Helsinki Knife show 2011 - part 2 (英語版)

OK, so here comes the 2nd part of the show report.
The one design, which caught my eyes, was this. From Estonian maker Tõnu Arrak.

It is a puukko, but got “Habaki” and knife has Japanese look. But the sheath is still a puukko, so the blade.

Since I was also planning of making puukko with Habaki for sometime, it was very interesting to see how its gonna look and feel.

It is well made and perfectly fitted and I really liked it. also me being Japanese, Japanese style handle on puukko looks very pleasing as esthetic sense.

But since I am not much of a knife collecter but more of user, felt bit unsettling about this design.
The reason was that the Habaki on this knife is purely a decoration and does not have any function. As a art knife, this is totally OK and I think it is working, but as user…
The function of habaki is to set the blade in sheath yet the blade does not touch the sheath while the knife is set in.
Also because there is a habaki, it will make sharpening little difficult, unless the knife is takedown.

Do not get me wrong by this comment. After all, I really liked this design and would like to congratulate the maker.

The next one is from French maker, Pierre Reverdy.
It is a "blacksmith’s knife" style, and really well forged.

It is impressive forging skill and attention to detail.  I am not that much of Damascus fun, but this, I love it!!

In overall, the show was great and I had fun and also learned a lot. But also there was bit of disappointment as well, “Too much Damascus”. Basically most of the tables are filled with Damascus blades. I know it is a beautiful and interesting pattern and will make knife showy, but there are many other way to make steel / blade showy as well. For that, the last year was much more interesting.

However, I am looking forward and planning on going to the show next year as well.
This report was based on my taste and only showing small part of exhibited knives but hope you enjoyed.