Teach Your Customer How To Maintain Their New Helle Knife

Your customer has bought a Helle knife, now what? Teaching your customer how to look after their tools is paramount for safety in the outdoors.

Helle knives are tools that can last a lifetime if maintained and treated correctly.

Regular Maintenance:

1. Keep the knife clean and dry after each use, using a soft cloth to wipe it.
2. Rinse the knife with warm and fresh water after using for food prep.
3. Treat the handle with oil or wax occasionally. Use a natural product such as linseed oil or beeswax. If the handle contains leather, use wax not oil.
4. Treat the blade regularly with oil.
5. Treat the sheath with a wax to keep the leather supple and retain its glow.
6. Dry the sheath carefully at room temperature if it becomes wet. NEVER dry leather close to an open fire or heater to speed up the process.

Sharpening a Helle Knife:

Helle knives are known for their sharpness out of the box, but maintaining that razor-sharpness is important for high performance. Use a traditional flat sharpening stone. The level of wear on the edge determines the grain size to be used to get the knife back to its original sharpness.

Touch Ups:

If only a touch up for a razor-sharp edge is needed, use a fine grit sharpening stone. Place the knife’s scandi bevel flat on the sharpening stone. Slightly lift the knife’s angle so that you only sharpen the very edge.

Re-establishing a Fine Edge:

If you wish to re-establish an edge that has been lost or damaged, use a course grit to start. Place the knife’s Scandi bevel flat on the sharpening stone and work the entire blade one stroke at a time, pushing the blade in the direction of the edge.

Work one side only until you can feel a slight burr on the opposite side. Switch sides and repeat the procedure until you feel the burr on the first side. You have now re-established an edge.

Move to a finer stone to establish a razor-sharp edge. Finish by stroking the blade gently over a fine sharpening stone.

HELLE Sharpening Products:

The Helle Sharpening Stone SMALL is a portable field stone that features two grits: a 320 coarse and 500 fine and is well suited to touch ups on blade edges when out in the field.

The Helle Sharpening Stone LARGE is a bench stone that features two grits: a 360 coarse and 1000 fine and is great for sharpening your knives thoroughly before heading out.