Home / Knives / Kombou Creates Futuristic Riff on the Puukko for Bestech

Kombou Creates Futuristic Riff on the Puukko for Bestech

August 26, 2021

Bestech has introduced its latest production collaboration with prolific designer Grzegorz Grabarski (known as Kombou online). This one is called the Thyra, and both its name and design originate in the Scandinavian culture.

Grabarski tells us that the name “Thyra” is a stylized portmanteau of the words “Thor” and “Vig.” Even though he was more of a hammer guy than a knife guy, Thor needs no introduction; “vig” is the old Norse word for “fight.” So “Thyra” means “Thor’s fight,” which gives you an insight into this knife’s potential role as well as its heritage, because this one is inspired by the puukko fixed blade.

The puukko is the enduring knife legacy Scandinavia, and one of those evergreen inspirations for makers today; its simple lines speak to the kind of utility at the heart of all great knife design. Grabarski took those lines and filtered them through his own aesthetic – an aesthetic that blends flowing, almost piscine shapes with futuristic flourishes. It slenders up the puukko drop point and raises the tip – so much so that this could be considered a trailing rather than a drop point. Whatever you want to call it, the Thyra’s blade is ready for applications both practical and tactical with a 3.56-inch cutting edge. The blade steel is M390 which, while ;less exotic than it used to be thanks to widespread use in recent years, certainly still falls within the upper echelons of production knife steel, offerings users plenty of edge retention and impressive corrosion resistance.

Grabarski took full advantage of his blade’s slender profile, situating it so that it folds almost entirely into the handle. When the knife is closed, all that’s visible is a bit of jimping on the spine, and the flipper tab, while not an inline design, keeps as low a profile as possible.

The copper bolster Thyra, front and back

The handle deviates from a puukko in that it is slim and square rather than round and robust, but it does faithfully retain the puukko handle’s spare lines; the profile here is stripped back and grip-neutral. That being said, Grabarski cut loose with the embellished on these titanium scales, hitting them with multiple chamfers, anodizations, and a Nordic-inspired pivot screw. There’s also a skinny arcing fuller that runs from the butt end to the top of the pivot, where we also see a bolster, made from either Timascus, carbon fiber, or copper; the weight for the CF- and titanium-bolstered models is 3.99 oz., while the copper-bolstered model comes in a little heavier at 4.37 oz.

According to Bestech, the Thyra is set to available soon.

Knife in Featured Image: Bestech Thyra

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