There are several, actually, and a regional thing as for varieties, and the puukko/knife in general a national emblem, with own museum, promoted by the state (as with all traditional hand crafts) at state supported schools......and unlike the 1960s/1970s, where handmade a dying art, and a promotional effort just starting in order to save the the art, there are now thousands of aspiring puukkoseppa vying for market attention.
This all should sound very familiar to USA readers, and likewise no suprise that this also has generated a further familiar subset, the art knife versus the traditional work knife...most makers today are concentrated on the minimalist modern art highly polished and perfectly fitted knife.
Then you have old-school such as the Kainuun Puukko and its famous Tommi style, including its long version of Winter War fame, and the style brought to national and international attention by the President of Finland (from the Kainuu region, I believe), from 1956-1982, having a Kainuun Puukko Tommi on his desk and gifting them to visitors....the style now also a nationally recognized thing, and often copied (as are all the regional styles), by makers nationwide, and now by makers literally worldwide since the explosion of knife interest in general.
The lineage of the knife style, being a regional thing, surely actually predates the recognized beginnings by perhaps even generations of influence in what works as for handle shape and blade style, but, a brief synopsis is worthwhile, in order to show the links.... The shop lineage in Hyrynsalmi, Kainuu region was (mid/late 1800s) Halle and son Setti Keränen (early 1900s-post WWII) who trained Antti (actual famous name-brand shop founder of KP-TOMMI in 1950s) and sons Olavi and Alpo Kemppainen who trained and then sold shop to Veijo Käpylä circa late 1980s/early 1990s, who trained and sold shop to Marko Lindelä circa 2010, who moved shop 130 miles east to own home town of he and wife, Oulainen.....back to the founder, Halle was the guy who left the stix of Kainuu and went to work for Fiskars in the mid-1800s at same time new smithing technology/metallurgy was being brought from England, and who studied under the English....but tired of regimented city and factory life, and went back home where he could be his normal Suomi redneck self and drink hard and swap tall tales and smith...his son was famous for the WWII knives....the successors the most famous and responsible for the style becoming recognized and copied nationwide.
As to the latest maker and owner of the shop/name, Marko is true to the heritage....he is not the art knife guy, but a maker of the famous Tommi, as well as a few other styles. His knives are working knives and even in the more finished versions of the Tommi, have no aspirations to perfection of mirror polish and seamless jointing of the art knife crowd, and PLEASE keep in mind his work is MUCH more highly finished than the work of the earlier folk who made the name famous.....he simply does as any traditional puukkoseppa, and does every scrap of it by himself (with exception of fancy/tourista/Sunday barbeque silver bolsters marked suchlike "Finland" and the animal head pommels purchased from a jewlery findings company), otherwise all brass and silver castings, sheaths and birch liners, blades hammered from round barstock of Silversteel (think O-1 Enhanced), and enough forging to reduce and distribute carbides, and 60-61 Rc type edge hardnesses....he makes the types of knives which inspire the owner to carve 2×4s into toothpicks, all day long and in complete comfort, blades which cut like blue blazes, and handle/blade design the result of uncounted generations of regional residents who needed a knife which worked, as near everything away from any city was made from birch or reindeer or moose, whether furniture, bowls, spoons, etc....they designed knives which worked...
The below photos simply and mainly highlight things for scale and contrast....firstly, to show what a difference 1/2" in blade length makes when buying a puukko.....also a quick contrast between the work of rising young knifemaker Tapio Syrjälä who apparently has gone stock removal nowadays and who does impeccable modern art work,..compared to that of a classic maker and his knife as delivered straight from Finland, and still with polishing dreck on brass and wood......also, the sophistication of lines and curves, and perhaps a visual as to why a real puukko needs no guard, the offset of curve peaks of top and bottom handle arches denying any tendency of hand to slide towards blade, and also simply that grasping too far forward simply does not feel right and hand instinctively adjusts to best hold, which also provides best leverage...... Also, this is not, obviously, a higher finished blade, the more rustic type blade a bit more expensive since it requires forging all the way to final thickness rather than to thickness sufficient for grinding to remove all trace of scale or hammer....and ALL blades forged from round bar...no shortcuts....a real puukko......and for the curious, this would be the T55 Tommi Moose model in shorter 100mm length...weight a feathery 4.3 oz bare and beltline pleasing 6 oz sheathed.....his prices for standard classic Tommipuukko circa $170-$260, depending on size....and Marko a very nice late 30s age guy with beautiful wife and growing herd of beautiful children and sole wage earner with wife in school and also new baby.....good knives and good folks....
his wait times are considerable more than the two weeks as stated in the web site he inherited from Veijo would suggest....think more like 6mths......unsure as to why website not changed except a) he speaks rudamentary english and for all i know, does not realize what pages mention the two week wait on english pages and him able to recognize what it says, b) him no manner of website guru, and c) bumper crop family leaves little funds to pay a website guru, and d) too busy making knives and taking care of family to mess with it all...anyhow, email first and find out wait times.....also, several retailers carry the knives, i noted thenovicewoodsman has better prices than you could get after $30 Finnish privitized post
ps- simply a personal note, if not obvious from above text....i consider these knives about the finest true working knife a guy or gal could ever hope to own, and the prices from any of the good smiths are incredibly low considering the handwork and quality of work....and strongly urge anyone and everyone to own at least one..
This all should sound very familiar to USA readers, and likewise no suprise that this also has generated a further familiar subset, the art knife versus the traditional work knife...most makers today are concentrated on the minimalist modern art highly polished and perfectly fitted knife.
Then you have old-school such as the Kainuun Puukko and its famous Tommi style, including its long version of Winter War fame, and the style brought to national and international attention by the President of Finland (from the Kainuu region, I believe), from 1956-1982, having a Kainuun Puukko Tommi on his desk and gifting them to visitors....the style now also a nationally recognized thing, and often copied (as are all the regional styles), by makers nationwide, and now by makers literally worldwide since the explosion of knife interest in general.
The lineage of the knife style, being a regional thing, surely actually predates the recognized beginnings by perhaps even generations of influence in what works as for handle shape and blade style, but, a brief synopsis is worthwhile, in order to show the links.... The shop lineage in Hyrynsalmi, Kainuu region was (mid/late 1800s) Halle and son Setti Keränen (early 1900s-post WWII) who trained Antti (actual famous name-brand shop founder of KP-TOMMI in 1950s) and sons Olavi and Alpo Kemppainen who trained and then sold shop to Veijo Käpylä circa late 1980s/early 1990s, who trained and sold shop to Marko Lindelä circa 2010, who moved shop 130 miles east to own home town of he and wife, Oulainen.....back to the founder, Halle was the guy who left the stix of Kainuu and went to work for Fiskars in the mid-1800s at same time new smithing technology/metallurgy was being brought from England, and who studied under the English....but tired of regimented city and factory life, and went back home where he could be his normal Suomi redneck self and drink hard and swap tall tales and smith...his son was famous for the WWII knives....the successors the most famous and responsible for the style becoming recognized and copied nationwide.
As to the latest maker and owner of the shop/name, Marko is true to the heritage....he is not the art knife guy, but a maker of the famous Tommi, as well as a few other styles. His knives are working knives and even in the more finished versions of the Tommi, have no aspirations to perfection of mirror polish and seamless jointing of the art knife crowd, and PLEASE keep in mind his work is MUCH more highly finished than the work of the earlier folk who made the name famous.....he simply does as any traditional puukkoseppa, and does every scrap of it by himself (with exception of fancy/tourista/Sunday barbeque silver bolsters marked suchlike "Finland" and the animal head pommels purchased from a jewlery findings company), otherwise all brass and silver castings, sheaths and birch liners, blades hammered from round barstock of Silversteel (think O-1 Enhanced), and enough forging to reduce and distribute carbides, and 60-61 Rc type edge hardnesses....he makes the types of knives which inspire the owner to carve 2×4s into toothpicks, all day long and in complete comfort, blades which cut like blue blazes, and handle/blade design the result of uncounted generations of regional residents who needed a knife which worked, as near everything away from any city was made from birch or reindeer or moose, whether furniture, bowls, spoons, etc....they designed knives which worked...
The below photos simply and mainly highlight things for scale and contrast....firstly, to show what a difference 1/2" in blade length makes when buying a puukko.....also a quick contrast between the work of rising young knifemaker Tapio Syrjälä who apparently has gone stock removal nowadays and who does impeccable modern art work,..compared to that of a classic maker and his knife as delivered straight from Finland, and still with polishing dreck on brass and wood......also, the sophistication of lines and curves, and perhaps a visual as to why a real puukko needs no guard, the offset of curve peaks of top and bottom handle arches denying any tendency of hand to slide towards blade, and also simply that grasping too far forward simply does not feel right and hand instinctively adjusts to best hold, which also provides best leverage...... Also, this is not, obviously, a higher finished blade, the more rustic type blade a bit more expensive since it requires forging all the way to final thickness rather than to thickness sufficient for grinding to remove all trace of scale or hammer....and ALL blades forged from round bar...no shortcuts....a real puukko......and for the curious, this would be the T55 Tommi Moose model in shorter 100mm length...weight a feathery 4.3 oz bare and beltline pleasing 6 oz sheathed.....his prices for standard classic Tommipuukko circa $170-$260, depending on size....and Marko a very nice late 30s age guy with beautiful wife and growing herd of beautiful children and sole wage earner with wife in school and also new baby.....good knives and good folks....
his wait times are considerable more than the two weeks as stated in the web site he inherited from Veijo would suggest....think more like 6mths......unsure as to why website not changed except a) he speaks rudamentary english and for all i know, does not realize what pages mention the two week wait on english pages and him able to recognize what it says, b) him no manner of website guru, and c) bumper crop family leaves little funds to pay a website guru, and d) too busy making knives and taking care of family to mess with it all...anyhow, email first and find out wait times.....also, several retailers carry the knives, i noted thenovicewoodsman has better prices than you could get after $30 Finnish privitized post
ps- simply a personal note, if not obvious from above text....i consider these knives about the finest true working knife a guy or gal could ever hope to own, and the prices from any of the good smiths are incredibly low considering the handwork and quality of work....and strongly urge anyone and everyone to own at least one..
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