Educate me on the Puukko.

I recently received 2 Puukko style knives from Danijel. I am pleased and impressed by everything about these knives from design to blade grinds and comfortable well finished handles. He also makes his own sheaths which have a wood insert to hold the blade, all very traditional Finnish.
This one is a "Tommi" style, which as i understand it refers to the blade being rhomboid in cross section.
OAL 7 5/8", steel 80CrV2, handle is elm burl and finished as smooth as any wood i have ever felt.

CJ9TuOE.jpg



And this knife has a stacked birch bark ring handle, which feels so superb in hand. OAL is 8 1/16", Steel is 52100

Im9UsKy.jpg


And in sheaths:

Ti3lE4h.jpg


I have not yet used either other than to check edge sharpness and both easily shave arm hair. It is obvious that Danijel has much skill as a knife maker. That he takes much pride in his work is evident by the high level of fit and finish with blades and handles. His low pricing makes his knives the best deal i know of for a traditional style Puukko knife.
Thank you Danijel !
kj
 
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Wow KJ, we now have knives that are brothers! That Tommi is nice with the polished flats instead of the heat treat finish that mine has, looking good! However, that stacked birch beauty is a.....well, a beauty! That handle is going to age wonderfully being nice and light colored right now. I love the flat separating the two tapers and 52100 is an awesome steel, super light in the hand.

Great score!!
 
A rhomboid cross section is not what identifies a Tommi. Rhomboid cross sections are nothing more than an indicator of craftsmanship, being found on custom, hand forged puukkos. In comparison, factory knives have flat upper sections.

The two main identifying features of Tommi puukkos are the distinctive ridged pommel and blade profile. For example -




image by JVoutilainen

- Christian
 
It took me many years and a great many knives before i discovered the Finnish Puukko. Now i have about 50 ? of them, production and vintage custom ones. The Finnish Puukko design gives the absolute best cutting performance of any Fixed Blade pattern. As well the simplicity of design gives a stable and most comfortable handle for a variety of grips.
You can buy a production Puukko from a number of USA dealers for $50 or less. They look and feel more like a custom than a production knife, so maybe there is more 'hands on' work in a Finnish knife factory ?
Once more of us knifers 'discover' these knives, i'm sure Danijel and other Puukko-style knife makers are going to be very busy, meaning a waiting list of 1 yr.+.
kj
 
Christian, i put the link to help others, who, like myself, are just beginning to learn about Finnish knives. I know from the 'other' thread that Frederick and yourself are our Puukko 'experts', and i and i'm sure others are grateful for the help you give us. Part of the difficulty is that much of the info is in Finnish. The other big difficulty i have is that most of my vintage Puukkos are signed in the fuller and i cannot make out what the letters are because it all looks like a string of connected loops. If i could read them i might find out that some of my knives were made by highly regarded old time Smiths from 75 to 100 years ago. I'm guessing about age of these signed knives.
kj
 
Dealers like Ragweed Forge.

The level of "handmadeness", in factory made puukos can vary a bit from a brand to another. Here a couple of examples. Both videos shows only Lauri blades, nothing handforged.
[video=youtube;dEytJxZQbi8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEytJxZQbi8[/video]
[video=youtube;1YCU71de7qA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YCU71de7qA[/video]
 
Frederick, thanks so much for these 2 videos.
In the Woods video it shows him "grinding the blade" even though the blade he is grinding has already been ground by Lauri. This is not shown in the Lapin video.
So is "Mr. Woods" improving the blade grind and edge sharpness up to his standards whereas Lapin is using the blades just as they arrive from Lauri ?
I have a couple of Woods knives which i bought for about $50 and they are a very good user knife. Other than he did not make the blade or heat treat it, the rest is all hand work by one man, perhaps what could be called "semi-custom".
I really appreciate the information and links you provide. They are a big help in educating us about Finnish knives.
kj
 
Christian, great link and all of the knives shown are superb masterpieces. Now i know what to try to obtain for my collection.
thanks, kj
 
kootenay joe said:
Frederick, thanks so much for these 2 videos.
In the Woods video it shows him "grinding the blade" even though the blade he is grinding has already been ground by Lauri. This is not shown in the Lapin video.
So is "Mr. Woods" improving the blade grind and edge sharpness up to his standards whereas Lapin is using the blades just as they arrive from Lauri ?
I have a couple of Woods knives which i bought for about $50 and they are a very good user knife. Other than he did not make the blade or heat treat it, the rest is all hand work by one man, perhaps what could be called "semi-custom".
I really appreciate the information and links you provide. They are a big help in educating us about Finnish knives.
kj
Click to expand...
Yes, Merimaa regrinds Lauri blades to get rid of the big microbevel the factory put, while Lapin Puukkos keep the blades as they are.
 
Lauri blades are very good,not the best looking but very quality. I have two knives with those blades, both in 80crv2.
 
Considering I have seen the sun come the past three nights in row, I had intended to go to bed a decent hour, at least before midnight. Well, I started reading. I had skimmed this thread some but I thought I would just read the first few post and start again in the morning. Before I knew it I was researching terms and other variables pertaing to Puukko knives. This of course led to wishful thinking and a hunt, though just for fun, began.

I love my folders, but threads like this only fuel my interest in traditional fixed blades. For me, the real enjoyment though is learning the history behind knives and how that is carried on into current times.

Ive already tagged this thread because I am certain one will be added one day.

Thanks for the fascinating and sleep depriving info. :thumbup::)
 
KBA, if you search "Puukko knife" on ebay you will see a great many knives and looking at the pictures provided is a learning experience. There are always a few good examples that receive very little bidding so you could obtain 3 or 4 for ~ $100 total. Searching/reading ebay listings can fill many sleepless nights and the sleep deprived state makes bidding easier.
kj
 
kootenay joe said:
KBA, if you search "Puukko knife" on ebay you will see a great many knives and looking at the pictures provided is a learning experience. There are always a few good examples that receive very little bidding so you could obtain 3 or 4 for ~ $100 total. Searching/reading ebay listings can fill many sleepless nights and the sleep deprived state makes bidding easier.
kj
Click to expand...

Thank you sir. I'll certainly look into the auction site. We just had a baby little over a week ago so I am sure the nightly education will present itself a few more times. Our lil girl is certainly a night owl. :D
 
KBA said:
Thank you sir. I'll certainly look into the auction site. We just had a baby little over a week ago so I am sure the nightly education will present itself a few more times. Our lil girl is certainly a night owl. :D
Click to expand...

also, check out lamnia.fi

they are a BF sponsored dealer, or whatever it's called (i think). they link to makers' info on the https://nordiskaknivar.wordpress.com blog site. good stuff there.

and, please forgive me for saying so. ;) :D
 
I have to thank you all, especially Kamagong (Christian) & Frederick89 (Federico) for the help. After messaging these gentleman several times with questions on Finnish knives, I have found that I am hooked, and am really enjoying educating myself on these wonderful blades.

My first 2 are on order. While neither will be a Tommi, I am just as excited. It will be 6 months to a year, but I believe well worth the wait. I'll get a Tommi one day.

The maker is Sami Länsipaltta and I encourage you to look at his work. We are working out the details. As of now, I recommend him purely on personality and communication skills. He seems to be a great guy with a heart for family and knife making, his photography skills and drawings are just as impressive.

I will be getting 2 like the one one pictured below, though, one will be a curly birch.

https://flic.kr/p/rnqiy7


http://www.lansipaltta.fi/portfolio/

https://nordiskaknivar.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/sami-lansipaltta/



Another maker that I am interested in is, Martti Malinen, specifically his "Kuhankeittäjä."
Thanks again to Frederick89 for the following info:

"One of his puukkos is called "Kuhankeittäjä" which is the Finnish name of the golden oriole
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_golden_oriole

the european species related to the american Baltimore oriole you should see in summer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_oriole

Golden oriole is the "flag bird" of the Southern Savonia, the region where Malinen lives. Here is the puukko."
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fwDa-p6MId4/UXFQVxHzRsI/AAAAAAAAAcI/1W8dMs0KFCI/s1600/20.Malinen.jpg

https://nordiskaknivar.wordpress.com/2014/05/24/malinen-koivumaki-puukko-review/

https://nordiskaknivar.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/martti-malinen/


I'll be sure to update when mine arrive.

This has been a wonderful thread and I hope it continues.

On a side note I have to thank others like Jon Slider who have contributed to my education on Finnish knives in other threads as well.
 
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