Review: Helle Knife Blanks

Helle knife before final sanding.

I always wanted a nice knife. Something better than the cheapy knives that are offered for $9.99 in that store that you always shop at. But I never could justify… or convince my wife that $100 for a knife was worth it. So I decided to start up a hobby: knife making.

Well strictly speaking, it isn’t knife making. It is making the handle for the knife. But to me that was the place to start. I did a bunch of research and decided on Helle. I haven’t been disappointed.

Helle is a Norwegian knife making company and they distribute through various companies around the world. I buy mine from Dryad bows.

The concept is fairly simple: Drill a hole down the center of a piece of wood and then slide it over the tang of the knife. Now, to make it fancy you’ll want to alternate woods or add leather, bone, metal or something to make your knife unique.

materials for my first knife: wood, leather, tagua (vegetable ivory), leather, tagua, leather, repeat…

Choose a good epoxy, let it dry and then all you do is carve and sand the handle to your liking. It is a good project and for $25 you have a nice knife that is unique. (Helle also sells premade knives with the same blade for $90+).

I’m in south america and in every country that I’ve been, I’ve picked up a piece of wood or other material that I can use in making a knife. For example, my current knife uses tagua, leather, and peruvian olive wood (the spanish brought olive trees over in the 1600s). In bolivia I picked up some small pieces of quina quina which I will probably work on back home this summer.

Whether you want a one off knife, want to start a hobby, or maybe even a business, its a great project that you can do with only a few tools (I used a hand drill, saw and file for my first one).