Been a while - new stuff

[JVoutilainen]

It's been about five years since my last post, and my knife making hobby has gotten a bit more serious since. Here's some of my latest work.

Reproduction of a late iron age Finnish seax. Laminated blade, cast bronze handle. I had the pleasure to study one of the originals at National Board of Antiquities, Finland. Pretty cool.

Puukko-knife with cryogenically treated Uddeholm Elmax Superclean high carbon stainless steel blade, antler handle and silver bolsters. Through tang construction. Sheath fittings are sterling silver also. I was going for a look that would be a bit "worn" (except the blade, of course).

Simple axe

I made these three for myself

Cheers!

 

[Armored farmer]

Very nice work.

 

[bannockburn]

Excellent work! Love the Puukko-knife!

 

[Barry the Bear]

That puukko puts the cold Steel sisu to shame!

 

[hso]

Well done!

 

[LoonWulf]

Ooooo more things to ogle, VERY nice work.

 

[entropy]

Nice! Well made, beautiful decoration, love the wood of the ax haft.

 

[Brin]

That’s very nice workmanship. Did you make the hatchet head from scratch?

 

[JVoutilainen]

Thank you, everyone! Much appreciated.

@Brin I forged it from a cylindrical roller like this. Good steel and suitable size and weight for the job.

 

[Corpral_Agarn]

Well done!

You don't see a seax everyday, thats for sure!

 

[danez71]

I'm not very knowledgeable with knifes etc but I sure can appreciate the artistry and the skill and labor that went into them.

Very very nice .

Welcome back!

 

[GLOOB]

I'm not sure which one I like the best. I would probably use the axe. And hang the seaxe on a wall, just to see-the-axe. . I would probably carry around the pukko once a year, but I'd find every excuse not to use it, haha.
"Can I borrow your knife?"
"Why, are you dying?"

I feel proud of myself just to have seen these, haha. Nice work.

 

[bikerdoc]

Glad to see you back J.

Take pride ,You captured the soul of your culture with those pieces.

 

[JVoutilainen]

Take pride ,You captured the soul of your culture with those pieces.

Most kind. Thank you, sir.

That is what I have been working towards for years now - reconnecting with the, mostly lost, heritage of my ancestors. The fact that you recognize even a glimmer of that in my work is truly gratifying.

 

[JVoutilainen]

You don't see a seax everyday

Especially a seax of this type. I'm not aware of any other reproduction of this particular type. There might be some, but they are rare, to say the least.

Here is a image of the original blade I photographed at National Board of Antiquities:

Image courtesy of National Board of Antiquities, Finland

As you can see I did not get the decorative pattern quite right the first time. I made it in a hurry, and did not pause to look carefully at what I was doing.

Thank you again, everyone. Really good to hear you enjoy seeing these as much as I enjoy making them

 

[Old Dog]

As a Finnish-American, I just wanted to chime in and say how much I enjoy seeing artifacts and reproductions of my people's heritage ... beautiful work, and my grandfather (an amateur blade-maker himself) would have been proud.

 

[JN01]

Love the seax. Is the brass looped wire piece on the sheath decorative, or does it serve some other purpose?

 

[JVoutilainen]

@Old Dog Thank you, I'm honored. It was quite an experience to be able to study the original, and to hold it in my hands. There is something truly magical about a concrete physical connection like that. The blade had been buried for approximately 1100-1200 years, yet, it was still pretty much intact. Very, very beautiful - so much more than a crude photograph can reveal. Being a bladesmith I could see how it had been forged (and the steel smeltered, before forging), each progressive step, even where the maker struggled. And afterwards, when making the reproduction, it put a smile on my face when I struggled with the same exact issues. Magnificent!

@JN01 very little is known about the sheaths of these Finnish type seax-knives, or Väkipuukkos as we call them. The only clue is that there are no clues. To my knowledge not even a trace of decorative metal fittings, like you would expect with most European seaxes, has ever been found. Based on that it was reasonable to assume that only organic materials had been used. We also know that it was typical for the era to carry these weapons horizontally, cutting edge up. Taking all this into consideration I came up with a sheath that would make horizontal carry possible, with or without the decorative brass loop thingy, which is attached to the sheath with two leather loops and secured with two leather ribbons. I thought that if the metal ornament was not permanently attached to the sheath it would probably have been "recycled", and not buried, with the rest of the weapon and its owner. The fuction of the brass loop is to enable horizontal carry (and add a bit of bling), but it would need addional elements to attach to a belt, for example. Hope that makes any sense.

 

[JN01]

Got it. Aesthetically it ties in nice with the bronze handle.

 

[JVoutilainen]

@JN01 Thanks! It was a last minute addition, but works surprisingly well.

Here's another puukko-knife - a gift for my wife's grandfather. Silver steel (115CrV3), curly birch, sterling silver:

 

[Litlman]

Nice work.

 

[JShirley]

All great work, but that seax...breathtaking. I don't use words like that lightly. It really is amazing.

 

[JVoutilainen]

@JShirley Thanks! It sure is a conversation starter.

I'll have to make some more of these. At least one from good tool steel to see how it performs as a weapon.

 

[JShirley]

5160 might be a good choice

 

[JVoutilainen]

Something like that. The blade is very thin and delicate, only 4mm at the spine close to the handle. I was thinking about austempering the blade for extra toughness next time. The original probably had a softer outer jacket with a hardened core, which allowed the blade to bend instead of snapping in half under stress. That is how I built the reproduction. It would be nice, however, to have something a bit more springy and robust.