careful not to wreck the heat treatment; but needs must. For those all precious about blades, get over it, its a work tool. A very good work tool, but still when it needs maintenance then whatever it takes. Its a tool not to worry excessively about, no pampering required. However, I'm not reckless either and like to work my tools within their limits. I like the Skrama for its keen edge, but angle iron is a big ask!
All really depends on what you hit and if you hit something stupid hard its going to take some damage. There is a lot of blade and it really depends how much metal you want to take out to keep it as keen an edge as when new. Frankly I can live with thickening up the edge a bit before attacking the full grind with a full sharpen. Don't think you are going to run out of metal anytime soon. For all the work I've done I've had to do very little. It takes that lovely hell sharp edge easily enough unlike some of my blades that just refuse to "get there".
This year a month ago I hit a buried cast iron angle bar at full whack. Well something had to give. Here is the picture:
Well I can live with a few of those for a while before getting out some heavy duty sharpening device. For the price of this blade I might just get the belt sander out and take some metal off. Crude and I'll have to be careful not to wreck the heat treatment; but needs must. For those all precious about blades, get over it, its a work tool. A very good work tool, but still when it needs maintenance then whatever it takes. Its a tool not to worry excessively about, no pampering required. However, I'm not reckless either and like to work my tools within their limits. I like the Skrama for its keen edge, but angle iron is a big ask!
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A few more Skramas back in stock. 300 sold in end Jan/February so the pre Christmas backlog should have all those people happpy now.
I would expect Skramas to be landing at people's doors by now too.
WHICH Means, we might get some more reviews on this thread!
Generally people like them, so I'm not going to the dog house for suggesting them. Few.
Had a thorough internet search and eventually found an example that had completely failed, the blade completely chipped out. Damage was massive and horrific. By the time I found it Varusteleka, Magnus, had already sorted something and it seems everyone was happy, already! Must have been a rogue that had missed the heat treatment or got through the system.
I've only hit some iron angle bar. The Skrama's grind is pretty keen so I'm sure it is possible to smash and exceed the limitations of such a grind and steel combination. I'm actively fishing for someone to report they have. Its what makes a forum such as this interesting.
What also pretty amazing is how few reports there are of much going wrong at all. Seems like most people see where the Skrama fits into their cutting armoury and happy to use them within their abilities. A useful cutting chopper. That grind is holding up to the punishment being dolled out. This is a good thing and just adds to the general confidence that these tools are delivering. The makers should be having a nice warm glow by now for making a "good'un". Is this a classic in the making? Thinking Man's Gollock; well I think so.
Please, tell me what you think. As a mega fan I'm having a ball following the rise of this and its general positive acceptance. Nice one. I've pretty well exhausted my input, so its really up to you guys.
I would expect Skramas to be landing at people's doors by now too.
WHICH Means, we might get some more reviews on this thread!
Generally people like them, so I'm not going to the dog house for suggesting them. Few.
Had a thorough internet search and eventually found an example that had completely failed, the blade completely chipped out. Damage was massive and horrific. By the time I found it Varusteleka, Magnus, had already sorted something and it seems everyone was happy, already! Must have been a rogue that had missed the heat treatment or got through the system.
I've only hit some iron angle bar. The Skrama's grind is pretty keen so I'm sure it is possible to smash and exceed the limitations of such a grind and steel combination. I'm actively fishing for someone to report they have. Its what makes a forum such as this interesting.
What also pretty amazing is how few reports there are of much going wrong at all. Seems like most people see where the Skrama fits into their cutting armoury and happy to use them within their abilities. A useful cutting chopper. That grind is holding up to the punishment being dolled out. This is a good thing and just adds to the general confidence that these tools are delivering. The makers should be having a nice warm glow by now for making a "good'un". Is this a classic in the making? Thinking Man's Gollock; well I think so.
Please, tell me what you think. As a mega fan I'm having a ball following the rise of this and its general positive acceptance. Nice one. I've pretty well exhausted my input, so its really up to you guys.
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Got to play with mine for five whole minutes today. OUTSTANDING!
I limbed some pear limbs in single cuts. Cut through 1" limbs clean and smooth! Batonned some 4" logs, and split some more horizontally. This thing is awesome! Waiting for the carbon knives to come back in stock. The Skrama sliced paper and hair straight out of the box.
I never heard of them until I saw the write up on BCUSA.
I limbed some pear limbs in single cuts. Cut through 1" limbs clean and smooth! Batonned some 4" logs, and split some more horizontally. This thing is awesome! Waiting for the carbon knives to come back in stock. The Skrama sliced paper and hair straight out of the box.
I never heard of them until I saw the write up on BCUSA.
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Been playing with the skrama, built a fire last Saturday with chopped and batonned logs using it. Edge was as new. Now, since I also got the jaakari and the peltonen, decided to do something to check on the puukkos legendary wood-carving reputation. As far as scandis, I only had a mora 511 and a small "Viking" bare knife with a twist in the middle of the tang, so my experience with this type of knives is limited as the mora has been pretty much relegated to backup truck knife duty, and the Viking has only cut food so far.
We have some palm trees at the parking lot of the office, and when the leave stalks grow too much they are rather annoying to walk thru to get to the cars, so of course I trim them now and then when bored. The stalks are rather sturdy and I have carved pieces before; an idea formed when I used the skrama on them 2 days ago. Clearing the stalks of the leaves, I saved them for a new project: gonna build a birdhouse with stalk pieces, but only using the skrama and the scandis as cutting tools. Right now having a blast with all of them, and gratefully surprised with the mora, shaping the floor "planks". I will try to remember to post pics as the project moves on. The skrama is being used to harvest/clean/baton the stalks to measure, the smaller knives doing the shaping and whatever else needs to be done. Fantastic knives! I'm quickly becoming a fan.
We have some palm trees at the parking lot of the office, and when the leave stalks grow too much they are rather annoying to walk thru to get to the cars, so of course I trim them now and then when bored. The stalks are rather sturdy and I have carved pieces before; an idea formed when I used the skrama on them 2 days ago. Clearing the stalks of the leaves, I saved them for a new project: gonna build a birdhouse with stalk pieces, but only using the skrama and the scandis as cutting tools. Right now having a blast with all of them, and gratefully surprised with the mora, shaping the floor "planks". I will try to remember to post pics as the project moves on. The skrama is being used to harvest/clean/baton the stalks to measure, the smaller knives doing the shaping and whatever else needs to be done. Fantastic knives! I'm quickly becoming a fan.
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this piece was quite dry and tough to split, but in the end, skrama was victorious. No sign of damage to the edge
after enough hacking, time to put that wood to a good use
when I took this pic, these were the only scandis I had, and I started working on the birdhouse project. Since then I also got an Ahti Vara, a Condor Bushlore blank that will soon get scales, a Morakniv Pro S and a Marttiini Raven, which needed some work before being usable. Really liking these type of grind, wonder why I haven't used them before. So far the ones being used the most on the project are the skrama for batonning measured sections, and the Mora 511 for splitting smaller "planks", the Ahti being used a lot for cleaning up said planks.
after enough hacking, time to put that wood to a good use
when I took this pic, these were the only scandis I had, and I started working on the birdhouse project. Since then I also got an Ahti Vara, a Condor Bushlore blank that will soon get scales, a Morakniv Pro S and a Marttiini Raven, which needed some work before being usable. Really liking these type of grind, wonder why I haven't used them before. So far the ones being used the most on the project are the skrama for batonning measured sections, and the Mora 511 for splitting smaller "planks", the Ahti being used a lot for cleaning up said planks.
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Great solid selection of cutting tools you have there. Pretty well got it covered. Just the ticket to take on a good project.
I have a Silky Saw and an GB Axe to compliment my similar choice. Plus my sharpening kit to keep it all in tip top condition.
Thanks for adding to this thread. Tell us how it goes. Wish a few more people would add too as I like seeing what people are up to.
I have a Silky Saw and an GB Axe to compliment my similar choice. Plus my sharpening kit to keep it all in tip top condition.
Thanks for adding to this thread. Tell us how it goes. Wish a few more people would add too as I like seeing what people are up to.
argyle1812
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Just ordered one today. I did get the optional molle sheath to go with it since I plan on mounting it on my pack. I cant wait to start chopping some things up.
I have a Skrama from a pass-around on another forum. The knife is definitely outside the range of what I normally use, but I came away pleasantly surprised by what it could do and how it was able to do it.
I spent about 6-7 hours one cold January winter day in New Jersey building a small dome shelter, processing tinder for a fire, carving stakes, creating a bow drill set, etc. Except for finer carving tasks, the Skrama worked very well. No matter the grip position, the handle felt comfortable and secure. There was almost no hand fatigue, in spite of the fact I crammed a lot of activities into a short period of time. When using the leather dangler sheath it carries effortlessly on a belt; I trekked almost 2 miles up hilly terrain, yet it never felt heavy or cumbersome. I didn't have a chance to do any food prep or game processing though, so I don't know how it would fare for those tasks.
The spine is not sharp, which is a negative for me. It does take some getting used to, at least if you don't generally uses knives larger than 5", but the learning curve wasn't quite as step as it might seem. All-in-all, the Skrama is a unique blade that doesn't have the typical drawbacks one assumes a nonstandard cutting tool might have. I may purchase one for my personal collection.
I spent about 6-7 hours one cold January winter day in New Jersey building a small dome shelter, processing tinder for a fire, carving stakes, creating a bow drill set, etc. Except for finer carving tasks, the Skrama worked very well. No matter the grip position, the handle felt comfortable and secure. There was almost no hand fatigue, in spite of the fact I crammed a lot of activities into a short period of time. When using the leather dangler sheath it carries effortlessly on a belt; I trekked almost 2 miles up hilly terrain, yet it never felt heavy or cumbersome. I didn't have a chance to do any food prep or game processing though, so I don't know how it would fare for those tasks.
The spine is not sharp, which is a negative for me. It does take some getting used to, at least if you don't generally uses knives larger than 5", but the learning curve wasn't quite as step as it might seem. All-in-all, the Skrama is a unique blade that doesn't have the typical drawbacks one assumes a nonstandard cutting tool might have. I may purchase one for my personal collection.
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and...the skrama is so sharp! I know it's been said a lot, but I got a taste of it 2 days ago. While watching tv on my cell phone, I decided to wipe the grind with some oil as it had residue from the palm stalks; I had been using it for clean up too, even tho I use the smaller knives for that task. Well, just in case you don't know, watching tv and wiping a sharp blade is a stupid thing to do. The sharp burning bite on the pad of my middle finger brought me to attention quickly. I was amazed at how deep it went, effortlessly. The cut bled a lot, but didn't think it necessary to get stitched. As it was a very clean cut from a very keen edge, it's healing up nicely. Watch out for the Skrama bite!
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I did say: "Just don't put anything in its way you don't want cut deeply, because deeply it will go."
I forgot to say don't wipe it down when watching TV.
Think we have all done something equally silly. Some say a knife isn't yours until its bit you? I'm pleased your self inflicted wound is healing up nicely.
Keep the stories coming guys. Less gore please, a little more concentration me thinks
LG&M, you are sunk now, you know you have to.
PS: their back in stock. Annoying the Tarava 110's, which are nother good one, aren't; but might be in April.
I forgot to say don't wipe it down when watching TV.
Think we have all done something equally silly. Some say a knife isn't yours until its bit you? I'm pleased your self inflicted wound is healing up nicely.
Keep the stories coming guys. Less gore please, a little more concentration me thinks
LG&M, you are sunk now, you know you have to.
PS: their back in stock. Annoying the Tarava 110's, which are nother good one, aren't; but might be in April.
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I thought this was a great vid on the Skrama. He had fun doing the tests and was realistic with his findings. Demonstrated some of the limitations well. I'll be following what else he finds out as he has both the carbon and stainless versions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiqsJhesNhg
Thought this one was rubbish, as it didn't say anything much. A certain desperation to find reason to not like it. I agree its annoying that "wish I could have thought it up". JX isn't for me, and not a good comparison. Might be for controversy sake and the attention it brings. I'd be the first to say not everyone has to like the Skrama as it might not fit into some peoples style or environment. Here I think it says more about the reviewer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNRQ6lhPRXQ
Think it comes down to what credence you give to the competence of the reviewer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiqsJhesNhg
Thought this one was rubbish, as it didn't say anything much. A certain desperation to find reason to not like it. I agree its annoying that "wish I could have thought it up". JX isn't for me, and not a good comparison. Might be for controversy sake and the attention it brings. I'd be the first to say not everyone has to like the Skrama as it might not fit into some peoples style or environment. Here I think it says more about the reviewer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNRQ6lhPRXQ
Think it comes down to what credence you give to the competence of the reviewer.