Sunday, February 14, 2016

They're Finnish puukkos, and for sale! (Sold)

So here are these maasepänpuukkos for sale. All handles in oiled curly birch. Blades 80CrV2 carbon steel. Scandi grind with tiny secondary bevel.

First one has a sheath ready, stained dark brown. For others I'll make their sheaths when the new owner has decided if it'll be red-brown, dark brown, or black. Slight variation in prices comes from the grade of timber.

Shipping costs plus possible PayPal fee will be added on total.

All sold, thank you!


No1  90 x 22mm blade. Handle 110mm long. 30,5mm wide and 23mm thick at max.
Sold!



No2   86 x 21,5mm blade. Handle lenght 110mm. 30mm wide and 22mm thick at max.
Sold!


   No3    81 x 21mm blade. 110mm handle, max 30,5mm wide and 22,5mm thick.
Sold!


No4    88 x 21,5mm blade. 110mm handle, width 29,5mm and thickness 22,5mm at max.
Sold!


No5   Blade 98 x 22mm. Handle 110mm long, 30,5mm wide and 23mm thick at max.
Sold!


No6    Blade 90 x 22mm. Handle 110mm long, 30mm wide and 22mm thick at max.
Sold!


No7   Blade 86 x 21mm. Handle 109mm long, 29,5mm wide and 22,5mm thick at max.
Sold!


No8   Blade 87 x 21mm. Handle 110mm long, 30mm wide and 22,5mm thick at max.
Sold!


No9    93 x 22mm blade. 110mm long handle, 31mm wide and 22mm thick at max.
Sold!


Pinky and Benji are curious to see how this puukko sale goes on..... 


Friday, February 5, 2016

Maasepänpuukko work in progress.


Life goes on, and so does the knife work. As you might have seen on my last post, blades for this set of maasepänpuukkos got ready, so it was time to work with the handles.

Maasepänpuukko is a basic, traditional type Finnish knife. It has only what a user knife needs; a blade, simple handle, and the sheath to carry it safely. This kind of puukkos were used for pretty much everything where man needed a cutting tool.

 
Fitting the blade in a block of curly birch. This time the work is done with a drill and needle rasps. End of the tang is pointed like a nail, and last centimer is hammered in.

Blades fixed in handle blocks. Shaping is done on a belt sander, followed by hand sanding.

Working in my knife laboratory, enjoying the luxury of air conditioning.

Handles shaped.

 Into an oil bath they go....

 And hung out to dry after several hours.

One has a sheath ready, to give an idea what they'll look like. Rest will have their sheaths when the new owner has decided on the colour. I'll post these up for sale on next Saturday, February 13th.




Friday, January 29, 2016

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.....




Friday, January 8, 2016

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!