MAINTENANCE

Helle knives are made to accompany you on your adventures. They are tools made to be used and will work best if maintained and treated correctly.

• Keep you knife clean and dry after use. 
• If used for cutting meat or fish we recommend that you rinse the knife with warm, fresh water and a little bit of cleaning detergent of the milder kind. 
• Dry the knife with a soft cloth. 
  
• Treat the handle with oil or wax periodically. Preferably a natural product and not fossil based i.e. Beeswax. 
• Treat the blade with grease or oil. Especially important if you have a carbon steel blade. 
• Treat the sheath with colorless impregnation. Non- acidic grease or wax such as saddle grease or dubbin. This will keep the leather supple and retain its glow.
• Dry the sheath carefully in room temperature if it becomes wet.
• Never dry wood or leather close to the open fire or a heater to dry fast.
  

Sharpening

Helle knives are known for the out of the box sharpness. Maintaining a good sharpness is important to the maintained performance of your knife. We recommend using traditional flat sharpening stones or a Whetstone. The level of wear on the edge determines the grainsize to be used to get the knife back to its original sharpness.

The sharpening method used on a Helle knife is a classic Scandi grind. Meaning that there is only one angle to sharpen as shown in picture. Or a secondary short edge angle as on some of our knives in the Fishing collection.

How to sharpen

• Place the knife bevel flat on the sharpening stone and work the entire blade one stroke at the time. Pushing the blade in the direction of the edge. Like cutting. 
• Work one side only until you can feel a bur on the opposite side. Switch side and repeat the procedure until you feel the bur on the first side. You have now established an edge.
• Move to a finer stone if you wish to improve further. 
• Finish by stroking the blade gently over a fine sharpening stone on both sides, as if cutting very thin slices. Keep the bevel flat towards the stone and move from side to side until the burr is gone.

Depending on the use of your knife keeping a slight bur can be a good thing. For the best possible result please check out our selection of sharpening stones and accessories. (Soon to be released).