The Benchmade Puukko is simplicity at its finest.
Honestly, knives are always useful, no matter what you’re doing whether it’s fishing, hunting, or riding snow in the backcountry. There are so many situations where a knife can be handy, from tightening a screw to cutting an apple. Playing outside, I always seem to find ways to use them. So I fancy myself a bit of a connoisseur. I enjoy simple things that are well made.
So I was kind of stoked to get the Puukko from Benchmade to try out. The thing is “simple” defined, yet absolutely beefy. Benchmade is known for its use of super-strong steels (click here for more on that). The company used what they call a CPM-3V steel for the Puukko. And the thing is bomber. It’s a straight blade that is a little bit on the survival side as knives go, but works great attached to a fishing bag or thrown in the top of a backpack.
The Puukko has what’s called a “Scandinavian silhouette” which is as basic and straightforward as it gets. But I used it on a fishing trip (yes, to clean fish), and threw it in the CamelBak for a mountain bike ride where I actually used it to cut rubber patches in an emergency tube fix. Oh yeah, then I used it to slice out venom when I was bitten by a rattlesnake (kidding!!). But the Puukko is definitely sharp enough for surgery. But I’d rather just use it for more conventional things, like on the weight belt when out spearfishing.
The rubberized grip feels like it was made for your hand (which it was) and the sheath allows you to go full survivalist and wear it on a belt, or simply take off the top strap and throw it in a backpack (that’s what I did). That rubber on the grip is called Santoprene, and it creates a really nice, ergonomic handle.
Puukko’s are traditional Finnish knives that are low profile: basically a handle and a blade that could be used anytime, anywhere from skinning animals to cleaning fish and even doing woodwork. Benchmade took a simple outline and made it as modern (see sturdy) as you could possibly get. Which in turn means it’s one of the easiest knives to use you’ll find.
