Terävä jääkäripuukko review
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Combined with the fairly unique differentially sharpened blade you pretty much get two knives in one, making it easy to both chop firewood and make kindling with it.
The blade comes in both carbon and stainless versions, which is fantastic. Remember to subscribe to the channel so you don’t miss out on the future reviews and tips & tricks that will be posted.
And for those of you with a bit more time, here are more comprehensive reviews of the two knives, but first a brief presentation of the brand and the maker.
Terävä & Varusteleka
Terävä, alongside of Särmä & Jämä, is one of the sub-brands of Varusteleka and means “sharp” in Finnish.
This works very well and is actually quite impressive. It has a thin tip (see the comparison further below) that breaks too easyand the steel, although decent, is harder to sharpen and does not take as fine of an edge in my experience. I also used it to baton pieces of wood into small pieces for use in my Solo Stove.
The 140 managed all tasks with ease and the edge did not require any touch up.
My experience with 80CrV2 being better than Carbon V were confirmed by Youtuber Cedric Outdoors, a popular knife sharpening and steel testing channel. I don’t really use it though as the knife is quite secure as it is. After admiring is physical attributes, I immediately tested it in the field. But after Lex spent some time using it and then resharpening it, he pronounced "I think this is one of the best production survival knives I've used -- great steel and edge profile!"
I also used it during a one week camping trip in the Uinta National Forest in Utah on the way back to Colorado from Rabbitstick and it proved to be a great general purpose camp knife.
Like with the Skrama it comes in both carbon and stainless steel versions. these dreams turned into concrete ideas. Even the edge was impressively sharp right out of the box. The stainless steel version is naturally hardened a bit less, to 57 HRC, and will thus lose sharpness a bit quicker and easier.
The Terävä Jääkäripuukko is not yet offered with a MOLLE sheath, only with leather or just the plastic insert for the DYI-people out there.
Alongside of it, a larger and fairly uniquely designed “leuku” (big knife) named “Skrama” was presented.
The knife designer, Stefan Melander, describes his ideas for the Skrama as follows:
My dreams of a proper heavy duty bush chopper started some years ago whilst swinging my Taiter Hukari (another Finnish heavy blade).
One is a distinct chopper, the other a more general use bushcraft knife. You are here for the knives.
The Skrama “Bush” Knife
To begin with, let’s have a look at the basic data, so we know a bit about what we are dealing with:
Knife
- Blade length: 240 mm, width 46 mm, thickness 4 mm
- Full length: 430 mm
- Edge angle: 25° near the grip for carving & whittling, the rest of the blade is sharpened to 34° for chopping
- Blade material: Carbon steel 80CrV2, 59 HRC
- Grip: Moulded rubber, rough texture for a good grip.
- Weight (without sheath): 525 g.
Sheath
- The leather is 2mm thick vegetable tanned cowhide, strong and sturdy.
A double fold at the top of the sheath can be fastened with a stud, and a hard-plastic inner liner prevents the blade from damaging the inside.
Specs Metric Imperial Weight (w/o sheath) 190 g 6.70 oz Total length 270 mm 10.6″ Blade length 140 mm 5.5″ Blade thickness 4.20 mm 0.17″ Edge angle 23° Steel 80CrV2, 59 HRC Varusteleka Ergonomics
There have been moments during my time in the military, or recreationally, when wearing gear was not the most comfortable.
They are also the only known retailer offering Swedish commando underwear, of which I am a happy owner.
The various sub brands of Varusteleka all share the same goal: To offer affordable but quite satisfactory quality products that compete with high-end brands, aiming for the mid-range market, but with most products meeting the requirements of Finnish military specifications and even produced by Finnish military manufacturers, e.g.
The tang is completely covered, which is good for cold winter use as subzero temperatures, cold steel and exposed skin is a bad combination. Apart from the brute Hukari nothing like this was available on the Finnish market. So, while a fairly simple design, the sheaths are really quite good. In the USA batoning firewood is a fairly common, although hotly debated, practice, while in most other parts of the world, that practice is fairly unusual, instead using an axe for splitting logs.
But as we shall see, the former blurs the line a bit with its design.
As with our previous review, for those of you short on time, here is a quick review posted on YouTube. Quite obviously they are very dedicated to what they do, which as a customer, is fantastic to see.
We already reviewed the brilliant Peltonen Sissipuukko which Varusteleka has offered in their shop, albeit somewhat irregularly due to high requests and small production from the maker.
The shape of the sheath along with the plastic liner and quality/thickness of the leather made it an excellent platform for stropping:
I was able to quickly bring the Terava back to hair shaving sharpness using this method -- pretty cool!