It's been a few weeks now since starting to field test the Helle Harding knife. My review will be quite simplistic; I don't feel we need to start talking steels and grinds in depth. As I mentioned previously it looks lovely, but was its performance as good as it looked?

My field testing is not yet complete, but thus far it has handled like a dream knife.

Handle - very comfortable for my hands, and this is something that I find is not often the case if you happen to have large hands, but the Helle Harding was simply a pleasure to handle.

Blade - Laminated stainless steel is not usually my preferred steel to use for bushcraft, but the more I use it, the more I appreciate it, and I have to say it certainly keeps its edge well; I have not had to sharpen it once yet. After many feather sticks and carving jobs the blade is still sharp enough to cut clean through newspaper without pressure. In fact it would still be suitable for shaving with if you had such an urge! The shape of the blade also makes it easy for delicate carving applications. One thing that some people won't like is the shiny blade, and this was something I was concerned about at first, because I love to watch nature whilst I work, and when working in the sun the reflections can scare any feathered or furred friends off. But, once again this didn't appear to have much of an off-putting effect and it doubles quite nicely as a mirror (maybe a good choice of knife for any narcissists out there!).

Leather sheath - The leather sheath is nicely put together and fits the knife a treat, something that many other knives in my opinion fail on. The only negative here was the leather clasp which attaches to the end of the knife. After some use, the leather softened and failed to grasp the knife as tightly as it first did. Having said this, I knew this would be the case as that's just the natural properties of real leather.  The knife still fits snugly into the sheath, so this really is a minor issue and one that would not affect me in making a decision to purchase this knife.

Blade 10/10
Sheath 7/10
Price 8/10
Performance 10/10

Overall 35/40

Conclusion - There are many knives on the market today suitable for bushcraft, and we will all have our own personal opinions of how they all perform. But for me, the Helle Harding knife really is a pleasure to use, and although I get to review kit for free I don't very often get to keep it, as in the case. So, to back up my review I decided to purchase the knife and it is now my preferred choice.

The Helle Harding knife can be purchased here.

So, what will I review next? Well, I have been sent two handcrafted bushcraft knives, all the way from Africa, so I will hope to review these in the coming weeks/months. And as I have already mentioned I will still be field testing the Helle Harding, so if anything pops up that I feel should be mentioned here, I will do so.

Thats it for now

Catch you on the trail

Kris