I'm always walking around a bit in love with a knife and right now it's the Giron (art no. 3537) from Karesuandokniven that makes my heart go faster. This small knife and it's 75 mm short blade has made me appreciate short blade knives again. Appropriately enough I got this knife just before I left for my hiking and fishing adventure in the beautiful Tjuonajokk. Giron is the old name of the town Kiruna in Lapland and Giron is the Northern Sami language's word for Rock Ptarmigan. Felt right wearing the Giron in my belt when operating in this inspiring area of Sweden.
Design
The Giron is one of Karesuandokniven's newest model and it's a tribute to the traditional Scandinavian knife with it's non-existing handle guard and it's straight blade neck. The handle made of brass, rein deer antler and oiled curly birch is shaped as the head of the Rock Ptarmigan. The sheath made of cowhide, rein deer skin and plastic inlays is decorated with a leather wing to enhance the Ptarmigan theme. Karesuandokniven has since some years back offered their model Willow Grouse (art no. 3524) referring to the Willow Ptarmigan that is a bit bigger than it's rock cousin.
The Giron is a small and compact knife that fits nicely in my hand. Of course the lack of a guard demands some blade experience but I like to have some blade contact when working with the knife. The 2 mm thick and 20 mm wide blade is easy handeled, comes with a good edge and is easy to maintain.
I like carrying a sheath with the traditional Scandinavian leather loop strap, especially when hiking using a backpack conveyor belt at my hip. After some usage the Giron's leather sheath gets a bit darker in color and gets a beautiful patina. If I could change something on the Giron I'd like the sheath to be about one inch shorter. A small knife like the Giron could in my opinion settle with a smaller sheath than the original length of 188 mm (224 mm in total, knife in sheath).
Knife Love
As I mentioned I'm in love with this knife. It's now a true companion as one of my favoite EDC models outside the Urban Jungle. However I'm a bit curios on how the Giron would feel like equipped with one of Karesuandokniven's nice Damasteel blades. I guess that version of the Giron would make me fall in love all over again.
Specs
Blade material: Sandvik stainless steel 12C27 HRC57
Blade length: 75 mm
Knife length: 174 mm
Knife weight: 70 g
Total weight: 122 g (knife in sheath)
Price: 900 SEK (Sweden 2013)
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