Home / Knives / White River Adds Puukko to Firecraft Line

White River Adds Puukko to Firecraft Line

June 23, 2022

A couple years ago, cleaver blade shapes took off in a big way; before that wharnies and sheepsfeet were all the rage. Going by 2021 and the first half of 2022, we think the puukko might be the next knife concept to go big. It seems like more and more companies iterating on the venerable format in both folding and fixed blade formats. The Firecraft Knives line, produced by White River Knife & Tool, is the latest to get in on the action with the FC-PKO, an outdoors fixie.

The PKO was created by Jason Tietz of Tietz Design, the designer behind the entire Firecraft line. The blade is the headlining feature here. It measures 3.7 inches long, with puts it at a parity with many “standard” puukko knives; there’s enough edge for big boy outdoor chores, but not so much as to make the knife unwieldy or hard to carry. The blade steel is S35VN, and the blade itself has a two-tone finish: the blade flat has a textured, almost orange peel-esque finish, while the primary bevel is satin finished, and terminates in a traditional Scandi grind. There’s a divot on the spine, for use with a fire rod, which is included with each PKO.

The custom PKO comes with some eye-catching handle materials

While the puukko blade is faithful to the age-old examples of the format, the handle does its own thing. Breaking away from traditional barrel profile, Tietz came up with something that is still linear and simple, but more angular, in line with his personal knife style. The most striking component is the finger ring on the back end of the handle, which brings to mind the karambit, which is also undergoing a bit of a renaissance right now. A concave steel plate is laid into the off-side scale, for kindling with a fire bow. In total the PKO weighs 4.6 oz., and it comes with a Kydex sheath.

The standard, production PKO rolling out right now, but Tietz makes custom ones for those who want something a little more elevated. These custom PKOs are serial-numbered and come with fancier handle scales instead of the canvas Micarta on the standard one. The production FC-PKO retails for $200, while the custom ones cost $300.

Knife in Featured Image: Firecraft FC-PKO

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