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The Kellam M571 - A Review
by Keith A. Williams
When fanning through the latest cutlery catalogue, one can just about go crazy trying to figure out what they ought to be looking for when shopping for a decent knife. It seems like every year, someone comes out with an even better, super-duper, high tensile strength steel, trendy serration design, catastrophe-proof handle, or near-nuclear infused blade coating that they advertise as something that you just cannot possibly live without.
I suppose that if you were to poke under enough rocks, you’d likely find a niche for just about anything. For the most part, I just have a hard time buying that kind of thinking, much less trying to sell it to the masses. So that being said right from the start, I will attempt to shed a little bit of light onto yet another little gem of quality, yet affordable blade ware.
Enter the Kellam M571. Although I’m sure that the tactical sounding name has some significance, the reader can rest assured that I am not endorsing any saw backed, tanto pointed, chisel ground slab of steel. While there a few of them that do have specialized uses, I will instead offer you another addition to the rather humble looking Scandinavian style utility knives. The Kellam is made in Finland, and is a counterpart to the Mora knives of Sweden. Like so many of its brethren, it does not sport much in the way of the latest and greatest hand guards, exposed pommels, thumb ramps, finger choils, intimidating names, weird angles, or other eye catching annoyances that seem to be the latest trend in the knife making industry, but instead, offers yet another variation of what has already proven itself to be such a functional and efficient design.
This model has a simple, yet comfortable red plastic handle which has subtle contours that allows for varying your hand position to the task at hand without sacrificing the need for a positive grip on the tool. Of course, the bright red color makes it easily seen if you should drop or set it down in some dimly lit environment.
Forward of the handle is a blade in a familiar Finnish style Scandi-ground pattern, with a length three and a half inches of forged high carbon steel. Although mine arrived with a hair popping edge, close examination revealed a very slight secondary bevel such as might be seen after passes on a crock stick or similar sharpening device. I could not feel any hesitation in the knife’s cutting efficiency, due to its presence, but just to be sure, a few minutes on coarse and fine stones were all it took to correct this. I have used this as my only knife for every cutting need for well over a week now, and can’t help but be impressed with this product. It has handled seasoned and green wood, food prep, cutting line and card board, and general duty in the woods with no trouble. I anticipate that it will get see a lot of use in my future.
In conclusion, I could go on about the practicality of having such quality in a product which only costs about twenty dollars, but instead, I invite you to try one for yourselves. It is a good tool to stash in a tackle box or truck kit. It may not be flashy, but it works well.
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Briar Patch Outdoors
219 Holmes Street
Durand MI 48429
(989) 288-0168