Balisong The Woodsman

I hope the 109 have taken The Woodsman as the door to getting themselves informed more on Swedish and Finnish and even Norwegian axes and axe use.
 
Ernest DuBois said:
I hope the 109 have taken The Woodsman as the door to getting themselves informed more on Swedish and Finnish and even Norwegian axes and axe use.
Click to expand...

now you got me thinking and I'm curious (or I was curious and now I'm thinking...)

I have become more or less familiar with some of what differentiates some of the traditional Swedish axe types, and some of the traditional Finnish axe types, but I have not come across examples of what makes a Norwegian axe type traditionally Norwegian?

can someone enlighten me as to what makes Norwegian regional axes special, or differentiates them from other Nordic axe types, and other axes generally?

thank you!
 
That is a huge topic with many angles. Even to make sense of the regional variations uses and techniques - which is where I think much of the scholarship tends to focus - within any one of the three countries is a subject of real serious study. And then to include what makes the one axe typically Swedish another Finnish and the last one Norwegian, I'm afraid there are few simple answers to such a fraught proposition. But I think I get what you may be after and this (random ) link might offer some clue or two.

https://www.miljolare.no/aktiviteter/kulturminner/vart/resultater/?a_id=702001
 
Ernest, as someone who studied philosophy, I greatly appreciate the intelligence of that reply

thank you also for random link (indeed helpful)! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

next I'll have to hunt for more of that scholarship. I may have to learn a nordic language while I'm at it...
 
It's out there and through internet magic also accessible, if you've the time. Even getting at some of it superficially will give you insight and dispel much myth and even nonsense, very much worth the effort and of course adding another language to your skills is also time well spent.
 
M B Since I have been spending a little free time going through the petterson files I'll pass on this catalogue from Norway's Mustad Co. It can also give you some ideas about Norwegian conceptions. You might notice as I did the subtitles at toe and heel of the various carpenter axes.
https://yxa.pettersson-vik.se/Tillverkare/Mustad/1950 - Mustad - Katalog.pdf
Or even that the further afield they reach in their assortment the more those subtitles tend to dissipate reminding us of the risks of adventuring too far from home.
 
Ernest DuBois said:
M B Since I have been spending a little free time going through the petterson files I'll pass on this catalogue from Norway's Mustad Co. It can also give you some ideas about Norwegian conceptions. You might notice as I did the subtitles at toe and heel of the various carpenter axes.
https://yxa.pettersson-vik.se/Tillverkare/Mustad/1950 - Mustad - Katalog.pdf
Or even that the further afield they reach in their assortment the more those subtitles tend to dissipate reminding us of the risks of adventuring too far from home.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I appreciate this!

As far as learning about Nordic (Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark) axes and forestry tool, which language do you think would be the most useful for research/learning?

Please take into consideration that I am more of a analytical person than a language person in terms of aptitude (American English is first language, Mexican and Central American Spanish close competitor though now much faded into memory), perhaps my question should be:

What is the most useful language to know in order to learn more about the axes/forestry tools of the Nordic countries for someone who isn't very good at learning new languages and speaks English as a first language?

I imagine the answer won't be Icelandic...

Thanks again!

edit: I lean toward Norwegian first, Finnish second, and Danish/Icelandic/Swedish tie for third, but heaven help me I cannot decide. It seems like either Swedish or Norwegian would be the most useful?
 
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Ernest DuBois said:
https://www.miljolare.no/aktiviteter/kulturminner/vart/resultater/?a_id=702001
Click to expand...

Thank you for the link Ernest DuBois, some truly mouthwatering hatchets! :thumbsup:

C7kOplJ.jpg
 
Well, it is a good question. Objectively we can rule out Finnish since it's not related to the others and so more limited in scope when you refer to the region. When I look on my cereal box's list of ingredients the Norwegian section and Swedish section seem to have more overlap than either do with the Danish or Icelandic and I've never found anything of much interest in Denmark to include tools, but that's just me. Sweden being central and at the same time more integrated might be a practical choice in the matter. It's an opinion and I'd be interested to know what others think about it. And speaking of what's practical, if I recall it the translations from Norwegian to English on google seem to be more reliable but this is not a fixed condition and the Swedish might be catching up.
 
the axe habit is proving so, so much more educational than the knife habit (and that is pretty good too!) :)

I'm going to explore Norwegian for the time being, very tentative like (videos on youtube here and there, replace those silly cat/dog/bird videos that are such seductive distractions)

appreciate any and all advice!
 
I would say swedish (but i might be a bit biased =)) or maybe norwegian. The two languages are very similar, if you are fluent in one of them you can easily understand the other so you get "two for the price of one". And if your purpose is to learn more about axes you should probably be more interested in Swe/Nor/Fin than the other nordic countries (IMO). Reason being that in those countries (swe-nor-fin) is where the manufactoring (and use) of axes have been very prominent. Finnish is another language altogether and i would rule out Icelandic since they mostly use/used other materials than wood when constructing houses = less need for axes = no or very limited production of axes...
 
I hear Swedish and Norwegian are very similar in terms of difficulty/ease of learning for English speakers, easier than Icelandic and Finnish

To be frank, I have made like 0.01% progress one this. tonight I'll see if I can't memorize numbers 1-10 in each language, see what's easier, and go from there
 
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