I am very impressed by this knife and Ragweed Forge. At first I ordered an Ahti Metsa, a slightly longer knife, from another distributor. It felt really great in the hand, but the fit and finish left something to be desired with the model I got. It would take a lot of work to make it acceptable to me, personally.
I then ordered a Kauhavan Puukkopaja 106 direct from Finland. The fit and finish was very good, but the handle just wasn’t as comfortable as the Ahti, and I was starting to see the longer blade as a bit of a hindrance for my purposes of small game hunting and woodworking.
I ordered the Korpi from here, third time being the charm. Indeed it was. The blade length was exactly what I was looking for and Ahti’s fit and finish on this model was absolutely spot on. No gap between the brass bolster and wood handle, the grinds on the blades are perfect, and needless to say it came razor sharp. The handle is narrower than the Metsa, but what I found happens is that the handle burrows into the crevices of your knuckles when held, making for an extraordinarily controllable and secure hold. Ahti knew what they were doing with this knife.
A LOT of people point out microbevels on these Laurin blades and try to work them out so that the knife has a “zero” edge, meaning the primary bevel is the only bevel on the knife. THERE IS A REASON SCANDI KNIFEMAKERS LEAVE A MICROBEVEL. If you try to work this bevel out, the primary grind will be too narrow and fragile, and will inevitably roll or chip if you work on anything harder than meat or softwood.
You see this time and time again on reviews and people blame the knife. They should only blame themselves. A microbevel is not a bad thing at all on these knives and only adds strength and performance without sacrificing anything.
Mild diatribe aside, this is a wonderful knife. I’m very happy I chose this model because survival experts say that an ideal knife blade is supposed to be as long as your four knuckles on your hand, and for my hands the Korpi is dead-on, while having a nice comfortable controllable handle with which to wield it. The smooth transition from handle to blade is exceptional on this model and exactly what you want when looking for a working knife.
If you’d like a solid, time proven knife design that’s not only capable but stellar at all fine duties a knife should do, I highly recommend the Ahti Korpi.