Isakki Jarvenpaa Aito Pukko Bark ?

R

R.H.Clark

Joined
Aug 23, 2007
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771
I am very interested in this knife as seen on Ragweed forge.I have a few questions and would appreciate any input good or bad.

1.What is the blade thickness aprox.in fractions of an inch? A picture would be great.

2. What kind of tang does it have? I assume a traditional Scandia rat tail.

3.How is the tang attached? Peened?

4.Will the bark handle stain from blood?

5.The add says it has a small secondary grind and may not be as sharp as a full Scandia grind. Will this blade shave as new?

Thanks for any help or suggestions of a similiar better Puukko.
Randy
 
Thank you I'll do that. I was reading old posts on bushcraft knives and saw this knife mentioned a couple times so I thought some of the folks here might have some ideas.
 
Thinthick.gif

1. Best thickness photo I have...on my steel ruler it looks to be 1/8" thick
2. Stick tang
3. Tang goes through the buttcap. Don't know if the tang is peened then sanded over or if the buttcap was press fit on. Either way it is a nice, neat job.
4. Don't think so, but don't know for sure.
5. The knifebreaker that was banned would refer to it as a micro bevel.
I honestly don't know if it shaved when new. I don't put much stock in OOB sharpness.
It aint your knife till you sharpen it :D
Oh, and it shaves now :D
The obligatory beauty shot...
IJ1224.gif
 
R.H.Clark,

I just received the birch bark puukko #1244-bark from ragnar a couple days ago.

The blade 1/8 of an inch thick.

The tang is a rat tail that extends all the way through the solid brass but cap and is sanded flat.

I don't know if it will stain from blood.

The secondary bevel on mine is present at the tip of the blade but is non existant on the rest of the blade. It is very sharp out of the box and will shave.

Wow what a great puukko. I am highly impressed with it. the blade geometry is excellent and the birch bark handle is the best natural material that I have ever felt. There was only one small fit and finish issue, part of the
spacer down by the pommel is missing. It will only take a little wood putty and sanding to fix. In my opinion this is the best production puukko on the market today besides the tommi puukko, which is really more a semi custom blade than a full production blade.

(The knife is a full scandi grind with a secondary bevel. If you sharpen it like a regular scandi grind the secondary bevel will eventually disappear.)
 
Thank you both very much.That is what I needed to see and hear.I'll be ordering one soon before they run out of the birch bark. Do you think with the secondary bevel the edge would hold up better for dressing game? I want this knife but I don't know if I should carry something else to open a deer or hog chest.Sorry for not knowing very much but I've just discovered these beautiful sharp handy blades.
 
It is a sharp knife, secondary bevel or not.
I wouldn't worry about opening a deer or hog with it.
There is much ado make about this grind vs that grind, but thin and sharp is thin and sharp.
I've sharpened mine lightly on a mouse pad with no ill effects.
Heresey, I'm sure.
Don't worry, you'll love the knife.
 
Thank you my friend.You have put my mind at ease. It is too easy to get caught up in these forums where 1/4 inch thick knives used to split logs seems to be common.One shouldn't forget that the traditional Puukko has been used as an all purpose knife for centuries.
 
Ebbtide said:
It is a sharp knife, secondary bevel or not.
There is much ado make about this grind vs that grind, but thin and sharp is thin and sharp.
Click to expand...


Ebbtide,

Good statement I think a lot of the support for convex edges especially as done by Bark River, and Scandi grinds has to do with what you said above. That they are thin and cut great rather than any superiority of the specific grinds tthemselves.

Good way of putting it:thumbup:
 
Thanks everyone.I just ordered the knife!! Ragnar was really nice to talk to.He answered all my questions with patience.
 
I recently bought one of these and I like it a lot.
I was interested to see how well it would hold an edge if the small secondary edge was removed. Firstly, using edgepro I measured the approximate angle of the main bevel. This turned out to be about 7 degrees per side, rising by a couple of degrees towards the tip.
I then laid the blade flat on the main bevel and worked away the secondary bevel by hand on wet and dry paper and then waterstones.
Eventually I was left with a single bevel at 7 degrees per side: wickedly sharp!
Unfortunately, the first attempt at carving some seasoned pine chipped and rolled the edge quite significantly:(
Given that I intend to use it with the odd bit of tough wood, I used the mousemat technique to convex the edge. Now it seems to hold a pretty decent edge at what I would estimate is about 15 degrees per side (convex being a bit difficult to measure on edgepro) an cuts really well.
The handle has a gorgeous feel to it. Definitely a favourite.:cool:
 
I recently saw an Aito for sale. It looked like a bark handle but the tag was marked 1244. Does anyone know if the tags on bark models are marked differently from leather ones? The handle felt velvety. How can I tell if this was bark?

Thanks
 
That was a bark version if it felt velvety.
1244 was the original # for that knife.
As I understand it...
IJ discontinued the bark & replaced it with leather, not changing the model #.
Ragnar had a special run made with bark and had to rename it 1243.

If you dig around Ragnar's site I believe he has the same blade with the more or less standard birch handle.

Ragnar also offers (offered?) an orange oil treatment to seal the birch bark. I've only seen photos of it and it looks like the bark is sealed and very liquid resistant.
 
Ebbtide, thank you for posting the image, a very nice looking knife indeed. About the group shot, what knife is that second from the left?
 
x, I hope it's OK if I call you x ;), that is another IJ, the small fillet knife.
IJpair.gif

There is a larger version too.
Very thin, very sharp, not finished as well as the 1244, but about 1/2 the price.
Gotta look for them though. I bought mine from CanRanger and I don't think he stocks or sells them any longer.

The woodcraft on the right looks like an axe compared to the rest of them, eh?
:D
 
I just got one of the 1244-Bark myself. This knife has a great feel. I'm going to treat the handle with a bee's wax to prevent moisture absorbtion and bring out the colors in the handle.
 
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