Helle Kvernstein Knife Review

A review on the Helle Kvernstein Knife - Not one we would recommend for heavy use. We pride ourself in doing honest kit reviews and this shows you that we really are honest about the kit we review.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Helle
• Kvernstein
• knife
• review
• bad
• Bushcraft
• Survival
• NaturalBushcraft
• Natural
• wild
• wilderness
• camping
• ray
• mears
• les
• stroud
• bear
• grylls
• Ashley
• Cawley
• Justin
• Telford
• spiro
• music

[MadMax2235]

hello

That is why Helle uses triple laminated stainless steel in their blades. This results in an almost unbreakable blade which stays sharp for much longer. The steel Helle uses is more expensive than in most other knife brands, but that is all a part of Helle's philosophy of no compromise on quality.

That's why Helle gives a liftetime warranty against faults in materials and manufacture.

[NaturalBushcraft]

@MadMax2235 Your obviously very pro Helle are you involved with the company in any way? Because if you are I think you should state it.

Secondly, if you know Helle's blades so well... can you honestly say you've tested a Helle knife until it breaks? If not, I can tell we have; so we know with this particular model (whether it was flawed or not) it didn't take much. As Justin said in the video we did nothing more to this knife that we have done with all the other knives in our reviews.

[dereinzigwahreaff]

i´ve also got a knife from helle, the eggen. i think the one you have is a warranty case. i can baton mine also through thicker pieces and it´s not anywhere near to break.

[NaturalBushcraft]

@dereinzigwahreaff I think part of the problem was the handle construction (in several parts), the Eggen has a one piece curly birch handle, so no stress points. Like I say, I generally like Helle knives, the blades are great, but this one let me down this time.

Justin

[CrazyTaileZ]

Nice shirt! :-)

[NaturalBushcraft]

@CrazyTaileZ Hey you noticed!? We've got our own branded T-Shirts now :) We're not selling them yet, but hopefully one day we might do on the website. They got the NaturalBushcraft logo lovely and big on the back, looks nice.

- Ashley Cawley.

[headpopp360]

Had an helle scouth for 11 years before it finally broke. Used it for ewerythin when I was a kid :)

[Beachcrib]

I usually judge a knife for is slice and dice.. but i do expect the tang to be a bit beefier. I respect this view ... You guys did not break a $12 Mora ... so this pricey knife should be able to survive. Helle just needs to learn from this and improve the strength . Helle can become a better company with good reviews like this. Also , you guys have any experience or views on the Kellam Knives (Wolf pack series)?? This where my eyes are set .

[FatDaddy4Fun]

Well Justin, unable to meet the cost of a very quality custom made knife, and after a year of researching knives under $200, I have decided on a Helle. I was torn between the popular Harding, and the new Temagami, designed for Les Stroud. This video cinched my decision. I am definately going for the more robust design and thicker tang of the Temagami. Thanks for the video. I can sleep now. lol. ~Wolf

[qwiksquirrel]

@NaturalBushcraft

I do not. But I know a few people who do, and I have been making my own knives with the same type of laminated/stacked handles for years. This style is very popular in Scandinavia, where I live.

My point is simply, that the design is not to blame. It must be a flaw in the steel. The fact that it snapped clean, suggests that the tang was to hard. Normally, in this design, the tang is left softer than the blade, but mistakes can happen. That's why warranties exist.

[qwiksquirrel]

It's quite clear that you got a flawed one (even the best QC is not foolproof). It has nothing to do with the laminate handle design, which have been used for 1000's of years.

If you have any of that integrity you claim, send the knife back, get a new one and test it again, before judging the model as a whole.

And you should know, that if anything resembling normal use (or hard use for that matter) can do that without there being a flaw in the metal, you are doing it wrong.

[joakim2407]

@MadMax

It's a copy/paste from Helle's site. When I translate it to Norwegian, I recognize it from their website =) They're not meant to be survival knives, they're meant to be a cutting tool. We don't have too much "survival gear" here in Norway, it's only in recent years that these kind of products have caught on. We have a long history of bushcraft weaved into our way of life ( logging, hunting, recreation etc.) Go back 50-60 years, and one would make fun of you if you couldn't use an axe =p

[mwchinbach]

A knife is a knife. Maybe you could eat soup with it, but I'd recommend a spoon. Helle make knives (with a lifetime guarantee), to be used as knives. Try an axe for splitting logs.

[andris4]

I have a knife from Helle as well, and I have abused it many times over the years with batoning and other heavy work. It still works perfectly, no damage whatsoever. But my handle is a solid piece of wood and not of several as in your knife, think that may cause the knife to be weaker.

[78jamesieboy]

I think that this is quite a fair review. It seems clear that the knife wasn't used as a "tree beater" but simply failed after a bit of reasonable use. My feeling is that this will always be a problem with stick tang blades and that full tangs are the way to go.

[poneyboy23]

If that knife is the millstone knife, I wonder if the hard millstone bolster helped cause the failure - either during assembly or during use. Its much harder than a steel bolster and very unforgiving. If you think about vibrations and such, it could help transmit and focus forces into the spot where it fractured. It's hard to imagine this was anything other than a defect, but it makes me wonder...