Damascus puukko

NickWheeler

NickWheeler

Joined
Dec 3, 1999
Messages
9,437
Hey guys-


I have had a student here off and on for a little while now. Roland is a BIG Finn, and wants to get into making puukkos. There's a lot of family history in it for him, and I really enjoyed our project.

I had done a whole bunch of Scandi/Finnish grinds (for working grade blade blanks), but had not made a fancy puukko.

I did the work to demonstrate how I would go about doing it, and Roland kept a watchful eye and took notes. Here is the end result:

Twist damascus blade (1084/15N20)
416 "guard" and pins
stabilized CA buckeye burl handle with ss/black spacers.

Thanks for look'n :)
-Nick-

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Now THAT IS COOL! That's by far and away the nicest puuko I have ever seen. I think I'm going to swing by, you can give me some lessons :D .

Did you ever get your hammer running?
 
Two words..... Beauty Ful !!!!!
Great looking blade. :thumbup: :thumbup:

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I cant stop looking at this knife ! what I like best is how the wood grain flows with the damascus lines , very very nice :eek: :)
 
Awsome! only question, will it have a secondary edge? I'd hate to ruin the pattern by sharpening the bevel! :eek: :thumbup:
 
Here is another Puuko in damascus. Handle is oosik,whale tooth,and walrus,with coper spacers,and mokume' guard and butt.
 
Thanks guys!

The funny thing, is this is my standard hunter handle shape (sans finger guard) but it matches up pretty darn close with some Puukkos that Roland pointed out to me. I guess maybe I'm part Finnish and never knew it! ;)

The knife was taken down to sharp before we etched it to reveal the pattern, and the etching dulled it a little. When it was all done, I took it and set about 4 or 5 passes on a ceramic stone at a very very small angle. So to answer your question Will, yes, it has just a tiny bit of a secondary bevel.

Oh btw- this wood is NOT dyed, it's the natural colors (wood from Alpha Knife supply).

-Nick-
 
Nick, that is perfect! Finaly someone who noticed that neither guard nor ricasso are the featured on traditionall scandi knives!

Its just too perfect, far from anything I might be able to make, but I m making knivs to relax from bows and when, then I make scandinavian designs.
 
Nick I swear, everything you make just oozes class. This utterly beautiful knife is no exception. I'm no fan of the puukko but this one just makes my mouth water. Goes to show you, good workmanship and an artistic eye can make anything appealing. Now I want one!

As an aside, I've been reading an SF novel called Dies the Fire, by S.M. Stirling. One of the protagonists carries his grandfather's puukko and we get a good deal of Finnish history of the knife and its uses. (The Finns are not peaceniks.) That's one of the things I like about SF, it's very ecclectic and you can learn all kinds of unexpected neat stuff reading it.

Thanks for sharing Nick, that's one beautiful knife. I'm looking forward to seeing Roland's knife too. Roland you a lucky man getting to work with Nick!
 
Thanks again everybody! :)

I forgot to mention fitting a "guard" to one of these. What a bee-yotch! ;) I planned on doing the time on guard fit completely by hand anyway, as Roland won't be starting off with a mill.

However! Having no ricasso, and a bit of a diamond cross section to the blade where it goes into the guard, this one was a heck of a learning experience for me. I guess just getting one on wouldn't be too bad, but trying to get a zero gap fit is a bugger.

Oh, just for kicks, here's the other side :)

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It's a sin to make a knife that purty. You need to take it outside and beat it against a tree for awhile, then come back and show us what you made. :D

I'm just messing with you. Everything you make seems better than the last and I guess that's what we're all shooting for.
:thumbup: :thumbup: from me.
 
Nicky, that's a pretty nice little puuko ya gots there, bubba! Ain't it cool that the Finns love their Puukos as much as we love our Bowies? :thumbup:
 
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