Heading towards the summer.

Days are getting longer fast, as the arctic is heading towards the midnight sun. We've had some really beautiful days with sunshine again, but has been snowing quite a bit too.

What would my wintertime post be without some pics from sled dog trips?

Just two weeks or so ago almost all the snow fell from the trees because of strong winds. Recent snowfalls made the forests pretty nice again.

January is supposed to be cold here. This year it's been like supposed. For quite a while it was constantly between -25 and -35 celcius. You have to keep you phone and camera near your body, if you want them to work for more than just a short while. 

Always when it's -20c or below, everyone is immediately warming by the fire during lunch or coffee break. When it's warmer, almost everyone stays outside stroking and keeping company to the dogs.

My team enjoys running on a soft layer of fresh snow on recently smoothened trail. Sometimes when tracks get icy you have to put socks on for the dogs, as the paws might start bleeding.

Arriving back to the farm at the Guesthouse Husky

Well, like usually, you got to spend some spare time outside too. So on the skis, and off to the forest on untouched snow!

And after the willow grouse tracks we go. Cloudy days don't make it easy for a human being to spot a white bird on snow.

 

Crafty young dog! He let's the other one to bulldozer his way in soft snow, and then follow the ready path... 

...So no wonder he's full of energy during the break, and has to find something to do.

The hatchet I made last year has been in use a lot. Quite light, but effective enough for my common use. Only change I made was to grind the bevels bit more acute. So far have been happy with it.

 In previous post I mentioned a set of puukkos coming for sale. Well, it seems like it'll go like with Olkiluoto nuclear powerplant in South-West Finland..... it was supposed to be operating in 2009, but still to this date is not. So with this I'm trying to say these knives won't be ready for saly by the end of this month. In this picture blades are roughly ground, and ready for hardening.

Here they're hardened. Easy to see the line of partial quenching.

Blades ready, and some blocks of curly birch sawn for the handles. Blade legths vary from 85 to 98mm. To be continued next week.....

Getting colder

Every winter temperature drops at least to around -40 celcius here in Ivalo-Inari area. Last two days were the coldest of this winter so far. At our home it was only -36, but nearby in marsh areas and on the river it was close to -40.

I like the feeling when it drops below -30 celcius for a while. When skiing or walking all the sounds are different. Trees making cracking sounds. Completely clean and pure feeling. It even feels more justified to spend time inside after working the whole day in cold.

We can almost see the sun! Crossing a marsh on husky trip in the colours of arctic day.

It started getting colder while I was on an overnight trip with 49 dogs, 7 customers, and one more guide.

We spent the night in a cabin on an island on Lake Inari.
The whole night ice was making low roaring-like sounds as cracks were running in thickening ice.

Temperatures varied from -20 to -28 celcius.

Pat and Nero leading the second team.

All husky safaris at Guesthouse Husky are run without the help of snowmobiles, so also all guides are driving dog sleds. On 2 day, 3 day, or even longer trips customers get to know their team bit more when harnessing/unharnessing the dogs, participating in feeding and taking care of their own team.

Half day trip in cold weather. This is what January and February here are supposed to be; cold. Your camera and cellphone needs to be buried under clothing or the batteries will die quickly. Easy to appreciate thick mittens and extra layers of warm clothing.

Then suddenly today it's only -8 celcius! A day off from guidind husky trips, and good temperature for forging in my unheated smithy. This time forged some blades for maasepänpuukkos. This set will come for sale at the end of January, when they're made into ready knives. If you're interested in buying a traditional style Finnish hand made puukko, stay tuned!

New year, a new knife for sale. (SOLD!)

Actually this is the last knife I made in 2015, as it was finished just on Dec 30th, but anyway....
This one is again in typical materials for me; 80CrV2 carbon steel, dyed curly birch, and brass. Black leather sheath with a wooden liner inside for the blade.

Forged and fully sanded, partially quenched blade is 117mm long and 24mm wide. Thickness 4,3mm at the bolster, tapering to 3,8mm on the tip. Scandi grind with small secondary bevel.

Handle lenght 120mm. Width 33mm and thickness 24mm at max.

This knife is sold!

Darkest time of the year.

It literally is, the darkest time of the year here in northern Lapland. Last time we saw the sun just in the beginning of December, and next time we'll see it already in early January! On cloudy days it feels like the day hasn't even started before it's getting dark again. But when the sky is clear, arctic colours can be really stunning.

I've been pretty busy working on sled dog trips again. Here's few pics from a daytrip near Saariselkä ski resort. Crossing a fell area in nice weather.

Two kids travelling in my sledge. Cheering the dogs to pull stronger as we climb up the fellside.

And me cheering the dogs in the teams following us.....

What to do when you want to relax after driving a dogsled? Well, what else but skiing and taking your own dogs out... In the pine forests looking for pine martens and to birch growing areas for willow grouses.

Tracks of a pine marten on fresh snow!

They ended at a group of pines, and Kumu started barking at the trees. I was skiing around them trying to spot if the marten was still there. Couldn't see anything there....

... so I finally had to climb to the tree to make sure if the marten was hiding there. Dogs were barking below, I guess they were sure something will happen as I climbed up. But nothing this time.

So off we go again. Another line of fresh paw prints ahead....

And Kumu quickly forgets how annoyingly deep and soft the snow is for a small dog....

This time tracks lead to a steep cliff. Soft snow is falling under the dog and he can't get forward. Just barking for fresh tracks and frustration of getting stuck.

Finally he got up there by going around the other side. Lots of track around, leading to caves and trees. But nothing else this time either.

Short day of December doesn't seem to be enough for tracking a marten this time. Time to have a break by the fire just before it's getting dark. Kumu seems to be wandering around also during the break, so I open a rain poncho on the snow for them to lay on. It seems to work in keeping him resting for a while.

Friends? Sometimes, and sometimes not. Getting along pretty well, usually only food or treats can lead into more serious disagreements between the two.

As the winter goes on there's more and more snow. Has been warmer than usually I would say, but we haven't had much above zero temperatures. Snow is soft all the way to the ground, both for the dogs and the skier. Sometimes it's Kumu leading, sometimes Pyry.

Sometimes they go their own ways.....

And sometimes they're completely happy just to follow my tracks for a while!

Relaxing scenery behind my back as we ski back towards the cottage.

And the opposite direction, northern side.

For a skier who makes his own tracks there's always an unlimited freedom. Skiing on the tracks you're always following someone else...

... though it looks like Pyry is thinking if the unlimited freedom of bare ground would be better from deep soft snow.....

Knife for sale. ( SOLD! )

This time it's a Lappish influenced knife for sale, a small leuku you could say. A full flared pommel is a common feature in arctic knives, as it makes it much easier to pull the knife out of the sheath also with thick gloves on. Unsheathing with one hand come easier too, as you can get a good grip of the pommel, and pull the knife out with the help of your index finger pushing on the mouth of sheath.

This is not a petite knife. 80CrV2 carbon steel blade measures 121x26,5mm, with thickness being 4,9mm on the bolster, tapering close to 4mm near the tip.

Handle in curly birch and brass is 120mm long. 33,5mm wide and 24mm thick at max. Pommel 39x26mm.

Blade sides are fully sanded before the hardening, but after heat treatments only very lightly sanded and polished. This leaves somewhat lively surface, that can be best seen in the last picture.

This knife is sold, thanks!