The Puma knife company is based in Solingen, Germany. It is one of the highly-reputable knife-making companies that helped give that city the nickname “City of Knives”. Puma has been making knives for over two hundred and thirty years.
This knife is a new step for the company — German know-how and tradition coupled with Japanese blade-making. The Damascus blade is forged in the age-old Japanese tradition of Katana sword-making, making it extremely durable, strong, and amenable to sharpening.
The ABS handle is durable, with a checkered stainless-steel construction for a secure grip.
Features of this Puma Knife:
- 4.5 inches when closed
- Damascus stainless steel blade with Rockwell 60 hardness for easy sharpening
- Riveted, brushed stainless steel handle
- Will accept lanyard
RSS
March 21st, 2008 at 6:20 pm
My name is colin smith. I found a knife that my grampa had when we were cleaning out his house after he died. Its a 6377 pumawhitehunter. ser.#21607 The sheath is in bad shape and would like to buy a new sheath for it if you have one for it!!! The blade is 6 inches. Also with the #’s Is there any thing you could tell me about when it was made how much its worth. It was rusty when i saved it. I cleaned it up rust free but still little pits remain. Thank you somuch for your help Colin Smith colin44841@comcast.net
July 8th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
I purchased this unit from a middle-man/seller a couple of weeks ago. Actually, I purchased two of them and made a mistake doing so. The seller’s website had three or four similar units for sale and I made the mistake of not reading the fine-print all that well. I thought that the unit with the wooden scales was the same size as the unit with the black scales. I was wrong. I sent the smaller unit with the wooden scales to my Dad for Fathers’ Day and kept the bigger unit for my self.
I hate to give a bad review for most any product. However, I bought this unit for BOTH the Damascus blade and the legendary PUMA quality. This knife has some problems:
The handle scales may be ABS, but they look and feel cheap. The medallion says “PUMA-TEC” which I thought was unusual. The handles are die-cut and have no shaping to them whatsoever. They are straight-cut and chunky looking. The images do not convey the low-cost treatment to the rest of this unit.
The standoffs are not finished. The metal components are bead blasted, but there is little in the way of contouring, shaping, smoothing, deburring, etc. I overlooked most of these issues because I wanted the Damascus so badly.
What really stood out as I held the unit in my hand was the pivot. It had not been deburred at all. You can feel that as you run your thumb over it.
Now, all that being said, the blade is absolutely beautiful. I put an edge on it and it held for two or three days before needing another touch up. I wasn’t abusing the unit, because the blade was so fine and beautiful and it was as sharp as I had hoped.
Then, one day, I was standing in the kitchen and had removed the knife from my pocket either to place it on the counter with my glasses and other stuff or I was just fondling it again (this was MY Fathers’ Day gift from my wife and daughter and I’d gotten to choose it myself) when I dropped it. It hit the tile floor and parts of it flew off. I found the missing part, the standoff near the pivot, and then began to examine the knife. The standoff was bent. I don’t know what kind of metal it was made of, but it was not high quality stuff. I began to look a little harder at the knife and saw that the pivot had broken as well. Further examination of the pivot showed that it had been machined in such a way that there wasn’t much metal between that central post and the flanges: it was destined to break. I was able to pry the unit apart gently and remove the blade. I even thought about keeping just the blade and chucking the rest and perhaps reusing the blade in a handmade unit. Looking back at it now, the price for the blade would have been worth busting the rest of the knife up. However, I have returned the whole unit for replacement with another knife — this time a more practical Ken Onion designed Kershaw.
Several times since I dropped the PUMA, my daughter (4 years old, by the way) has asked me, “Where is the knife I got you for Fathers’ Day?” I told her it was not a good knife, even though I loved the blade (yes, I told her that — this is a great lesson in customer satisfaction and product quality), I had to send it back.
Now, finally, I will say this: I have three other Pumas and they are all very, very fine knives. One is at least thirty or more years old and can still keep an edge better than almost anything in my cabinet. PUMA makes some very good knives, but steer clear of this unit. You will be sorely disappointed.
R. Baker,
London, KY