Product Information

Description

Mândra knife designed and field tested with Les Stroud, a.k.a “Survivorman.”

Holmedal, Norway – (TK, TK 2015) – Helle is very proud to present the Mândra, developed by Helle and Les Stroud – “Survivorman.”

In order to perfect the design of this newest Helle knife, they travelled to the raw, remote and overwhelmingly beautiful country of Romania working alongside Les Stroud on his latest Survivorman episodes.  The location of the expedition was situated in the Carpathian, a 1.450 kilometre mountain range extending through Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, Romania and Serbia.  An area of great dynamic contrast with both picturesque valleys and striking mountain peaks of over 2.500 metres.

MAINTENANCE:  Helle knives are designed to retain their sharpness as a lifelong outdoors companion.  But it is still important to take care of your knife and its sheath.

• The Handle. Dry the handle with a soft cloth if wet and wax occasionally.
• The Sheath. The leather needs to be impregnated occasionally with colourless impregnation agent (grease or wax) to keep supple. Dry the sheath carefully in room temperature if it becomes wet.
• The Blade. Wipe the blade with a soft cloth if wet and treat with grease occasionally.

SHARPENING:

• Use a diamond tool or a wet stone for sharpening.  Place the knife bevel flat to the sharpening tool and work the entire blade.  Work one side until you can feel a slight burr on the opposite side.  Switch side and repeat the procedure until you feel the burr on the first side.  You have now established an edge.
• Remove the burr by stroking the blade gently over the sharpening surface on both sides, as if cutting very thin slices.  Keep the bevel flat towards the sharpener and move from side to side until the burr is gone.
• If the blade is very dull or damaged, use a fine-grained grindstone and plenty of water and sharpen until you have a raw edge.  Use much cooling liquid and never sharpen on a dry stone.  A hot-ground edge looses its heat treatment and ruins the blade.

Knives made to be used.   The wild mountains, fjords and open seas combined with generations of outdoorsmen are the inspiration for their design. Each knife is designed with a specific task in mind. The purpose of a specific knife may be that it should replace a couple of other tools and be a versatile and multifunctional tool. Or its mission can be to be the best fishing knife around. This does not mean that the Helle knives are plain and not aesthetic. Helle knives should feel as good in your hand as they are beautiful to the eye.

We make honest knives. In a way you could argue that everybody who works at Helle is also a member of their R&D department. They are all leading lives in the rugged Norwegian mountains and fjords and actually use the knives that they make.  None of us would accept a knife that does not work as intended, or a knife with some useless gimmick.

To design a Helle knife the designer needs to understand and appreciate how a knife should work in real life. And for the same reason you should also argue that everybody at Helle is a member of the Helle quality team.