hello... a year ago I bought both of these models... first I bought an Erapu... and with a slight defect... the blade was set a little higher than it should be... was very disappointed until I started working with it...very much surprised by the sharpness and efficiency ... it’s bad that you can easily lose it ... but it’s also easy to pull it out of the scabbard ... it rattles unpleasantly because of the liner .. but scored a piece of fabric and everything is fine ... Then I bought a Norwegian 8 .. I was very surprised by the finish details ..... everything is very accurate ... but then I saw that it cuts much worse than the fin from the angle of sharpening .. but the most pleasant thing is that it bends very easily if you press it to the side ... I was very surprised ... how so? what kind of steel...? I worked with both for a very long time every day for 5-6 hours ... The verdict is ---- ideally, when the scabbard from stromenga and the knife from the Erapu ... I note again ... when trying to bend the Erapu on its side, he showed very strong rigidity .....
I really don't know what steel Stromeng are using. The general fit and finish is great,as you would expect for the price. Shame there was a defect in your Erapuu .It happens sometimes, particularly with wood jewel more than Erapuu. Thanks for watching the video mate and for sharing your experiences of both these knives.
hello ... you know how it happens with knifemen ... a defect disappoints the first month, then you don’t even notice it ... simply because the knife is great doing its job ... but at the expense of Norway, this week I’m waiting for Stromeng for 9 inches . ..hope that the blade will be old from Brusleto ..... thanks for the answer .. you are doing a great job .... good luck
My Father was a map ingeneer, working in north Sweden for almost 40 years. He bought me my first Strömeng 8" when i was like 8-9. This knife i have used on numeros mountain tips with my Father, and in recent years with my son. I used it heavily during military service. Strömeng is lightweigt and punches above it's weight. You can have this on your hip if you like, its not an boat anchor. Like all folks up north, of cause you will have to fix the edge for your needs, i convex mine in the chopping part. Everybody has different taste and needs, but this it my essential tool when visiting the north, paired with a Victorinox ranger. I have gifted Strömeng and it has been very positive feedback. I can highly recomend Strömengs products. Thanks for the review Man👍 North Sweden
Thank you very much for watching. I should really make the grind higher on mine. Many of the reindeer herders up here tend to favour the Strømeng over the Finnish equipments I have noticed.
thanks to your review i got my 1st leuku, an Eräpuu 21 like yours, and i love it, used it for prunning some olive branches and it worked flawlessly even olive is really a hardwood, not only the Eräpuu 21leuku works and feels good in my hand, it also looks great.
It is really intended for use on birch more than any other wood, birch is not very hard. But in the winter here all frozen trees are hard 😂. I think it can handle olive branches. They make good knives here in Finland, como en España. Gracias por ver el video amigo. Feliz año nuevo
I always love a good practical review of a knife. It helps a lot more to see it in use than someone just talking about it. An excellent video! Ive come to love my leuku despite having been unsure when i first got it. Its like a large camp knife, small machete, and hatchet all in one!
They are a very versatile tool, also work great as a draw knife for peeling logs. Really not so heavy to cart around either. Glad you enjoyed the video. Thanks for watching and for taking the time to leave a comment.
Thank you Yuriy. No shortage of snow here. Just a shame the lakes and rivers didn't freeze properly first. Will take longer now they have a blanket of snow insulating them. Hope you have a fantastic snowy winter.
Awesome comparison Tim, both seem like really good knives... Beastley buggers and both are beautiful! Snow is there to stay for sure now. Hope you are well mate, great video!
Thanks Walt. Pretty sure the snow is here to stay now. Lakes and rivers still a bit dangerous to walk on. Looking forward to getting on a snowmobile again. Very well thanks mate. Hope you are well too.
@@KuukkeliBushcraft Yea man once it starts there it seems to keep going lol, I hope we get some this year like we did last year! You're welcome mate, have a great day/night!!!!
Nice to see these being compared and I tend to agree with your findings. I absolutely love the Lauri Leuku blades, the higher grind really makes a difference with chopping tasks - they are much more efficient than a single 30 degree bevel. That said I tend to look at factory grinds as a starting point that you then profile to your requirements; for me, I'd be filing the shoulders back on the bevel of the Stormeng (if the tempering didn't mean I'd end up with a weak edge). Either way, if I had to carry only one tool out in the wilds it would be a Leuku - light enough for fine tasks yet enough extension for chopping, they are great for shelter building etc. On that note when I was in Finland I was shown to hold the the knife with just two or three fingers choked around the flared end of the handle giving even greater reach and power to chopping cuts. All the best.
Thanks buddy, I think I will leave the Stromeng as it is. If it was my only Leuku then I would take down the shoulders of the grind a little, but I think the Erapuu is going to remain my go to leuku. The Stromeng can be just a pretty knife for the collection. Laurin blades are just fantastic, expecialy at the price. The blade blanks are so cheap and good and this reflects in the prices of the companies that use them in their knives. Thank you very much for watching and for your comment.
Wonderful vid. Many many thanks. I recomend squising the scabbards to flatteb them to reduce risk of cutting the leather. One do this when one has pulled about a third of the knife out snd aproaches the blade.
Strømeng used to get their blades from Brusletto, who usually use Sandvik 12C27 steel. This might still be the issue. The correct name in North Samii language isn't Leuku, but rather stuorra niibi, meaning big knife. Leuku I belive is Finnish. But since I'm not Samii myself, you should consider this not written in stones. So two more or less useless infos there, I'm afraid. Nice review though!
Thank you, I was hoping for some information on the steel. I know the Saami name but used the Finnish word for the title as it is far more well known. I should maybe have at least mentioned stuorra niibi in the video. The Strømeng certainly isn't Finnish (the Eräpuu isn't Saaml either). Thanks for watching mate. Glad you liked the review.
Great review! I’ve been wanting a leuku ever since I lost my Marttiini Leuku I got as a gift from my late father many years ago. Eräpuu seems like an outstanding blade, might pick that one up! Cheers!
Pretty damn good value, the laurin metalli blades are great. Many knife makers using them and their products are quite similar. Wood Jewel maybe lacking a smidge on the fit and finish. From what I have seen Eräpuu do really well on the price. Marttiinni also doing a leuku with Laurin blade now, a little more expensive and their stainless that they usually use isn't bad. Really not come across anything better than Eräpuu to be honest, unless you want to pay a fortune for a leuku with a Puronvarsi blade. Roselli also looks like an interesting option. But to be honest I use my Terava Skrama more than any leuku. Although I feel that is a little wrong for somebody living in Lapland. Thanks for watching mate.
@@KuukkeliBushcraft yeah, I looove Laurin Metalli blades. 80crv2 is one of my favorite steels! And this indeed looks like an amazing value! (Btw. Check if you have time my second to last video, there was again the European Dipper!:)
There have been leuku blades that were up to 7mm thick. When blacksmiths made the blades there was more variation. There has been more variation in the past than people today are aware of since “production” knives have been around for so long.
Unfortunately I haven't seen very many really old Leukus, but with the older puukos that I have come across the variation is quite huge. I would be very interested to see what kind of grind some of these old Leukus had. Thanks for watching and expecially for taking the time to comment and share your knowledge.
Really don't weigh that much mate 200 mm of about 3mm thick blade with a rat tail tang. One of those nany items that don't make much weight difference until you add them all up😂.
Definitely not worth buying the Strømeng if you already have the Eräpuu. Just managed to get a Roselli leuku cheap. Been doing some forestry at work the last couple of days and giving it a bloody good thrashing. I still think I like the blade geometry more on the Eräpuu. A bit more testing before I make a video though. Thanks for watching mate.
But which one is better for butchering and skinning a reindeer? That needs to be the next comparison! As a Texan, this is critical information that I need to know! Seriously, it seems to me that the Strømeng may be more of a traditional design for both butchering reindeer and working with wood. Also, the Sami would value implements that are light, as they are so often traveling long distances. So, what do you want in your leuku? The Erapuu seems ideal for bushcraft and is an amazing value for the money. The Strømeng seems to be an excellent leuku, more in the Sami tradition, and made in the traditional homeland of the Sami people. Then, there is the Roselli big leuku. It is hand-forged in Finland, but it is made by a non-traditional maker of leukus. It is 5 mms thick and seems to be made entirely for bushcraft. But it is expensive! What this tells us is that there are many high quality options that are available worldwide. You just need to consider what matters most to you. Outstanding video! Love the comparison testing! And up the Rhinos!
Very good point and comment. Looks like I need to butcher some reindeer for my next video 🤣. I was thinking about that actually at the time of the winter reindeer roundup. I thought if I asked around someone could probably do with a hand with a lot of animals to butcher at that time of year. Thought it would make a good video. Wasn't thinking particularly about testing leukus though. Thanks for watching and for making a very good point.
A Texan pretending to be an expert in Sami traditions. For us leuku is more of a tool than a basic knife, mainly used for chopping wood, clearing branches, cracking a container bone etc. The blade of the leuku is a bit wider from the top because it is meant to be a heavy chopper, not a light handy knife, we have puukkos for that. And i might add that "traditional Sami lands" are spread rhroughout 4 countries, not just Norway, im a Inari Sami myself, only found in Finland. You Americans lol
That's interesting, I wonder what the reason for that is. Perhaps something has changed in the manufacturer or maybe we have been using them differently. What have you been cutting with them? I have been mostly cutting birch of about 1 inch or a little over (25mm) and liming small pine trees. Thank you for watching and for sharing your experience of these two knives.
Really hard to say, you do see a lot of them with Stromeng leukus, apart from that many different puukkos and leukus from various manufacturers and some locally made ones, also you quite often see them using Mora knives. Thanks for watching.
I have a leuku wih the same YP blade. I will try and get round to doing a video on that one at some point. Always good to have a leuku at hand. Very versatile tools.
Hello mate how are you over there in Norway I have many friends there too. Ohlalala so huge "Sundang" hehe it's a knife in our own word. Such a beautiful day in snow I eager to see snow in real. What a beautiful day there and hallo Max
Hello and thank you for watching. I am in Finland but very close to Norway. Plenty of snow here up in the Arctic. We will have snow until April or May now. Nice to hear from you.
Always enjoy your videos and a glimpse of another place on Earth. You two are funny. "Are you pretending I'm not here ?" "I am just a lonely man living in Lapland" 😂 They are great looking knives but aren't they too flimsy for what you are doing. Wouldn't an axe/machete be better ? 🤔
I think a leuku, bill hook or machete works better for thinner stuff which can be springy. I think at least the Eräpuu is sturdier than many machetes that I have come across. To be honest I think a khukri or a terävä skrama might be better options. But they are not from Lapland and so interest me less😂. Glad your enjoying my vida mate. Thank you very much for watching.
Servus, I don't know of any puukko like the sissipuukko from that period. The M62 bayonet is very puukko like and resembles the sissipuukko a lot but I don't think that came into existence until the 1960s although it could be earlier. Thanks for watching Heiko.
Lamina will ship to he USA I believe www.lamnia.com/en/p/18344/knives/er%C3%A4puu-lappland-leuku-210-knife-stained I think Eräpuu are not so widely available in the USA but wood Jewel and Ahti are and the blades of all 3 companies are made by Lauri. Try knives of the North maybe. They have a lot of Finnish products. The blade lengh is a little over 8". Glad you liked the video. Thanks for watching
@@KuukkeliBushcraft I was looking at at Wood Jewel's site and they had some good looking knives at affordable prices. I'll check out the others you've recommended. I like the size of the knives you talked about in the video.
@@beardedbamabushcrafter9120 Wood Jewel has fine knives, and uses also Lauri blades. I own two sets of "double leukus" with a big 20 cm blade and a smaller 9,5 cm blade. Also a set with a 14,5 cm and 9,5 cm blade. They are great , I like the contoured handles, made of beautiful curly birch. Very good price-quality 👍
its interesting almost all cultures end up with a short machete type bladeits easier to drag around when nomadic then a fullsize axe,dont you find the handles slippery when cold or with gloves?
The Strømeng I haven't actually been using a whole lot and the Eräpuu I don't remember ever feeling slippery. Would kind of like a lanyard though. Funny I never think that using an axe😂. I wonder is the difference all in my head. Also I use my Leuku mostly in the summer months and rarely with gloves on. I don't like working with gloves on unless I have to. You find them slippery? Some do have a lacquered finish wich is obviously a bad idea when it comes to grippyness.
Good question, I would say no accidents can happen but I also think that if you are used to handling a knife that the posability is much smaller and that the finger guard is not a primary concern. Thanks for watching Kalle.
@@KuukkeliBushcraft i bought one with a fingerguard, i cannot see how it will protect me unless i do a stabbing motion... But i guess its better than nothing :D thanks for the reply!
The only Iisakki Järvenpää that I own is even older than me so I can't say too much about their knives except they look really nice and give the impression of being the kind of company that I would expect to make top notch knives. Not having used one much I can't really say any more than that.
I have used Karesuando blades for knife making. They seem pretty decent. The factory is actually not far from here, just over the border. Still don't see many of their knives here.
I have never been much of fan of big knives, but i guess its also just lack of experience with them. I can see though the finnish leuku would be more useful imho for chopping tasks. The norwegian one reminds me on some of the grinds on machetes, but leukus lack the lenght, and such to compete with those. Really interesting that you mentioned that you have seen old ones with more of flat grind, and that to me sounds like more appealing from massive knife standpoint.
Flat grinds work well on bill hooks too. Back in the UK that was the big knife that I used and is great for many tasks. In general I prefer an axe. The leuku I think is intended for use around the treeline. Historically when the Saami were more nomadic in this area they would be on the fells with the reindeer. This is because there are no mosquitoes up there. Presumably they would make camp around the treeline where at least there is some firewood. Small trees are quite springy and easier to cut with a big knife. Somwhere with proper trees an axe is king😂. I kind of forgot who I was talking to here. I am sure you are familiar with this environment. Hey mate, your comments have kind of disappeared a couple of times. I think I told you the first time. But it has happened since too. Just so long as you know I will always answer if I see the comment. Fairly sure I miss some comments through my own fault too from time to time.
@@KuukkeliBushcraft The large knives definetly have their purpose. One benefit for them is also ease of carry over the hatchets/axes. Then cutting sapling size trees or branches i think they are nice to use, and in lappland indeed is enviroment its especially useful. I think popularity of large blades in jungle like enviroments too shows that where people might clear paths, and such through bushes ect. I have thought about trying out traditional style nepalese kukri because its quite cool design, and i have never really tried more dedicated chopper knife. Billhooks i have used ton already from childhood since family owns forests, and they are handy thinning out the overgrown areas especially the large twohanded ones packs punch.
Im just so envious about the snow and the wilderness mate! Great that to use all the great traditional tools., I don’t like the short grinds on the big blades honestly. I find the eröpu better
I had eräpuu leuku and the blade got huge dents from choping a spruce branch. Like pieces of the blade actually broke out. Do you think it could have been due to wrong choping technique?
I very much doubt that it would be down to poor chopping technique. The two most likely things I can think of is hitting something that isn't wood this often happens when people are cutting a branch on the ground as the ground is full of rocks or poor heat treatment on the blade due to manufacturing error. Thanks for watching Jan.
@@KuukkeliBushcraft No, I didn't hit the ground, I know that for sure. I'll give it another try, my eräpuu puukko served me quite well so far, so hopefully the leuku incident was an outlier.
@@jankopransky2551 sounds like a error in the heat treatment to me. I have not heard of anyone else having this problem with any laurin metalli produced blades apart from the PT blades wich are just a bit too hard and brittle in my opinion. The leuku blades are lower on the Rockwell scale. It was probably just not tempered very well I would guess.
@@KuukkeliBushcraft I certainly hope so. The new one came in yesterday, we'll see if it does better than it's predecesor. It is true that some details are differed (better) on this one- tang is actually sticking out and the sheath is a little bit differend. I always wanted a leuku, so fingers crossed 🤞🤞
12cm😢. In my homeland a none locking folder of less than 75mm is all that isn't problematic. Finland is quite nice like that. Just leave it in the car if you go in the supermarket that's all they expect here. Thanks for watching mate.
@@KuukkeliBushcraft in Finland every edged tool is considered problematic in the eyes of law unless you have a good reason to carry one. It's just that pretty much any legal reason will do lol and even so nobody really cares.
Tim, like you I favor the Finnish Leukus. Sharper, heavier and priced well ! I have a 3.5 Stromeng knife and 5 Helle Laplander Leukus, the Norwegian knives are made well, expensive, light and I do not like the edge grinds.....FINNS ALL THE WAY ! GRIZZ 🐻
Totally agree with you on that. I wonder how a khukri or a terävä skrama would compare on these kinds of chopping tasks? Got to admit that one of the big reasons I favour the leuku is that they are from here. I think a good bill hook takes some beating for this kind of thing. What are your opinions on the woodsmans pal? I remember talking to someone about the woodsmans pal recently, maybe that was you. In any case I bet you have got one😂
@@KuukkeliBushcraft first, we have a young man, Elijah Boesche', who likes Finnish axes on our site. He also puts handles on puukko blades, using birch, antler etc. The Woodsman's Pal was developed for the US Forest Service in the 40's. It was picked up by the military as a survival item by WWII pilot crews. A cross between a billhook, machete and saw, it is a good vehicle tool for the bush. I have had them on my ebay list, but have not pulled the trigger to purchase one. If I were to homestead, or come to Finland, I would definitely buy one ! 👍
you dont use the "lose grip/wrist" cuting teknic that are a "Must" on thes knifs. your partner dose use some.. i love Stromeng pecouse of it durability, use it like a hammer or pick axe
Strømeng started to produce their own blades once again a few years ago (though they are nothing like they used to be back in the days, being hammered out on anvils and all). The steel on their newer "in-house" made blades should not be much different from the ones made by Brusletto (which yours seem to be). I'm only skeptical of their new way of differentially heat treating the blades (videos/pictures of this can be found on their facebook page). In my experience, the edge retention on the newer ones seem to be okay, but the structural integrity of the newer blades as a whole seem to be weaker (they bend more easily than the Brusletto ones when batoning, and in some (actually many) cases they don't really bend back to true - never experienced this with my Brusletto-made ones). Also the newer blades don't really through sparks unless you're very keen on using your edge :)) I sharpened many of the newer knives for my buddies in the Norwegian army and saw many examples of slightly bendt blades. But I must say they do ironically do a better job on the geometry of their newer blades. I'd suggest you knock the shoulders down ever so slightly on the way-too-thick scandi edge a sunday morning, and never let go of your particular one! Then you will end up with a fair compromise I'd say. (I must also admit that the Lauris are hard to beat in terms of overall quality and performance). Thank you for the video, keep up the good work!
Differential heat treatment does seem to leave the spine a bit too soft for a ferro rod in some cases. You are right I should take down the shoulders of the scandi a bit too..Thank you very much for all of the information. Shame I didn't know all of that before I made the video. Thanks again my friend.
@@KuukkeliBushcraft Stromeng also do a good, cost effective, no nonsense Puukko. I agree, Lauri Metallin blades are very good, they are used by a lot of commercial knifemakers.
@@redcanoe14 they seem to be used by nearly all commercial knife makers here in Finland. Realistically I think they are the only company making mass produced and good quality blades in Finland. There are some small blade smiths and some puukko manufacturers hat that buy their blades abroad but apart from that it's mostly Lauri.
Hopefully I can get hold of one and put that in the test one day. Had my eye on those for a while, but like the Strömeng, the price is such that I will wait till I find a good deal. Thanks for watching mate.
I am sorry, I do work mostly in metric. Strömeng market this knife as the Strömeng 8 Sammekniv and there knives generally have a number that relates to within a couple of millimetres their lengh in inches. I guess this is maybe for the benefit of the American Market as I am sure they don't do inches in Norway. As for RU-vid videos it is always hard to know whether to work in imperial or metric, I generally try to give both as I have viewers both in Europe and the USA. Me being English and old enough to have started work when everyone was still using imperial I find it far to easy to use both all mixed up.
