Leuku

Total length: 11 7/8"
Handle: 5 1/8" Curly Birch & Reindeer Antler
Blade: length 5 3/4", width 1 1/16" High Carbon Steel ( 0.8%, 59 on Rockwell )
Sheath: Individually handmade Natural color leather.

Spectacular Knife from Kauhava, Finland's puukko making capitol. Designed and made by Harri Merimaa.

This is a light and well balanced leuku knife for its size! It has a long handle even for a bigger hand, a hint of finger guard and great blade length ( 5 3/4" ) to get the work done. It is designed for perfect control. Would be a great hunting knife!

Harri Merimaa is one of the premier knife makers from Bothnia providence, Western Finland. He has very unique style and he is a third generation knife maker, whose family is renowned for their commitment to inimitable Finnish quality and superior Bothnian Puukko design. There is a passion for excellence and quality that is obvious when you hold one of these high caliber Finnish hunting knives.

Leuku is a Finnish word for a knife used mostly by Lapland (Northern Finland) people, Sámi. It is a very versatile knife, developed from the needs of the reindeer herder-lifestyle of the Sámi people. They are all-purpose knives rather than woodworking knives. The handles are typical of those used in the far North. They provide a solid grip for the draw strokes that are favored where the hands are often gloved, or stiff with cold. The wide flat pommel allows the use of the second hand to apply force to the point. The sheaths take almost the entire handle, which is a reflection of how serious a lost leuku can be in the wilderness.

In the larger sizes they combine the functions of camp knife and machete, and are used for everything from building shelters and gathering firewood, to butchering reindeer. It is an excellent outdoor tool for bush crafting. On the northern tundra a 8 or 9 inch leuku is far better to chop firewood with than an ax, as brush and willows are to weak to offer the ax the resistance needed for a easy cut. The leuku just slices thin branches off easily with a flick of your hand. But the big one also splits larger firewood well with the use of a baton. For fishing and hunting it is very handy as it is both knife and ax in one. The blades are relatively thin, and the knives are quite light for their size.

Sámi normally use two knives; the smaller one can be called a puukko since it is so close to the Finnish puukko. Sámi call this knife "unna-niibas" and the bigger, leuku, "stuorra niibas".