Properties of a Perfect Puukko

[Martti]

I am fancying to make a new puukko to replace my old battle (conscription service) worn puukko of yesterday. Naturally nothing less of perfect will do, so I began my search of the properties of mythical perfect puukko from Finnish literature and other sources of information. I divided the search into three sub-categories, that is the handle, the blade and the materials they are made of. I left the sheath out of the question for the time being.

If we look into the scientific research done in the field of puukko, we will notice that the far most common puukko type in Medieval city of Turku was 75-85 mm handle combined with 100-110 mm blade, the typical overall length being between 175 - 195 mm. The handle was made either from regular birch or curly birch in most cases. The blade is from carbon steel.

Author Jukka Kemppinen has specified his favourite type of puukko undirectly in his book Puukot. It has a birch bark handle with a curve on the end to allow the user to use it with mittens on his/her hand. Nothing is however mentioned on the blade. The Finnish Defence Forces designed and ordered a batch of combat knifes during the 1950s with following specifications: 220 mm in length (105 mm blade & 115 mm handle), carbon steel blade and curly birch handle with a curve.

105 mm blade seems thus a quite good choice for a blade. It is also readily available through e.g. Lauri in carbon steel. The so called "birch bark month" starts in few weeks in Finland so there will be plenty of birch bark available with anyone with connections to forest owners.

What are your thoughts on the topic?

 

[Wayland]

Interesting quest but I think there are so many different hands and so many different uses that no single design can suit everyone for all jobs.

I'll be interested to see what you come up with though.

 

[Martti]

Interesting quest but I think there are so many different hands and so many different uses that no single design can suit everyone for all jobs.

For this reason I have restricted my quest for puukko and not knives in general, i.e. a knife that can be used to butcher an animal or carve an axe handle in minus 30 degrees centigrade.

 

[juttle]

I think you also need to consider the 'look' of the knife. Personally, a knife with a longer handle than blade looks unbalanced, but also a knife of equal proportions, 95mm blade - 95mm handle, also 'looks' wrong! My personal preference is for something like a 95mm handle with a 105mm blade. It feels better balanced, but it also 'looks' better!

I'm sure that for every person who has ever made, or indeed, used, a knife of this type will have their own personal preferences, and mine won't match that many of them.

This could turn into an interesting debate...

 

[Hoodoo]

Not sure what the perfect puukko is but I know what my two favorites are.

One by Jukka Hankala (a Tommi) and one by Pasi Hurttila.





Both have rounded butts which I prefer over the slotted and I like a birch bark handle best of all. High grind on the blade, a little belly on the blade towards the tip, and a forged rhomboidal blade. Very slight secondary bevel which I lightly convex.

 

[Frederick89]

95-100 mm rhombic blade and 110 mm birch bark handle is fine for me too.

 

[udamiano]

my old one, its about 40 years old

 

[Jimmy Bojangles]

This thread is right up my street, as I am rather anal and obsessive by nature, and never tire of discussing the "perfect" design of any tool! Lol
I have little to no experience of Pukkos though, so would very much appreciate someone explaining what sort of jobs they were/are designed to perform. and are they generally thin bladed like a mora, or relatively thick like a woodlore?

Cheers

Mat

 

[Frederick89]

To put it extremely simple the finnish puukko, like the swedish brukskniv and the norvegian tollekniv was born in early middle age as the all around belt knife of the free man.

So they were most likely used for all those daily works like whitling tools handles, splitting kindlings, skinning etc. Same as today.

There isn't an absolute rule for thickness: it depends on the final porpouse of the knife itself and on blade geometry.

 

[Martti]

I went through some 250 individual puukko measured and photographed for Anssi Ruusuvuori's epic book Puukon historia (which I highly recommend). The oldest are from late 18th century while the newest ones are from the 21st century. What I can see is that the older ones made before the 21st century have a slightly longer handle, about 1/5 longer than the blade.