Educate me on the Puukko.

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Woodrow F Call said:
I still haven't bought myself a proper puukko, but I will obtain one. I was going to start with a less expensive one, but then I think I really like the ringed birch bark handled ones. I'm just taking my time to decide. :)
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I made a couple eleven years ago with blades and stock materials and believe it or not, at that time, it was a lot harder to buy a puukko here in the US. I saw a great puukko for 300 bucks, the kind I wanted, but I'm not going to pay that kind of money for a hard use knife. So I went to the source for materials in Finland and was able to make the big one on the right for 20 bucks. It has a legendary Lauri carbon blade and that knife has been used very hard for the last eleven years, holds a great edge for a long time. The smaller puukko on the left cost a whole lot more to make, a whopping 35 bucks. It has a forged, rombic blade from Yrjo Puronvarsi and is wicked sharp. These two have been beaten through lengths of medium hard wood over and over, carved up slices of tinder and pretty much live on my hearth. Or you can spend a bunch of money for about the same thing. All you really need is a few hand tools to do this. Note the prices have gone up some in eleven years but still a major bargain. Extreme curly birch is harder to find too. There is a site in the US now that has a kind of mirror of the Finland site, just a bit more limited and more expensive but not bad at all.

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Sooo, Scruffuk, now that we all know the difference between a Puukko and some "other" type of Scandinavian grind are you making a Puukko or "other?" :)
 
Here are two that I built. The top one is a Rosselli Carpenter's blade and the bottom one is a YP blade. I think I paid 56 bucks for the YP blade.



The thing I like about making your own is that you can use any kind of wood you like. The top knife is Hawaiian Koa and the bottom one is Black and white Ebony. I went trough 4 drill bit while drilling the Ebony. It's almost as hard as the steel.
 
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Very nice knives SwiftDream. Beautiful work! Did you glue and peen the handles to the blades or just peen?

Thanks
Jim
 
There is a recent discussion on British Blades about the Puukko. It is NOT a Finnish design but a Norwegian one .It's from the knife making area around the Norwegian/Finnish border .It's a large hunting/camping knife .Would you believe our own Bowie knife is also originally a large hunting/camping knife , NEVER designed as a combat knife !! AGRussell explained that Documented fact here on BF !
Facts again rear their ugly heads !! Sorry to disappoint you !
 
saltaire said:
Very nice knives SwiftDream. Beautiful work! Did you glue and peen the handles to the blades or just peen?

Thanks
Jim
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They are both glued and peened. The tang hole in the handle is shaped exactly for the tang with those mini wood rasps so it has a fit like a glove, so tight that they were very hard to get back off to apply the glue.

You have a couple of nice ones there too. It gives you a high appreciation when you do the work like that. Saves a bunch of money too and gives you a using knife you are not afraid to really put through the years of hard use.

I ordered a custom from Finland a few months after I did these two. I also have a nice birch bark puukko but the two above are used much more. Never had one problem with them, super strong designs and tough carbon steel.
 
I'm not sure who you are talking to but if it's me, I'm not at all disappointed about anything...and I think the whole issue of Puukko has been cleared up sometime ago before you entered the conversation. :)
 
Thanks for the response SwiftDream. I didn't peen mine because I didn't know if the tangs were annealed or hardened and if they were as hard as the blade I was afraid that I would ruin the blade by trying to anneal the tang. They fit pretty tight in the tang and I used a 4300 psi glue then silver soldered the blade to the bolster. I've been using them for bushcraft for two years now. When you don't make knives everyday it's pretty hard and tedious work. I've been making about six of these an year now. I'm 68 and starting to get arthritis in my left hand so that's about all I can handle.
 
mete said:
There is a recent discussion on British Blades about the Puukko. It is NOT a Finnish design but a Norwegian one .It's from the knife making area around the Norwegian/Finnish border .It's a large hunting/camping knife .Would you believe our own Bowie knife is also originally a large hunting/camping knife , NEVER designed as a combat knife !! AGRussell explained that Documented fact here on BF !
Facts again rear their ugly heads !! Sorry to disappoint you !
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Two things.

The Finns think they developed the puukko.
The big knife-making area of Finland is on the Swedish border in southwest Finland.
 
I think explaining some of the names with which puukkos are called may be useful. The followings are all user puukkos, but exist also highly decorated festive models.

Maasepän puukko (village smith puukko)
The simpliest and oldest, already present in the Early Middle Age. Handle literally hammered over the sharp tang. Can be seen with sheath both of leather or birch bark strips.

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Kokemaki puukko, from the name of a town between Tampere and Pori.
Local variation of the previous; handle pomell is wedged shaped, bit like on Opinels.
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Hattu puukko, from the "hat styled" sheath.
Kind of neck carry variation of the maasepän.


Orijärvi puukko, original of Fiskars, takes the name from a mine used in 1850-60s near this lake in Mikkeli area.
Common at the time, now almost forgotten. Full-flat grind, first hint of hooked pomell.
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Vuolupuukko/nikkarinpuukko/yleispuukko, generic names you can see used to call general daily use puukkos. You can see called like so both puukkos with barrel handle or with hokked pomell, there is no rule.



Tommi puukko, the most famous of all. Takes the name from Thomas Woodward, teacher of Kalle Keränen, creator of this puukko style.
Canonically it has polished rhombic blade, ridged brass pomell and two colours sheath, but this last feature is not necessary present.
During Winter War the Pokara Tommis with hooked pomell and long blade (170-200 mm) were used by the high graded officers of Finnish Army and were also given as leave gifts.



Tuohi puukko/tuohipää puukko, generic names used to call puukkos with birch bark handles.
One of the oldest, probably as old as maasepän or so. Sure is that birch bark was used for knife handles already during Viking Age.


Pekanpää puukko, from the name of a small village near Tornio, literally "Peter's head".
More recent local variation of the previous. Clipped blade, thin bolsters and fatter handle in the middle.
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That birchbark sheath s fascinating. Does the sheath's grip on the handle prevent the blade from cutting its way out of the sheath?
 
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