puma, boker knifes

[fisherman66]

What kind of reputation do these two makers have.

I am interested in the ceramic one from boker (exclusively for deer field dressing) and a daily carry from puma.

 

[Don Gwinn]

Very good for both, last I heard. I certainly like both quite a bit. You don't hear as much hype about them now because they're not so "tactical"--in fact, I couldn't tell you if Puma has put out anything new in the last few years. But all my Bokers and Pumas are well-made users with style.

 

[ecos]

keep in mind ceramic is fragile...be carefull around bone or you may chip out the edge

 

[scubie02]

once upon a time, both were respected makers. Puma in particular somewhat lost its way, but I have heard that recently they are trying to make a comeback. Boker's mostly have mediocre steel these days, but they are both still ok. As mentioned, purely ceramic blades tend to be very sharp and hard, but very brittle--as in if you dropped it on a concrete floor, you might break the blade. There is a ceramic blend now if I'm not mistaken that somebody makes, and there are some of the finnish/norwegian trilaminates. I'm not mecessarily a huge fan of all the wonder steels these days--often they also are brittle and chip edges easily, and are a pia to resharpen. To me its hard to beat some of the old case chrome vanadium, marble's 52100 etc type steels

 

[fisherman66]

Thank you for the responses.

I also like the advertising material for the "stintered titanium" blade on the Boker. I am just so leary of manufacture's advertising.

If I go ceramic it will stay at the hunting property (away from concrete or even keys in my pocket). I left my last skinning/dressing knife on the chopping block last season. I took the hatchet to sever the head and after the chop I saw my knife broken in half. Lesson learned.

Scubie; if the name of the finnish make pops in your mind I'd live to look at those options. I'm not abandoning steel, but I'd like to sample some new tech.

 

[hso]

I don't think the ceramics are up to field dressing game yet. While sintered ceramics have great edge holding properties, like ecos said, they tend to edge chip if the hit anything sharp.

I've got the Boker ceramics and I've had Kyorcera ceramic kitchen knives. I don't consider them to match steel in utility (especially in the woods).

 

[daniel (australia)]

FWIW laminated blades are made by Helle of Norway. They have a very hard layer sandwiched between two soft layers of steel, so as to combine edge retention with toughness. The idea appealed to me, so I recently bought one from michigan knives

The model I have is the "Eggen", but there are various others.

 

[fisherman66]

Daniel,

Wow, those are purdy. I like the Harding.

Are they ground equily on both sides? Can you see the middle layer of steel? If so is it considerable thinner than the outside layers? Easy to sharpen? How long and for what chores have you used the Helle?

I think I have changed my mind about the ceramics. I like Helle.

I can't find an English website. I did try to search for the answers to these questions.

 

[daniel (australia)]

Fisherman

Are they ground equily on both sides? Can you see the middle layer of steel? If so is it considerable thinner than the outside layers? Easy to sharpen? How long and for what chores have you used the Helle?

Yeah, they're ground equally on both sides. I believe its called a Scandinavian grind, where the bevel runs right down to the edge. You can see the middle layer about halfway down the bevel: you can't actually see a join so much as a very slight difference in colour. I checked my blade with a vernier caliper for you and the thickness is about 1/8" of which the middle layer comprises about 1/16".

As to your other questions, mate, I've literally only just taken delivery of my Helle knives (I also bought a "Tollekniv", but it isn't laminated steel). They are very nicely made, and shaving sharp as delivered, but I haven't used them enough to comment from my own experience yet. All reports I've read on them rate them very highly, and I'm looking forward to giving them a proper workout soon.

HTH