I've never seen one in person, but thinking about ordering one. Good knives I assume?

I concur with your asssumption.

I've had an F-1 for about three months. It holds its edge well. I haven't sharpened it yet, just stropped it once.

It compares very favorably to my Bark River Bravo-1 plus it is lighter
and easier to hold on to when wet..

Which one are you looking at?

Couple years back, I bought an F-1. I was less than impressed, and sold it fairly quickly to a friend that just had to have it.
My main complaint was the handle. I found it too short, thin and that synthetic material was very uncomfortable when working the knife hard.

If it is the F1 that Steelhead is looking at, I owned one for a couple of years before it was pinched.

In the UK, these knives reached cult status in the bushcraft/survivalist circles and were also pretty popular with deer stalkers. There were a few reports of the edge and'or tip chipping easily, but they could easily be down to he knife being abused as anything else..

I bought mine as I was looking for a decent quality synthetic /ss fixed blade knife for gralloching deer.

Out of the box, it was probably the sharpest knife I’ve ever owned; it was literally razor blade sharp.

The spine of the blade quite thick and the knife felt quite “substantial” in a way I quite like…

Unlike Sam, I liked the handle material as it gave excellent grip, even when wet and covered in blood and snot from the gralloch. That said, I do agree the size and profile of the handle may not suit everyone.

I found the handle quite skinny and slab sided and perhaps better suited to folks with smaller hands?

The blade on mine had a scandi grind which needed "specialist" sharpening approach. Its not difficult, but you can’t really use most sharpening systems such as Lanskey or DMT without re profiling..

Also, the leather sheath was very average quality and in fact I split it the first time a put the knife back into it. The leather itself felt cheap and was a million miles from a quality oiled hide..I replaced it with the factory Kydex sheath and that was much better..

After using the knife a while, I decided I didn’t really like the blade shape and preferred one with less “belly”.

When the F1 eventually went “walk about”, I replaced it with a Linder Super Edge 1 which I have come to much prefer.

Edited to add, if I were buying again, I think would look at the Fallkniven TK2 as in the pic below..



Over here, they run about twice the price as an F1 which I am finding hard to justify seeing as I like that Linder Super Edge1 so much..

Looking at either the S1 Forest knife or the NL5

Either would be a very nice knife. They are quite expensive though and you might find something of similar size from a custom maker for less.

Roger at KnifeWorks has them. Decent price.
http://www.knifeworks.com/fallknivens1forestknifezytelsheath-1.aspx#.VViTA_lVikp

That's kinda the way I view them now. They use to be priced more in line with knives like Bark River and priced reasonable for an upper end production knife. For some reason their prices have jumped considerably and in some cases are right there with some of the better custom makers around. Once you reach that level I personally would rather have a custom from a good craftsman knife maker. That said, Steelhead ain't no tadpole so he knows what he wants to do with his money.

The F1,2nd one top left. Rehandled with micarta. It has been my go to knife last few seasons deer hunting. That VG-10 takes a scary edge. I end up cutting myself with it at least 1 time a year. When its sharp it does not even take pressure the wieght of the knife will open you up.

I have a couple of the NL series. I really like the Idun which is the VG10 version of the NL5.
Good knives.

I have had a few U1's - nice little knives. But, the edges of the frame were too sharp for my taste, so I never really got much carry out of them. Eventually I sold them on.

I also had an A1 for a very short while. The blade kept chipping on me - even though the hardest thing I did to it was light batoning. I ended up shipping it to Fällkniven, together with a letter explaining the issue and requesting a replacement - they simply resharpened the knife and returned it, no note, no answer to my letter. First time I used it after that, the edge chipped again - I then sold it on, as a defective knife (ie. with a huge loss), to a collector who did not plan to use it.

I can't really recommend any Fällkniven knife - if you get a faulty one; expect sub par customer service.

F1 is my fav awesome knives

I'd like to get my hands on a GP to decide if I want to part with the dough!



Mike

I have an H1 - if it's representative of their knives, it's a damn good piece of steel. Hell for stout and stupid sharp - dressed a deer, split the sternum with the blade and it shaves like a razor afterwards. Not my favorite blade shape, but the F1 has my interest...

Just took a quick look at those two - nice! Looks like they both have the laminated VG-10 steel. I haven't had to sharpen mine yet, but understand the process with their convex grinds is to back stroke on wet/dry abrasive paper on a mouse pad. Sounds easy enough to maintain the convex edge...

Steelhead,

VG-10 is a really good steel for some things and just plain bad choice for others.

It is quite hard and brittle when compared to some steels.. If you want to pound (baton) it through something, get a sturdy piece of D2 from Dale Atkerson. If you want a cutter, VG-10 has no equal. I made a knife for gutting/skinning deer out of a paring knife blank that I reshaped very slightly that was VG-10. It has gutted and shinned 8 deer now and is still razor sharp. If you want VG-10 and you're not going to try to pound it through stuff, get a thinner spine and sharpen to a steep angle to take advantage of the steel. Mcusta has some nice high buck designs.

Personally, I do not like the Fallkniven design and blade shape. for gutting/skinning work. The TK2 Pete suggested looks better to me. If it ever came to taking apart a what's left of a deer after boning it out I would be just as happy with a big Santoku Dale Atkerson made for me out of D2 as with any decent quality hatchet. I've had that for a few years now and butchered a lot of venison with it. I have absolutely no question it would chop a skeleton up pronto and easily without suffering any more than a good hatchet.


VG-10 parer I use a lot.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh316/miles58new/GEDC0568.jpg

They have some nice knives . I like the looks of this one :
http://www.fallkniven.com/en/shop/details/554/20/folding-knives/lock-back/fh9bh

I keep looking at that TK2 since you posted it - I prefer a more pointed blade for field dressing and that looks good. The prices for the Fallkniven models with 3G steel is quite a bit more than the same models in VG-10. It looks like the TK2 is only available in 3G - does anyone have experience with this 3G powdered steel?

I had an NL5 Idun for about five years. Fantastic knife. Very easy to maintain the convex edge on it. After taking down a large animal or two a quick strop brings it right back to eye popping sharp. I found it to be a very good general purpose hunting blade.

It has a thick spine but handled well and the factory sheath was adequate but I would probably opt for a Parsons.

The stacked ox hide grips wore well and patinaed beautifully.

I gave it to my father when my last Ingrams came in but it will get back to me eventually.

My hunting partner has had one for about ten years as his only knife. He also has zero complaints.

I have two of their A1 survival knives. Somebody said you don't baton with VG-10. Never heard that, these A1's are made for rough use.

Fallkniven's are very competent knives for their intended use. I will never part with mine.