Puukko + Leuku

These are my typical works as a maker of Nordic knives. A puukko with 9,5cm carbon steel blade and birch bark + brass handle. Larger knife is a Lappish style leuku, this time with about 22cm blade. In top picture tar oiled curly birch/brass handle, in lower with dyed curly birch/moose antler/ brass.  All my knives have individually made belt carry sheath, with birch wood liner inside to cover the blade.

In leukus a full flared relatively large pommel plays a big role. As a large knife it's meant to be used also in chopping tasks, and this type of pommel prevents the knife from sliding out of the hand even when your grip ain't that tight. It also makes it possible to wield the leuku just by holding it from the pommel. This is important with a bit shorter bladed leukus, to give more leverage for chopping.

In areas where leukus are from, the winter and cold period of the year is very long. So quite often you wear gloves, even very thick ones, so obviously a knife with flared full pommell is much easier to unsheath.

I prefer to make leuku blades few millimeters less in width than the handle, so the knife can be sheathed/unsheathed without compressing the sheath mouth.I find that feature more important than the extra weight near the tip given by the blade widening drastically. This is very common with many leukus, but as well it's quite common to see leukus which have a wider blade and you have to press the mouth of the sheath flat when pulling the knife out. If you want more weight at the front, then I rather forge the blade getting bit thicker towards the tip.

Basic barrel shaped puukko is an all-rounder, very common style in Finnish knife culture. Puukkos with some kind of a pommel are common too, but I would say this barrel shape is the most common in historical point of view. Birch bark provides good grip even when wet, which helps not only in use but also when unsheathing the puukko.

Is the summer coming or not?

It's May. A month of almost hot sunny days, but as well chilly snowing every now and then. Just yesterday it was very warm and summerlike weather. And today around 0 celcius, wet snowing, gray, chilly wind like in October.

Almost all of the snow has melted, but lakes are still mostly covered with ice.

Today I spent most of the day inside. Sewing knife sheaths and watching the rain and snow taking turns. Walked only 2 hours in the forest. Yesterday I saw a first mosquito of the year. No sign of them today in cold weather. I don't miss them, but many birds would find some use for them I'm sure.

A female capercaillie came right in front of the window, looking like just about to ask if there's some food to offer. Hopefully early summer won't be cold and wet like the weather now, as it would mean hard times for nesting.

In the east wing of my company's knife manufacturing facility is the ultra modern professional sheath drying laboratory; the sauna.







Sheaths stithched, left to dry, waiting for tomorrow's dyeing. Now it's good time to bring back some memories from last week's skiing trip in northern parts of Inari municipality. Pretty perfect weather, some skiing, ice fishing, skiing, ice fishing... not bad at all!

My friend hauled his stuff in a pulk...

...and I had a packback, as usually. Not much difference in effeciency, as the snow didn't get really soft at all even during the daytime.

Graylings were a common catch. Some to eat in the evening, and something to take back home too.

It was a last trip on the skis for this season. Even in these northern parts pretty good amount of ground was exposed already. Not really slowing down yet though. But now a week later with raining and temps constantly above 0 it's a different story already there too. Will be on foot and paddling the canoe for the next 6 months. Now waiting for lakes to open for setting fishing nets and getting some fish to table again.

Winter came back...

...and turned to thaw again. Like always in late April and early May here in north Lapland, snow is melting, occassionally raining, sometimes snowing. Just 4 days ago it turned back to the weather of early March or so; warm sunny days, but night temperatures dropped even down to -15 celcius. Bit of fresh snow, and the skiing conditions can't get better.

Yesterday it turned back to normal late spring, raining and warm breeze in the air. South facing hill sides are without snow, but lakes well frozen still.

 

Dogs were bored when having a break during a day trip. They were checking the surroundings, going slowly further away....

When I told them to stay closer, they started playing. Obviously not enough exercise yet.

Sometimes even a 10 year old is ready for a play.

Right place for the skis?

Even with large areas of the ground exposed here and there, skiing is the best way to move around still.

Bread and butter to the craftsman's table

Just got this set of Finnish and a bit of Lappish knife tradition finished. Typical materials in my puukkos and leukus; curly birch, moose and reindeer antler, birch bark and brass.

These knives are not for sale.

Puukkos for sale. ( SOLD! )

Two puukkos looking for a new home. Handles in dyed curly birch and brass, with thin leather spacers. Differentially tempered 80CrV2 carbon steel blades, rhombic cross section. Dark brown leather sheaths with wooden liners for the blade.

Upper one: Blade 81 x 20,5 x 4,7mm. Handle length 113mm. 22,5mm thick and 32mm wide at max.

Lower one: Blade 80 x 20,5 x 4,5mm. Handle 113mm long. Thickness 21,5mm, width 31mm at max.

Both knives are sold!

Still time for winter camping.

Snow is melting fast with warm days and a bit of rain every now and then. Some south facing hillsides have ground exposed already, but otherwise we have a good amount of snow still.

I thought it would be time for my youger dog Kumu to spend his first night in a shelter by the open fire. my older dog Pyry stayed home, as it's good for the young one to make trips without him around all the time. And Pyry has spent countless nights in the wilderness anyways. He didn't look happy though when I left with Kumu....

Nights have been few degrees below zero celcius, easy to ski where ever you like at least around the morning time. Good for the dog too as he can run on the snow like it would be a paved road, otherwise could easily get too heavy for a 7 months old puppy.

Time to set up the camp. When getting off the skis in the evening,

                snow is already pretty soft. And no, this is not a Fiskars ad....

Kumu's idea of helping with the firewood.

Obligatory knife pic in a knife maker's blog....

Easy to start a fire with fatwood, as long as you just find a good stump of fallen pine.

                 My common camp setup in the woods. Savotta Pena laavu, rain poncho on the ground under the mattress. I chose this spot as there had been reindeers digging for lichen, so not that much of snow to remove.

Sun has set. Snow melting in the pot, enough firewood for the evening and next morning. What else does a woodsman need to get one night older.

Later on when it got dark I was already in my sleeping bag, and Kumu finally was ready to lay down after exploring every centimeter around the camp area. It didn't take long before a creepy sound broke the silence! Kumu jumped over me, and ran to the direction of the sound. In this youtube link you can hear the sound and see the answer what made that sound (not my video, just picked it as the voice is exactly the same). Hard to say for sure how far the sound came from, maybe 200-300 meters. It repeated few times, and after a while Kumu came back and laid down again.

But the spring-inspired animals of the forest wouldn't let Kumu to fall asleep that easily.... Then started the concert of few willow grouses in different directions. Kumu had heard this many times before, so I suppose he knew what kind of fellows made this sound. Every time one got loud, Kumu jumped over me and was sighting around the camp. None of the willow grouses was very near, so each time Kumu came back just to jump out again when the next one started. Here's the voice of willow grouse. Again not my video, just a random pick from Youtube.

The show didn't last that long, so we both fell asleep after an hour or so.

Sun rising after I've had my breakfast. Several degrees below zero, promise of good skiing again.

Siperian Jays, typical visitors at campsites everywhere in Lapland, no matter if you're near the villages or in the middle of nowhere. There's always 2 or 3 of them, and with a bit of patience it's possible to feed them from your hand. But having a dog at the camp made it impossible this time.

These droppings tell this is a capercaillie land.

How fun can it be!

Time to head back to the cabin. Warm day and cold night has made a beautiful pattern on the snow.

For sale. ( SOLD! )

        Just got this Lappish / Saami style knife ready today. Hand made all the way, like all my knives.

                             - 115 x 24,5 x 4 mm 80CrV2 fully sanded carbon steel blade. Scandi grind with 

                                a small secondary

                             - Handle in brass, curly birch, reindeer antler, birch bark spacers. Treated with tar/

                                boiled linseed oilmix + gun stock finish.

                             - Handle length 118mm. Width x thickness front 27,5x18,5mm, center 33x22,5mm,

                                pommel 39,5x26,5mm.

                             - Weight knife only 180 grams

                             - Leather sheath with a wooden liner inside for the blade

                                                                            This knife is sold!