AllOutdoor Review – Grohmann #1 DH Russell Belt Knife

Zac K. 02.27.25

What makes a good outdoors knife? Some people want something that looks like it was designed for the Indian Wars, judging by the mean-looking clip point blades that I see on a lot of classic hunting knives. Other people want the latest designer steel with a fancy-pants no-slip handle. Or maybe they just want cheap, cheap, cheap, and they don’t care if their knife was made in China and will barely take an edge. Personally, I like an outdoors knife that was made to work, with a practical design for hunting, camping and fishing chores alike. And I’ve found that in the Grohmann lineup, and more besides.

Knife Coverage on AllOutdoor

Who are Grohmann Knives?

Grohmann is a very small company based on the east coast of Canada, in Nova Scotia. It’s a family operation, founded by Rudolph Grohmann in the 1950s after he left Czechoslovakia and the Iron Curtain behind. Grohmann had run a knife manufacturing facility before World War II, and made contacts in Canada then. When he crossed the Atlantic with his family, he initially worked in a few different jobs, including manufacture of artillery shells for the Korean War, but by the 1960s he and his family were working on knife production under the Grohmann name.

The Grohmann Knives factory in Pictou, Nova Scotia. They offer free factory tours and will sharpen customers’ knives here as well, for a small fee. A factory store offers good prices on new and clearance seconds, and that’s where I usually buy mine. [NovaScotia.com]

My Experience with the Grohmann #1

Since then, they’ve been making knives in the same town with a small number of employees, filling military contracts as well as providing knives for outdoorsmen. They also make knives for kitchen use, and other very unique purposes. If you want to buy a knife to skin a seal, perform a whale autopsy or build an igloo, Grohmann can help. But Grohmann is best-known for one knife in particular: The DH Russell Belt Knife, aka the Grohmann #1.

This knife was designed by DH Russell, who came up with the pattern after talking to a wide range of outdoorsmen and figuring out what they really needed in a knife. This isn’t some silly accessory for a wannabe survivalist, like those Rambo-inspired knives of the 1980s. This knife was specifically and carefully designed for hunters, campers, trappers and fishermen.

Design

As such, notice the full-tang blade doesn’t have an aggressive profile; there’s no Jim Bowie influence here. It was not designed for winning barroom fights on an Arkansas riverboat. I don’t know of any other widely available knife with a blade shaped exactly like this, but I believe that’s because it was intended to do a little bit of everything; it works well for skinning a deer, or cleaning a trout, or cutting up vegetables for dinner. That’s a very wide range of tasks, but this drop-point blade works well.

The blade is unusual, but not so much so that it’s unforgettably distinctive. What sets the the DH Russell Belt Knife apart is the unusual handle, with a concave section towards the top. This is an odd look, but it allows you use the knife without your knuckles getting caught up or in the way. It also, in my experience, allows much more delicate control of the blade’s tip.

I think the size of the #1 works just fine on brook trout, even fish much smaller than the 14-incher here. But if you want a more delicate knife, they sell the #2 with the same proportions, just scaled down. [Zac K.]

Field Use

I’ve owned a Grohmann #1 for a few years now; I acquired it second-hand, in a trade for a Grohmann folder. It is an older knife with a carbon steel blade that requires some attention, to make sure it doesn’t rust. But I find it easy to sharpen, and it holds its edge well. I have no idea what steel Grohmann used for it, but I do know they used quality Euro-sourced C70 steel on these for a long time, tempered to Rc 56-58 (see more about their steels here). Maybe not the fancy-pants stuff you find today, but the steels used (they also had a stainless option available then and now) were picked as a compromise between ease of sharpening and edge retention. While a weekend warrior with access to advanced sharpening equipment might be happy with a super-hard steel that holds its edge well, a trapper in a log cabin up north would be less enthralled with that idea. Personally, I am a big fan of Grohmann’s compromise, and consider this my favorite outdoor knife I’ve ever owned. It sits in my pack on almost every hunting, fishing and camping trip I take (I’m not a huge fan of the dangly belt sheath).

And I’m not the only one who feels this way. The DH Russell Belt Knife has won its fair share of awards around the world, including time displayed in the Museum of Modern Art. Not bad, for a knife made for grizzled trappers in the Canadian north.

Grohmann has made many knives for other companies and organizations. Here’s one they built with Winchester branding, years ago. [Grohmann Knives]

Ordering your own Grohmann

Grohmann’s knives are available through online order in various outlets, but you might as well support this small business by ordering directly from the factory. I’ve bought a few knives there this way, and have visited the factory in-person a few times. Along with my #1, I also own a Grohmann #3, an XS107D, a couple of fillet knives and I owned a folder previously (which I traded to acquire my #1). Perhaps I’ll have more to say on these in a future write-up; they all have their uses, but I like the #1 the best for now.

Prices, in my opinion, are reasonable; at time of writing, the #1 has a $133 CAD price tag, but is on sale for $113.05. At current exchange rates, that works out to $93 USD and $79 USD. It’s very hard to find a good, time-proven knife in that price range these days, not made in China and with a lifetime warranty. The closest equivalent would probably be the Buck lineup, which would have roughly similar pricing or maybe come in a bit cheaper—but I don’t think Buck’s classic knives have the same do-it-all attitude of the DH Russell knife (the newer Ranger Skinner or Vanguard might be more similar).

Retailers

Various U.S-based retailers also sell the Grohmann knives, if you don’t want to deal with cross-border hassles, but their pricing isn’t generally as good as the factory’s current sales, and the factory also has more options for various exotic handle materials as well as choice of stainless or carbon steel, sheath style and blade grind. Your standard choice is a regular or flat grind, but if you pay extra, they can do a custom flat grind for you.

If you don’t mind buying something with a minor imperfection, the website’s clearance section is full of bargains. These are no-return, no-guarantee deals, and you’re limited to the selection on-hand. But I think every single Grohmann knife I’ve bought from their factory came from here, and none of them ever had any kind of damage I’d worry about. I’ve been very happy with them all, and I intend to keep adding to my collection in the years to come. That Mini Skinner in the clearance section keeps calling my name…

Zac K.

Retired sea salt with a taste for venison and fresh-caught fish.