Leuku - Big Field knife

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SchwarzStock
Posts: 36
Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2022 11:20 am

Leuku - Big Field knife

Post by SchwarzStock »

My first encounter with a Leuku was in Dombås, Norway in 1985. I was there attending a Winter Warfare course taught at the Home Guard school. All of the Norwegian instructors were carrying Leuku knives of various sizes. In contrast, , many of my colleagues were carrying Randall knives. They (we/I) really watched out with the Randall's to prevent them from being chipped from chopping or such. On the other hand, the Norwegians took virtually no pains with their Leuku's. There was a local restaurant/gift shop/grocery with a large selection of cheaper Puukko and Leuku knives. I think everyone of the Americans bought at least one of these knives. I have always believed you can do a lot of small knife jobs poorly with a big knife but you cannot do big knife jobs with a small knife. That said I bought one of the largest Leuku they offered (24 cm blade). Being in Dombås (we called it Dumba**, you had to be a Dumba** to be there), the prices were very cheap in comparison to further South. I did two things to improve/repair my Leuku: I sealed the blade end of the handle to prevent it from absorbing water and splitting, I also had to repair the tip of the sheath where the tip of the blade cut through. The sheath is/was very soft and flexed easily, especially when wet. I made the repair using Acraglas gel which 20+ years later is still going strong.

N Leuku.jpg
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SchwarzStock
Posts: 36
Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2022 11:20 am

Re: Leuku - Big Field knife

Post by SchwarzStock »

This past Summer in was in Sweden fly fishing. My guide had this Sami Leuku attached to his rucksack. It did not have the usual Scandanavian style sheath but rather a flat leather one with a large belt loop. I tried by best to trade him out of it but it was a no go.
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SchwarzStock
Posts: 36
Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2022 11:20 am

Re: Leuku - Big Field knife

Post by SchwarzStock »

When I was a boy scout my troop did a lot of camping in the mountains surrounding our small town in Northern Utah. One of the things we did was make knives. The blades were either made from old circular saw blades or power hacksaw blades. The hacksaw blades we used were the ones that had good knife steel supporting the harder sections with the teeth cut into them. At the time we sometimes ran across the hacksaw blades that were pretty much just mild steel so you had to know what you were using before putting effort into making a knife out of it. We also used Indian Ridge Traders to purchase finished blades that we just needed to put handles on.

So after being unsuccessful in my attempt to buy the Sami Leuku in Sweden I started looking around and discovered I could order Leuku blades for a reasonable price. This is my first attempt at a Leuku, not meant as a show knife but something that can be abused. The blade is just short of 10 inches at 240mm in length. I have not yet finished sanding/polishing/oiling the handle or dying the sheath, I will get to it sometime soon :wink:
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rock-n-roll$$$$$$
Posts: 971
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2016 9:04 pm

Re: Leuku - Big Field knife

Post by rock-n-roll$$$$$$ »

nice work!, I like the grind.
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