The Puukko

Ahti and Marttiini make decent everyday puukkot at a fair price. Workmanlike and this is how I regard the national knife, of course there are numerous artisans/smiths of varying skill...some make wonderful items and are priced accordingly, but myself I have no interest in spending a lot on a custom puukko. Pocket-knives...that's another matter :D

Not surprisingly, neighbours in Norway, Sweden, Russia produce their own knives but many are influenced by the puukko, and this is homage. As for Mora, well they have their appeal yes...but in the hand they're no match for an inexpensive puukko ;) But I do use an old Mora found in a shed to scrape the crap out of the mower .....
 
A couple oldies, the larger one from Einari Pitkajarvi and the other by Jarvenpaa
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Will Power said:
Ahti and Marttiini make decent everyday puukkot at a fair price. Workmanlike and this is how I regard the national knife, of course there are numerous artisans/smiths of varying skill...some make wonderful items and are priced accordingly, but myself I have no interest in spending a lot on a custom puukko. Pocket-knives...that's another matter :D

Not surprisingly, neighbours in Norway, Sweden, Russia produce their own knives but many are influenced by the puukko, and this is homage. As for Mora, well they have their appeal yes...but in the hand they're no match for an inexpensive puukko ;) But I do use an old Mora found in a shed to scrape the crap out of the mower .....
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Are you Finnish?

I love custom puukko's and the unique sense of taste each maker imparts into their version of it, but you're right... when the actual work comes due I grab my production puukko's like kauhavan and ahti.

However, I've been cheating on them with the carbon mora 106!

Still wish Lauri made a better Tommi blank, it's about time for them to re-tool.
 
screened porch said:
Is that curve in the handle original?
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I have no reason to believe it isn't. There is no sign of damage or handle separation from bending, and all the birchbark pieces seem to be compressed to conform to the handle shape . I have seen several old knives like this from various makers, and both knives shown have a similar bend.
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This is a picture I have saved of a similar knife from Nikolai Somppi
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Arathol said:
I have no reason to believe it isn't. There is no sign of damage or handle separation from bending, and all the birchbark pieces seem to be compressed to conform to the handle shape . I have seen several old knives like this from various makers, and both knives shown have a similar bend.
37MiyNz.jpg

This is a picture I have saved of a similar knife from Nikolai Somppi
IyzfgwY.jpg
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What is this geometry for? What kind of work is more convenient to do with these knives?
 
SwissHeritageCo SwissHeritageCo Yes and that's perhaps why I'm not so besotted by the national knife as a collector's item. Others are welcome to do different . I'm sure there are French people appalled at the idea of lavishing money on custom Laguioles etc when all you need is an Opinel ;)🤣 Opinels are very cool too :thumbsup:

A Arathol Intrigued by your recent knives but I must say I suspect that Birchbark or stacked leather if fallen into water and then dried out fast on a radiator MIGHT warp and bend. Possibly somebody left one in a sauna :eek:🤣 But I've never seen a curved handle made like that so far but it could well be somebody fancied something different. Nice examples anyway. :cool:
 
Arathol said:
A couple oldies, the larger one from Einari Pitkajarvi and the other by Jarvenpaa
CRV2laM.jpg
ZKJMjwM.jpg
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Arathol, I have a Pitkajarvi like yours except the birch bark washer handle does not have a shield on it, and the handle is not bent. I see not reason why a puukko would be made bent like that, would more likely think it had a soft tang that got bent in hard use. John
 
Will Power said:
A Arathol Intrigued by your recent knives but I must say I suspect that Birchbark or stacked leather if fallen into water and then dried out fast on a radiator MIGHT warp and bend. Possibly somebody left one in a sauna :eek:🤣 But I've never seen a curved handle made like that so far but it could well be somebody fancied something different. Nice examples anyway. :cool:
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I'm not so sure....The birchbark handles on the old knives are soaked in a resin to make them more or less waterproof. Thats why they have a reddish look to them. I think that if they got soaked they would just dry without deforming. It would take considerable effort to bend the knife to that extent, and there would be separation of the layers on the outer radius of the bend.
In addition, as noted the handles are different than what you would expect. The handles on all three knives shown have a wide cross section, have a distinct widening at the pommel end and a sweeping belly shape where most have a handle that tapers at both ends with a palm swell in the center as shown in the above comparison. The ergonomics are such that if you lay the handle across your palm it follows the shape of the knuckles, and using a pinch grip the pommel goes right in to the center of the palm. Not sure how much of a coincidence that is.
John A. Larsen said:
Arathol, I have a Pitkajarvi like yours except the birch bark washer handle does not have a shield on it, and the handle is not bent. I see not reason why a puukko would be made bent like that, would more likely think it had a soft tang that got bent in hard use. John
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Maybe if it was a single example, but I have seen quite a few from various makers that are the same. That knife doesn't show much sign of being used, much less used hard.
 
Arathol said:
No idea, but the ergonomics are better than a straight handle. Also, the the handle on the Jarvenpaa is larger than on a normal straight knife of the same size.....
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Wasn't there a puukko, something like 20 years ago that had straight handle and then the blade was leaning back wildly? I can't remember the maker/model but I remember it marketed as whittling knife.
When I do feathersticks I always tend to lean the blade bit towards me for better slicing and I guess that blade position was the idea with the knife.
Little bit off the topic that but I was reminded of that puukko when I saw the pics you posted.

Could the curved handle be some very specific use knife, perhaps knife that was mainly used backwards? Kind of reminds me of swayback knives that are mainly used backwads so that the curve rests in your palm.
 
A.L. said:
Wasn't there a puukko, something like 20 years ago that had straight handle and then the blade was leaning back wildly? I can't remember the maker/model but I remember it marketed as whittling knife.
When I do feathersticks I always tend to lean the blade bit towards me for better slicing and I guess that blade position was the idea with the knife.
Little bit off the topic that but I was reminded of that puukko when I saw the pics you posted.

Could the curved handle be some very specific use knife, perhaps knife that was mainly used backwards? Kind of reminds me of swayback knives that are mainly used backwads so that the curve rests in your palm.
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Yeah my guess would be for wood carving of some sort. All the examples I have come across have the hooked pommel (vaan koukulla I think is the term used in the old catalogs) usually found on vuolupuukkot.
I took a quick look around the internet and found two more similar examples of curved handle knives. I don't think these all somehow just got bent in the exact same manner......
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Arathol said:
Yeah my guess would be for wood carving of some sort. All the examples I have come across have the hooked pommel (vaan koukulla I think is the term used in the old catalogs) usually found on vuolupuukkot.
I took a quick look around the internet and found two more similar examples of curved handle knives. I don't think these all somehow just got bent in the exact same manner......
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icKYQbx.png
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I asked four Finnish knife collectors I know. None of them had seen such handles in catalogs. Such knives can be found at Finnish flea markets. This is due to the thin and soft tang of the blade. And if you wet the birch bark, it swells and the cracks disappear. The sheath you showed above is not original. It was made by the owner later, when the knife was already deformed. Knives with such handles were not produced by manufacturers.
 
maxjeg said:
I asked four Finnish knife collectors I know. None of them had seen such handles in catalogs. Such knives can be found at Finnish flea markets. This is due to the thin and soft tang of the blade. And if you wet the birch bark, it swells and the cracks disappear. The sheath you showed above is not original. It was made by the owner later, when the knife was already deformed. Knives with such handles were not produced by manufacturers.
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I find this a bit hard to believe.....
First, its not that easy to bend these as its not just tang you have to bend. The compressed stacked bark is quite solid and provides a lot of resistance to bending. You would need to compress the bark on inside radius of the handle, which is not possible without further damaging the knife. None of the examples shown show any signs of compression. You could no more bend this handle than you could if it had a wood handle. If birchbark handles were really that fragile you'd think its use would have been short lived, not continued for centuries.
As to the bark swelling when wet, yes it will, but like anything made of wood when it dries it will return to its normal size.
Also, if you were to apply enough pressure to actually bend the handle, you would damage the bolster before you bent the tang. The bolsters on these old knives are mostly just thin brass sheeting formed into a cup and secured in place with molten sulphur, referred to by makers as brimstone. This is the weakest point where the tang would start to bend first.
Many older bark handles are coated with a varnish by the maker. If you were to bend the handle that varnish would crack when the layers separate. If you look at the pictures, the knives that are in good condition show the varnish is intact. I also find it hard to believe that so many similar knives are not just bent but all bent exactly the same.....
Oh, by the way, look on page 206 of Ruusuvuoris book on puukkot.....you'll see just such a knife with a non-symmetrical (bent) birchbark handle that was made by Lahdensuo, dated 1940......so yes, they were being made....
That sheath is most likely original, its not the only one like it I have seen. Some decorations and the date may have been added later but there is no reason to believe that its not original to the knife.
 
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