Finnish/Earlier Scandi axes - Kirves

Here is some background on those 12s i sent to Agent_h.

They used to belong to an old woodworker that lived next door to the school my grandfather was a janitor in. My grandparents used to live in the school building so they were alot in touch with this man. He was born in 1915 or 1916 and died in the early 2000's. He made everything from wooden barrels to furniture. He propably made hundreds or maybe thousands of wooden spoons, spatulas etc.
Here are some of them that i own.


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This is a big wooden "spoon" called kauha in Finnish, it is used to throw water to the sauna stove when you are in sauna. It has the date 1985 written in it, along with my grandfathers name and it has been in pretty much daily use ever since it was made.

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These spoons are made by him as a christmas present to my grandparents. The two older spoons arent made by him, they are made in late 1800's or early 1900's and were found in the farm that my grandparents bought. You can see that they have been used pretty much daily.

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Here are three bigger spoons made by him along with a very nice spatula. The one on the right side is made by my grandfather.

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This is maybe my favourite item that i own by him. Its an old plane that he made for my grandfather.
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With Billnäs iron of course
 
Olli69, thanks for posting the photos of the spoons and the plane, amazing craftsmanship for every day utensils. John
 
olli69 said:
Here is some background on . . .
With Billnäs iron of course
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Neat plane. Your plane has an iron (blade) and a cap iron (chip breaker). Is the iron also stamped Billnäs? I have two in that style with the handle/"horn" on the front. I also have a wood body plane that I made. Thanks for the pictures.


Bob
 
olli69 said:
Y5ukPJj.jpg

nKXY1HA.jpg
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Olli, that is really cool. Very impressive kauha. Probably the nicest I’ve seen (or the only one) :)
Thank you for sharing the pictures and history on the great woodworking connection and the axe heads as well!


All of this is really interesting - more so I think having your input and information being Finnish. You have answered more questions than I've thought to ask lol.

Much of this would be guesswork without your additions and go unknown here for sure - thank you.

Were the 61.x hatchets pretty common when they were produced? Before seeing yours I hadn’t read much about them – that doesn’t mean anything in and of itself but I was curious.

rjdankert said:
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Bob
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Bob, is that a picture of him?

Is this is the same guy? 40 books, many honors, pretty significant body of scientific work and writings:
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakari_Pälsi
 
They used to be common in schools and woodworking shops. Not too common for someone to buy for themself if they werent professional woodworker since small carving tasks can be done with any Finnish axe.

Those model 61 carving axes used to be in the schools woodworking class that my grandfather worked in. He told me that when the school was about to throw those axes away he saved them and was carrying them to his garage when an old man came to speak to him and told him that him and his friends got into some trouble when they were students in that school in 1920's for having an axe throwing competition with those kind of axes in their class room when the teachers were away.
The school was also used in 1918 in the Finnish civil war as a hospital first for the Finnish red army. And when the white army took over the village they executed all the patients to their beds and started using it as a hospital for themselfs.
 
olli69 said:
They used to be common in schools and woodworking shops. Not too common for someone to buy for themself if they werent professional woodworker since small carving tasks can be done with any Finnish axe.

Those model 61 carving axes used to be in the schools woodworking class that my grandfather worked in. He told me that when the school was about to throw those axes away he saved them and was carrying them to his garage when an old man came to speak to him and told him that him and his friends got into some trouble when they were students in that school in 1920's for having an axe throwing competition with those kind of axes in their class room when the teachers were away.
The school was also used in 1918 in the Finnish civil war as a hospital first for the Finnish red army. And when the white army took over the village they executed all the patients to their beds and started using it as a hospital for themselfs.
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That is neat that they were a staple in schools. Do you know if they still use them in woodworking classes or did they go the way of "no sharp things in school" like so many places?

From what I am reading, many of the Red Guard were rounded up and executed extra-judicially.

I picture the detention room being in the basement and a little dark...

Good stuff Olli :thumbup:
 
Axes havent been used in schools since 80's.
I guess it wasnt a good idea having 10 year olds swinging axes around.
 
olli69 said:
Axes havent been used in schools since 80's.
I guess it wasnt a good idea having 10 year olds swinging axes around.
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I can see that side of it. Especially when those tools and skills needed to use them kind of fell to mechanization and more people being drawn from rural areas and settling in urban areas.

On that note, we had a class that all Freshman (first year of secondary school here) were required to take. I was called "Career Cruise" - One quarter home economics, one quarter personal finance, one quarter of Forestry, and one that I don't remember. You were expected to learn to run a chainsaw - simple things like basic safety as in where to start a cut to prevent binding, solid footing, etc - bucking precut logs on site near the school - no felling. We were also required to demonstrate how to hike with sharp tools safely and dig trails. The forestry course was taught by the owner of the local fish cannery. Neat character. Karcher was his name.

I would imagine this ended soon after that. Grub hoes, pulaskis, and shovels were kept in a cage but when they were out, no one touched them and no one played with them. Part of that was knowing better and part of that was fear that Karcher would find out = kids.

The local high school here had a Timber sports team but disappeared 12-20yrs ago is my understanding.

Times change, traditions change, expectations of kids change. Safety scissors for everyone.

.

There is way more to this than I have had a chance to read but looking for references to Finnish military markings on tools/axes and when those model 61.x hatchets might have fallen out of use in schools lead to me this thread:

“What If-Finland had been prepared for the Winter War?”

Page 15 of the thread takes a look at logging, forestry, road and structural building both pre and post war – interesting information presented in regards to the evolution and change of the timber industry in Finland set in the greater context of WWII.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=172747&start=195
 
Great link Agent H! Reminds me of some work we're doing in thr protected Cedar River Watershed, an area that provides most of Seattle's drinking water. But instead of maximizing production we're trying to get a young forest to provide old growth forest services (in regards to habitat and biological diversity) at an earlier age. Our forest is a natural water filtration system that provides high quality water at a much lower rate than implemented water cleaning systems.
 
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Square_peg said:
Great link Agent H! Reminds me of some work we're doing in thr protected Cedar River Watershed, an area that provides most of Seattle's drinking water. But instead of maximizing production we're trying to get a young forest to provide old growth forest services at an earlier age. Our forest is a natural water filtration system that provides high quality water at a much lower rate than implemented water cleaning systems.
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That is great all around – from premise to practice. A lot of people benefit from that work. I would think the majority of them run their water unaware of the work, concern, and planning that goes into it.


Hatchet handle for that little 15.2. Idle hands and all…

 
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It looks a little funny now but I figure this is one way you can get the squared shoulder to match up with the collar before slimming it down. I really like my axes to have handles that taper into the eye but these little guys you need to grip across the transition from collar to haft quite a bit to use. Trial and error I suppose.

Probably the same premise for the Kemi models but their collars are not straight across at the base – they have that “cut-in”. Just have to plan for it I guess.




[URL='https://flic.kr/p/Wa8dtu']

[URL='https://flic.kr/p/Wa8dtu']

[URL='https://flic.kr/p/Wa8dtu']
I bet it turns into a solid little carving tool in the future.[/url][/url][/url]
 
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Found some time to do maintenance on that little Billnäs carving hatchet. I’ve been using it a lot since Ollie69 sent it over. The head had come a little loose and there was a crack along the “shelf”.

I understand the premise of having the handle come flush to the collar with the shelf shoulder hang. It makes it seamless when choking up on it but I think it does cause some shock on the flat surface. Something this small I wouldn’t worry about but the larger patterns might benefit from the handle tapering into the eye just giving the larger amount of exerted force. Old Finnish foresters would know better than me.
I wood glued that and a small start-up in the kerf last weekend and just left it clamped all week. I think it will stay put now.



Today after “re-hydration”.



Also had a little time to work on the reproduction handle for the smaller 15.2.




 
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Agent_H,great job,very serviceable handle,to say the least.
I understand about choking up,however,technically it's still "wrong" to limit the handle from going further under whatever conditions-lower humidity,some other funky reason....
One could compromise by a very steep radius,+ some space,maybe even filled with a gasket out of some compressible material,to bridge the gap....
And of course ALL of the above is strictly academic....Old Finnish sources grumble at the shoulder,yet half the Finns carve them into their hafts...:)

Square-Peg,thanks for that link above(https://translate.google.com/transla....se&edit-text=),however,those are Swedish axes....Probably a much older prototype,but whatever the relationship may be,they're fairly dissimilar:The eye is large at the top,it's cross-section the surprisingly modern "hour-glass",not that reverse-taper of the kirves....(also kinda academic...getting to be d...d pedantic in my old age...happens,i suppose,eh..).
 
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