Hultafors HVK Craftman’s Knife

Price: £8.00 (approx)

Colour: Orange and black

Blade Length: 93mm (3.6 inches)

Material: Carbon Steel blade, super-durable PP plastic handle with rubber friction grip.

Holster: Super-durable PP plastic with belt clip.

My Rating:

Why?

Every single time I walk into the forest I will always have a knife with me, and my current knife of choice is the Hultafors Craftman’s Knife.

Knives are an essential and an expensive piece of kit often costing up to and beyond £100 for a really great blade. However I was just after an affordable knife that could take some abuse but still be a contender in performance and wouldn’t mean a huge loss of money if it broke. This one definitely ticks all those boxes. I have had this knife for just 3 months now but it has been used almost everyday since without sharpening it and still holds a razor sharp edge.

This knife has been used to dig up roots and bulbs, make holes in trees to collect sap, split wood with a mallet, make feather sticks and also with a firesteel to make fire. On top of that I also use it to cook, cut and eat food. I haven’t yet come across a hurdle with the performance whilst undertaking all of these jobs and the blade still remains sharp.

The holster is also excellent. It’s very solid and can really take a scraping and beating through everyday exploring. I particularly like how it has been designed with a small drainage hole in the bottom which saves the knife sitting in water and becoming ruined. It also makes the cleaning of the holster much easier too. Where the whole package loses a star is with the design of the belt clip. It’s a design that I haven’t seen before and is made to either lock onto a button or clipped over the top of a belt. There is a small ridge on the rear side of the clip which needs to be cut away to fit a belt of normal thickness, but this is also part of the design.

A small design fault can be seen in the hinge of the clip and the two small ‘locking pins’. The hinge itself is very thin plastic and I worry that with a lot of use this will eventually break as the plastic is already whitening after so much usage. The pins are also held on the clip with the same very thin plastic and the very first time I attached it to my belt, one of the pins bent and could have broken very easily. I have to be very careful and make sure each pin is securely in its housing every time I use the clip which can be a nuisance at times if I want to clip it on with any speed.

If you are also after a knife that can be easily and inexpensively replaced if broken, then I highly recommend this Hultafors HVK Craftman’s Knife. It’s almost a sibling of the Morakniv which is about the same price and more or less identical. I can’t see mine being replaced any time soon and with a little more care and sharpening, this piece could last a very long time. You can see from the pictures that it’s had a lot of abuse over the time I’ve owned it, but I can guarantee its performance has not diminished and shows no sign of failing any time soon.

Well worth the purchase – have a look over here