EKA Swede 7

(This review was first published on Utsidan.se 2013-05-09)

EKA Swede 7

First impressions
The excitement was high when I saw the package in the kitchen table. A nice little box with the three letters, EKA. Three letters that had come to mean quite a lot to me. I don't know why, but for some reason they have.

I open the box and see the beautiful and robust leather sheath. In itself, or wasn't any news, so I quickly opened it to see what was hiding within. And it was no disappointment. The knife is solid and gives a good first impression with its rather wide metal lining and wooden scales. The blade is centered and easy to open. Actually a lot easier than,my EKA Swede 92. The lock is smooth and easily used, also here quite much easier than the 92. And talking about the scales,  they look really nice. There was some comments about this on different forums and while back, that EKA doesn't quite match the quality of the curly birch. I haven't had any problems with this, on the contrary, my knives has always looked good. Both the Swede 92 and 7 and also the W11.

Carving

Top: EKA Swede 7
Middle: EKA Swede 92
Bottom: EKA Nordic W11

A first carving test was done using an ordinary stick. As comparison the above mentioned Swede 92 and Nordic W11 was used. The W11's a competent carving knife, so the competition was hard, and of course the 7 had a hard time matching it. That said, the Swede 7 still handles the simpler tasks well enough. Compared to the Swede 92 it's not a big difference at lighter jobs, but when I put some force into it the Swede 7, it yields. I don't know if this is meant to be or not, but I don't like it. It made me hesitant to use some more power in my work. But it handles the making of a bbq stick, or similar, without any problems. Another thing I was a bit skeptical about was the big lump in the back, but it didn't actually bother me at all. It took some getting used to, but then it was just a part of it and nothing that I noticed during my work. After a while, I think the knife lay nicely in my hand, but the balance is a little bit to far back, about where my middle finger is. I would like it one finger towards the blade, around the index finger. This is most likely due to the lump in the back, so all in all, I'm not that found of it.

Food preps

With a scandi grind blade, the Sweden 7 should be rather well fit for food preps, and I would say it is. The blade is a bit thinner, 2.8 mm, than the other to EKA knifes I compared it with. The W11 is 4 mm and the Swede is supposed to have 2.8 mm, but I got mine to be almost 3.1. The Swede 7 doesn't split the apple, but instead cutting it. But given the rather short blade, it's not something that will be used for and bigger meal preps.

The looks
My very personal opinion is that this knife is very beautiful. I really like the stainless steel against the curly birch, and the shape as well. And the checkered pattern that EKA has on some of their knifes appeals to me. I know this is not for everyone. My wife, for example, didn't like it.

Others

Top: EKA Swede 92
Bottom: EKA Swede 7

The foremost screws are well down in the scales and leave nothing to wish for. But the rear ones are pointing up a bit in the back. It's a bit hard to explain, but what I mean in that the back of the handle is having quite the slope, and as the screws are fitted in a right angle to the liner this gives two different heights for the screw to match. And this is of course impossible. Not a very big thing, but still something that got me looking twice.

Another thing that bothers me a little bit is that there's no lanyard hole. Maybe not needed on a folding knife in this size, but I still want it. Not very hard to make yourself, but I would prefer if it was done from the start...

Conclusion
I really like this knife. It'll most definitely come with me on some adventures to come. Most of the things I'm pointing out here are minor thing, and nothing that bothers me very much.

Would I recommend it to a friend? Absolutely!

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Fredrik