Article: Helle Temagami - a joy to use...

[Xunil]

You can view the page at http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/content.php?r=490-Helle-Temagami-a-joy-to-use

 

[ged]

Strange, this, from a member who hasn't logged on since last September...

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/member.php?u=3022

 

[dave53]

i dont understand the reply regards dave

 

[Retired Member southey]

The site admins make some posts into articles, it posts as a post from the member who wrote the post

 

[vizsla]

Shame he hasnt been on for so long nice chap, hope alls well

 

[spoonophosese]

This looks like a good knife, does any one know if it works well with a fire steel?

 

[John Fenna]

Shame he hasnt been on for so long nice chap, hope alls well

Mine is poor with a firesteel but it would be easy to flatten the spine to make it work better.

 

[dwardo]

Great knives. Reminds me of Helle Futura I had years ago and it was a great knife. Stupidly gave it away.

 

[ged]

This looks like a good knife, does any one know if it works well with a fire steel?

Welcome to the forum!

You mean a ferrocerium rod, I'm sure. There's some mythology about stainless not being any use for striking sparks, but all that really matters for striking sparks from a ferro rod is that you have a sharp (squareish) corner on the striker. It helps if the striker is made of a hard material so that the sharp corner doesn't wear quickly, but virtually any decent knife blade material will be plenty hard enough for that.

Unfortunately the bit of the knife that most people will use to strike sparks from a ferro rod will also be the bit of the spine where you put your thumb when using the knife for 'push' cuts. Sharp corners on the spine just there tend to dig into your thumb a bit and so it can be uncomfortable to use. The hot sparks from a ferro rod can also pit a steel blade.

I prefer to use a separate striker made for the purpose, so that my knife is more comfortable to use. I'm also not risking damage to the blade from the hot sparks. An excellent striker is very light and very cheap (check out the Group Buy I did a while back) so it really isn't worth compromising the knife.

Xunil (aka Barry), the owner of the example knife which prompted this article, very generously started a 'passaround' with it. I had hoped to put it through its paces myself but unfortunately there were some issues between Barry and others on the site, he cut the passaround short before the knife reached me and disappeared from the forum. So I've never seen the knife and can't comment on its use with a ferro rod, but as John said it's easy to flatten an area of the spine on most knives if you really want to.

 

[DaveWL]

As a very happy owner of an increasing well used Temagami - yes it works well enough with a ferro rod.

I agree with John - there are knives with a spine better suited to the task but no reason it won't work.

 

[entherder]

I was lucky enough to be gifted a first production carbon version and I immeadiately fell in love! I agree with all points made on this fine blade, specially the thickness of it. I too was taken in by ultra thick blades for a while and I found the Temagami to be a breath of fresh air. I have used this knife in processing large game and it does very well in all. THe fit and finish is above standard and the edge holding ablility is exactly what you think a high quality steel should be. I would recommend this knife to anybody who actually uses a knife as a knife. If you intend to fell large trees with your knife, the Temagami is not for you. If you carry a good axe in your kit, this is the perfect companion. I am indifferent about the ability to strike a ferro rod as I carry a proper striker for such purposes and I find the slightly rounded spine acomfort as I tend to use my index finger as a guide when processing game and doing food prep in general. All around a well thought out and executed design. Kudos to Helle!

 

[hog]

Survivorman uses this knife and I saw a review where it is used with a ferro rod.