Hultafors 380020 GK Heavy Duty Knife

I bought this knife as a spare and to have another knife with a scandi grind. I have to say that I am impressed. It came sharp. Hair shaving no hair splitting sharp. The slight secondary bevel was polished making me think that it was stropped. The spine showed signs of the blade being pressed out from the steel. Since I will use this with a ferro rod around my forge and campfires, I took time to square it up a little more. It threw sparks without doing this but not very well.I took it out to the forge and grabbed a piece of oak limb and made a small one stick fire. I batoned it through the oak and then made some feather shavings. I lit them with a ferro rod using the spine of the knife. The blade is high carbon steel and has more belly at the tip than a mora which means it would make an okay blade for skinning. Maybe not as a primary but as a bakup to a skinning knife. With the way it holds an edge and it's all round usefullness I'll probably take it with me hunting since it is light to carry. It handled all tasks with ease and remained hair shaving sharp. I really like the plastic handle of the knife. It is the best plastic handle I've found on any knife. I find it easy to use in the forehand grip with no hot spots while carving and even doing some heavier cutting. It also feels good in the hand when doing chest lever cuts. The grip shape is comfortable and allows a good firm grip. I already want a couple more of these.Many have said they don't like the sheath attachment. I rather do. I found that I could use it on the buttons of my BDU style pants pocket buttons. I don't carry a knife there but it was handy while playing around in shop. Kind of a drop leg knife position. However, my intent was and is to use the knife with a neck carry. I just ran a piece of 550 cord through the handle and locked it down. Then I used a cord lock from a worn out jacked and I have easy adjustment and it breaks free with some effort so there's no worry of chocking myself if it gets caught. You can see that set up in the photo. For belt carry you need to cut the tab off the sheath that protrudes into the button hole as suggested in the directions. I haven't and don't intend to since this is a neck knife and the tab locks the 550 cord in place.After a couple days of use this knife is quickly becoming a favorite and I will likely buy a couple more to keep in the shop and with each of several kits I have. I think I'll put one on my electricians belt as a knife comes in handy for cutting romex sheathing. Then one in my car kit, bob etc... For an inexpensive knife it is hard to beat. For less than $15 it's easy to buy several. I like it better than moras so I'd say it's the best buy of knives under $20

If you are into Mora knives, you might want to check out Hultafors, especially this one.Its twice the thickness of most Mora knives with a wider more stout blade. I realize thatMora has some sturdier knives as well, like the black and the High Q Robust, and I own thoseas well. I'm just saying this is a great alternative.While most of the Mora knives are geared towards finer tasks, this thing, is an absolute beast.I can do more delicate tasks with it, and then turn around and beat the hell out of it withoutANY fear of it breaking. And if it does break.....its pretty cheap, so who cares, I'll buy another.There are a few things that will really make or break the knife for you.For one, its not a true scandi grind. It does have a secondary bevel. This has been doneto give the edge more strength, this knife was really designed for heavy duty work!A 2nd feature you may or not care for, is the handle. Its a nice, big fat handle!I like it. I could use this thing for hours without it being uncomfortable, but I could seesomeone with smaller hands complaining about it.The sheath is fairly similar to Mora knives....it kind of sucks. I like the size of it, and theretention....but it really has no way of attaching to your belt. Its set up to attach to a button,apparently thats how they roll in Sweden. Its useless to me.Anyway, I'm giving 5 stars, great knife!

The handle on this blade is noticeably bigger than my Mora Knives, but probably just a little less comfortable IMHO. The blade is thicker than my standard Mora offerings at a similar price point. I had to shave off some of the left over plastic clinging on to the handle from the molding process. This knife is "light" like the basic Mora knives, so I suspect that it is not a full tang knife. Hultafors is a Scandinavian company (Swedish?), but the blade steel used on this knife is actually a Japanese high carbon steel, which has Scandanavian grind appearance with a small secondary bevel at the bottom of the blade. The sheath is a solid plastic (Mora-ish) type holder, but the belt loop is too small to accommodate any belts I own; probably best to just throw it in the truck or tool box. The grinds on this blade were even, and it was sharp enough to shave hair from my arm. I gave it 4 stars due to the weird sheath. The carbon steel responded well to a forced patina, and a little mineral oil, so now I'm just waiting for an opportunity to use it. I will update my review later, after I have a chance to work this blade a bit.Update 4/8/18: I've been able to play around with this blade a bit, and it's grown on me. I had to get used to the bigger handle (than Moras), but I do like the grip, and the steel has held up well to the usual house and yard stuff. I recently watched a Youtube video where an Australian guy hammered the blade into something, and the blade came out fine. Personally, I would never abuse to my blades like that, but it's nice to know that this blade is capable of handling occasional bouts of hammering and prying.