B
beanbag
Guest
I dropped by a a flea market-type antique store on the way home from a recent hike and found this promising blade amongst all the beat up knives they had in stock. Though these flash photos don't really show it, it was fairly rusty, including the bevel.
I had never heard of Premier before, but I like Moras and it was from Sweden. Even though it had plenty of pock marks, it did have a full-stick tang and only one small chip on the edge, which doesn't show in the pics, so I decided to buy it. It cost me $15.
When I first Googled it, I couldn't find anything except an Ebay listing for one in similar condition priced at $48.00.
In the listing it was called a hunting knife. I guess that's what the "H" in H-13 means.
Anyway, I Flitzed the hell out of it, tried to remove the chip (while preserving the scandi grind) on water-stones, and sanded the handle. It was taking too long on the stones, so I reluctantly removed the chip on the belt sander with a very gentle touch, then went back to the stones. The handle had deep stains and I didn't want to remove too much material so I stopped with some of the stains remaining.
Here what it looks like now:
The blade is exactly 3.75 inches, and overall it's just over 8".
Since I don't have a caliper, and there is a swedge that that extends all the way back to the guard, I don't know how thick it is, but it's a bit thicker than any Mora I've handled. If I had to guess, I'd say it's about 3/32".
Here is the stick tang. It's actually peened over a tiny washer. The whole knife, including the guard, is rock solid.
The sheath it came with is very broken in, but more than useable.
I wasn't satisfied with the little bit of info I found on this knife, so I did some more digging and found this interesting tidbit about Premier Knives on Cody Lundin's Facebook page:
about my knife in the Baja, Mexico episode....
by Cody Lundin on Monday, June 13, 2011 at 3:18pm
"About my knife in the Baja, Mexico episode...I'm getting a lot of questions about this, so here is the answer. The knife is from Sweden, its an antique, probably 1940's, and was given to me by a friend who got it in Sweden from one of the knife factories in Mora.
Mora is simply a town in Sweden that at one time had many different factories that made knives. There are only one or two factories left of any size. When someone says "Mora knife", you can see how confusing this can become. Mora is not a brand, its a town. My main knife, my baby, is a Premier brand knife that was made many years ago in Mora, Sweden. The Premier factory has been out of business for decades. I have had my knife for more than 22 years. It started my business, and I have used it continuously in all of my classes. There is a picture of it in my book 98.6, that was written in 2001, and published in 2003. My knife is proof positive that one does not need to spend a lot of money on a "survival knife". Ask any other survival teacher how long they have had their knife and see what they say. Don't be bullshitted by people who want to make money off you by selling you their knife that has little field time. Stay safe! cody"
Also there was this entry about Cody's Premier from Foxhunter over on Knife Forums:
"as far as I remember, there have leather sheaths been around till the 1970´s. then they changed to plastic. Same tendency to cheapness, when you observe the sealing of the protruding tang:
until the seventies the tang has been riveted over a small iron washer. this holds forever.
Thereafter they hammer a small steeltube into the handle, along the tang. this tube splits and shall secure the components. Crap in my eyes. They should epoxy the tang if they want to do it simple and cheap."
Bottom line, with a little more edge work and some BLO for the handle, I think I've got a pretty slick knife here, and a little piece of Mora history.:dblthumb:
I had never heard of Premier before, but I like Moras and it was from Sweden. Even though it had plenty of pock marks, it did have a full-stick tang and only one small chip on the edge, which doesn't show in the pics, so I decided to buy it. It cost me $15.
When I first Googled it, I couldn't find anything except an Ebay listing for one in similar condition priced at $48.00.
In the listing it was called a hunting knife. I guess that's what the "H" in H-13 means.
Anyway, I Flitzed the hell out of it, tried to remove the chip (while preserving the scandi grind) on water-stones, and sanded the handle. It was taking too long on the stones, so I reluctantly removed the chip on the belt sander with a very gentle touch, then went back to the stones. The handle had deep stains and I didn't want to remove too much material so I stopped with some of the stains remaining.
Here what it looks like now:
The blade is exactly 3.75 inches, and overall it's just over 8".
Since I don't have a caliper, and there is a swedge that that extends all the way back to the guard, I don't know how thick it is, but it's a bit thicker than any Mora I've handled. If I had to guess, I'd say it's about 3/32".
Here is the stick tang. It's actually peened over a tiny washer. The whole knife, including the guard, is rock solid.
The sheath it came with is very broken in, but more than useable.
I wasn't satisfied with the little bit of info I found on this knife, so I did some more digging and found this interesting tidbit about Premier Knives on Cody Lundin's Facebook page:
about my knife in the Baja, Mexico episode....
by Cody Lundin on Monday, June 13, 2011 at 3:18pm
"About my knife in the Baja, Mexico episode...I'm getting a lot of questions about this, so here is the answer. The knife is from Sweden, its an antique, probably 1940's, and was given to me by a friend who got it in Sweden from one of the knife factories in Mora.
Mora is simply a town in Sweden that at one time had many different factories that made knives. There are only one or two factories left of any size. When someone says "Mora knife", you can see how confusing this can become. Mora is not a brand, its a town. My main knife, my baby, is a Premier brand knife that was made many years ago in Mora, Sweden. The Premier factory has been out of business for decades. I have had my knife for more than 22 years. It started my business, and I have used it continuously in all of my classes. There is a picture of it in my book 98.6, that was written in 2001, and published in 2003. My knife is proof positive that one does not need to spend a lot of money on a "survival knife". Ask any other survival teacher how long they have had their knife and see what they say. Don't be bullshitted by people who want to make money off you by selling you their knife that has little field time. Stay safe! cody"
Also there was this entry about Cody's Premier from Foxhunter over on Knife Forums:
"as far as I remember, there have leather sheaths been around till the 1970´s. then they changed to plastic. Same tendency to cheapness, when you observe the sealing of the protruding tang:
until the seventies the tang has been riveted over a small iron washer. this holds forever.
Thereafter they hammer a small steeltube into the handle, along the tang. this tube splits and shall secure the components. Crap in my eyes. They should epoxy the tang if they want to do it simple and cheap."
Bottom line, with a little more edge work and some BLO for the handle, I think I've got a pretty slick knife here, and a little piece of Mora history.:dblthumb:
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