HUNTING KNIVES

Fallkniven Tre Kronor (TK2) Review: A Great Bushcraft Knife

06.10.2016

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For those of you who are not familiar with Fallkniven, they are a Swedish production knife company that specializes in extremely high quality survival and hunting knives. In fact, the quality of their production knives easily rivals that of many custom bladesmiths and thus, they are widely considered to be manufactures of the best production knives in the world. Of course, the reason for both their popularity and their expense is not only their meticulous attention to detail but also the quality and construction of their proprietary, laminated, blade steels. In fact, to borrow a quote from their web site, “We are fallknivenusing laminate steel because such a steel is at least 20 percent stronger than solid stainless steel. Designing a survival knife, you always have to consider about the strength of the knife because you might be forced to use the knife beyond standards”. So, while they may lack mastery of the English language, they are true masters of both high quality blade steels and fine quality production knives! In fact, Fallkniven has gained a tremendous amount of knowledge about cutlery over the years through feedback from both manufacturers and customers and thus, to assure their first rate quality, Fallkniven knives are rigorously tested at the Lulea University of Technology in Sweden to see how well they can be expected to hold up in the field. Thus, when you purchase a Fallkniven knife, you get absolute reliability in even the toughest conditions!

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My Review of The FallKniven Tre Kroner (TK2)

fallkniven-tre-kroner

However, rather than being designed as a dedicated survival knife, the Fallkniven Tre Kroner (model TK2) is instead designed to be a hunting knife/bushcraft knife. But, even so, the bladesmiths at Fallkniven spared no expense when designing and manufacturing this knife! For instance, to start with the Tre Kronor features Fallkniven’s signature, laminated, blade steel made two outer layers of low carbon 420J2 stainless steel with a Rockwell Hardness that is probably somewhere between 49 and 53 (their web site does not specify) with a core made from stainless Super Gold Powder Steel with a Rockwell Hardness of 62. Now, for those of you who are not familiar with blade steel nomenclature, “Gold” steels are commonly considered to be the best stainless blade steels available and such steels a V-Gold 1 (VG1), V-Gold 10 (VG10), and Super Gold Powder Steel represent the new crop of “super blade steels” that contain primarily Carbon, Chromium, Molybdenum, and Vanadium (along with a few other trace elements) which provides a great compromise between toughness and hardness. Consequently, not only will Gold standard blade steels withstand considerable lateral stress, they will also hold an edge exceptionally well!

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Powder Steels

However, powder steel technology takes the new “super steels” to a whole new level. Although this process of making ultra pure blade steels was first developed in the 1970’s, it has been significantly refined since then and such companies and Bohler-Udderholm are now using third generation technology to produce their proprietary powder steels. However, this process of creating high quality blade steels is both complicated and expensive since it involves first melting metal via the air induction process. Then, the molten metal is poured into a refining Electro Slag Heated tundish where the metal is super heated using graphite electrodes and purified to reduce the number of inclusions. Then, the super heated metal is forced through a small nozzle and combined with a high pressure, inert, gas which transforms the liquid metal into small, spherical, droplets which are then allowed to freefall through the cooling tower to solidify. Then, the solidified particles are collected, screened to separate different sizes, and then sealed in containers where they are consolidated using Hot Isostatic Pressure at temperatures similar to those used for forging. So, although the process of making powder steel is significantly more complicated than that of making standard blade steels, the added benefits of doing so are smaller grain sizes for significantly sharper edges, increased wear resistance for better edge holding ability and, improved toughness for added impact resistance. Plus, the inclusion of Vanadium in the composition causes the formation of Vanadium Carbides in the steel which do a better job of resisting corrosion than Chromium Carbides do.

Laminated Blade Steels

"Tre Kroner"- Three crowns.
“Tre Kroner”- Three crowns.

Therefore, just as “Gold” steels represent the best blade steels available and powder steels represent the best of the best, laminated blade steels represent the best possible combination of the edge holding ability of hard stainless steel with the impact resistance and resistance to lateral stress of a tough, high carbon, tool steel. However, to create a laminated blade steel, a core of hard blade steel must be welded to two outer layers of significantly softer steel which is, again, a significantly more complicated process than making a standard blade steel. Therefore, by combining a core of Super Gold Powder Steel with two outer layers of 420J2 stainless steel, Fallkniven has created the ultimate blade steel!

Specifications: What I Like About The Tre Kroner

However, the benefits of the Fallkniven Tre Kroner don’t stop with the blade steel! For instance, it features an overall length of 8 1/2 inches (215 mm) with a 3 15/16 inch (100 mm) Drop Point blade design and a Flat Grind for a the best possible compromise between the toughness of a Saber Grind and the sharpness of a Hollow Grind. In addition, the cutting edge has a negative angle and a shallow belly which terminates in a sharp point and thus, it’s an excellent choice for removing the hide from game animals with loosely attached hides such as Whitetail Deer and as well as for use as a bushcraft knife. In addition, it also features a stainless steel bolster with a single quillion on the bottom combined with a Hidden Tang and an ergonomic, textured, handle made from a thermoformed rubber called “Thermorun”. Plus, it comes with a sheath made from your choice of heavy-duty leather or Zytel.

Sheath.
The leather sheath.

Conclusion: It’s A Great Fallkniven Knife

When you take into account the super steel laminated construction of the blade combined with the hidden tang and the ergonomic, thermoformed, handle with its stainless steel bolster, the Fallkniven Tre Kronor is a really good knife you can buy for use as a dedicated hunting knife or as a dedicated bushcraft knife.

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