My favorite is the Polar, although I see they’ve added a few new blades since I purchased mine. Helle blades are excellent, to say the least.

I have a Helle, I don’t remember the model but it’s a great knife.:wink:

I just went & looked, it’s the Harmoni.

A great little knife.:lol:

This is my second Helle Fire. I love the knife so much that I gave it away to a good friend. I think I paid less than a hundred for the first Fire … and a thousand for the second! It came “free” with a life membership to BHA. 😆 While the special qualities of Helle’s unique three-layer blade sandwich are often lauded here, I like the Fire in particular for it’s looks and mostly because it has a big nice handle that provides great leverage in combo with the smallish blade. For other purposes I might want another design. But for taking an elk apart, from the delicate work of skinning to the brutish effort of separating leg joints, the Fire is hands down my favorite.

I own three Helles and couldn’t be more pleased. Two Eggens and a my personal favorite, the Harmoni…Tough to beat the steel on these knives. Super sharp and extremely durable. Going to get another Harmoni this upcoming elk season.

I own a few myself and bought a couple as gifts. My go to is the Poplar and I don’t think they have it any more .

I have a Poplar, I think, that a friend of mine set in an antler handle. Its the one knife I won’t go afield without.

Bill — I touch up more often than necessary, because, as I’m sure as a knifemaker you know, if you keep the blade razor sharp you will never have to go beyond touch-up. The longer you let it go — which is always the temptation when busy taking an animal apart and it’s getting dark, etc. — it takes more work to bring it back. On average with the knife shown — to skin, quarter and bone an elk — I will touch up with one of those crossed carbon stick units (I don’t recall the proper name) every few minutes, whether it seems needed or not — just wipe the gore off the blade, drag it a few times across the V of the sharpener, and ready to go again. I generally also stop to stroke the blade a few times on a diamond bar after skinning and again before boning or any time it seems necessary. Bottom line with any knife in my experience is to frequently do a wee touch-up so that it stays high-sharp at all times, rather than struggling along until it’s so dull you have to really work on it to get it back, if you even can. By comparison, with most other knives I’ve had, I have to stop frequently to use the diamond bar and occasionally even a broadhead file. Be aware that not all Helle blades are equal. Their carbon steel (of which I own two that I bought as blades and put handles on) take more care. It’s the triple-layer stainless blades that most of us rave about. I frankly find many other knives to be prettier than the average Hello (though I love the looks of the fire). And many others are as well or even better designed for particular jobs. It’s simply the extremely high quality of the steel and the layering technology that sets the Helles apart so far as durability of the cutting edge.

I have one of their Polar knives that I occasionally wear as a neck knife. Super edge holding qualities. Just the right size for “internal work” when field dressing.

Bill — It’s been so long I can’t recall the names of the two Helle blades I put handles on, but both were about the size and shape of Stump’s, above. One was carbon, the other sandwiched stainless. One got a deer antler handle, the other osage orange. I’ll try to remember to snap some pics for you. Both are great little backup knives.