I was excited when I got the opportunity to review the Terävä Jääkäripuukko 110mm knife. I’m a big fan of Mora knives, and the Terävä Jääkäripuukko looked like an affordable alternative.
In terms of size, shape, and construction, the Jääkäripuukko is a perfect alternative to knives like the Mora Kansbol and Garberg. And, it’s better priced than both of those Mora knives.
So, I kept the Jääkäripuukko in my pack and in my kitchen for a couple months to find out if it was a good alternative to the Mora knives in terms of function and quality. Here’s how my experiment turned out.
Blade Quality
One of the things that I really appreciate about this knife is the blade construction. The blade is impressively thick and rigid. And, it arrived well sharpened with an excellent edge.
I found the Jääkäripuukko to be useful for most tasks. The blade is conveniently sized and shaped. It’s easy to use for paring, whittling, and ordinary cutting.
The thickness and durability of the blade is especially handy for high impact tasks, carving wood, cutting rope, and other activities where any flex in the blade makes things more difficult.
Additionally, if you put your thumb or hand on the spine of the blade for push cutting, it’s very comfortable because the thick blade causes no painful pressure point.
And, the thickness of the blade was nice for paring and slicing food because the steep bevel of the edge neatly separated whatever I was slicing. Also, the blade coating kept most food from sticking to the sides while I was cutting.
However, there was one issue that I noticed with the coating was that I found that it would stick to some food. I was cutting off hunks of white cheese, and found that the blade coating was leaving a bit of black discoloration on the cheese.
Although the blade coating has nice anti-stick properties, it may not be a food quality coating.
So, I prefer this knife as more of a pure utility knife. Rather than an all-purpose knife that I pull out for any cutting task at hand.
One last note about the blade: durability.
The manufacturer recommends that you dry and oil the blade before storing the knife. I’m really hard on my gear. Naturally, I followed none of the maintenance instructions from the manufacturer.
I was pleased to find that the knife never rusted while it was in the sheath, even though I wasn’t that diligent about drying and oiling it. To be fair, I never stored my knife soaking wet. But, I certainly didn’t thoroughly dry the knife and oil it every time I put it away. And, I had no issues.
So, the steel is durable and at least decently corrosion resistant. And, I appreciate that.
Handle Design
I’ll start with this: the handle is a winner. The texture and the shape are both excellent. I found the shape to be quite comfortable. And, the rubberized material offered solid grip, even when my hands were wet or oily.
I’ve had no issues with the knife slipping in my hand during normal cutting or high-impact activities.
However, I do prefer a higher finger guard. It’s never been a problem in ordinary use. It’s largely a matter of personal preference in most situations. But, I like a finger guard that’s almost a type of hilt and makes it nearly impossible for my fingers to slide up onto the blade.
Where a higher finger guard is not a matter of preference is in defensive use. Stabbing is the most common defensive maneuvers. So, any defensive blade requires a high finger guard to ensure that the knife doesn’t cause self-inflicted injuries.
But, for general use, the handle is perfect. It’s incredibly comfortable and the grip traction is outstanding.
Although it’s technically part of the blade, I found the eyelet on the butt to be a nice addition. It’s nice to be able to hang my knife up on a nail or something when I want to keep the knife handy in a certain location, like camp, without putting it on my belt.
My only knock against the eyelet is that the inside edges are a bit too squared off. The eyelet would probably wear through a piece of parachute cord or leather given enough time and use. Grinding the inside edges of the eyelet would make it a better feature. Though, it’s still very useful. But, you may need to replace the cord or string periodically.
Edge Retention and Sharpening
The steel is classified as a carbon tool steel that has a softer surface, but the inside of the blade is harder than the surface. The soft surface is supposed to make the surface more resistant to impact damage like fractures. But, the hard core keeps the blade from bending or flexing.
I generally found this to be true. The blade didn’t chip or even really scratch if I banged it around against other metal objects or cement. And, I mentioned how rigid the blade was earlier. So, the steel seems to work as intended.
However, the edge has the hardness of the inner core of the steel. This offered excellent edge retention.
The edge remained sharp for quite a while without any sharpening.
But, once I had to sharpen this knife, it took a little bit of doing. I could tell that the edge had that higher hardness. It’s not impossible to sharpen. But, you’ll need a good stone and a little patience once it’s time to refresh the edge.
Final Thoughts
From an overall perspective, this is an excellent utility knife. I wouldn’t recommend it for cutting food on camping trips or otherwise. And, the low finger guard makes it less than ideal as a defensive blade.
But, for all other tasks, this knife is an excellent choice, especially if you’re on a budget. It’s more affordable than many competing knives and offers equivalent steel and utility.
So, anyone who needs a fixed blade knife for their camping kit, emergency kit, or anything else should definitely consider buying this knife.