庭仕事の夏休み

フィンランドもだんだんと夏らしくなり、いまリンゴの花が満開です。
On my yard all of the apple tree has got full flower blossoming.

今年は早めに夏休みを取り、今週が最後の週となっております。で、今年は大掛かりなガーデンリアレンジを行いました。
庭のあちらこちらに散らばっている花を開花時期別に仕分けし、一箇所にまとめてフラワーガーデン。そして空いた 場所を耕して家庭菜園を拡張です。

The rearranging of garden is done for now so I can move on to grill fire pit.

菜園にはイチゴ、ジャガイモ、グリーンピース、サラダ菜、ズッキーニ等を植えてみました。これからが楽しみです。


で、夏休みですので勿論アウトドアーな事もちゃんとやってます。月曜日に、自宅近くの湖で今年初のカヌーを楽しんできました。早朝にカヌーを出し、湖を一回りした後、島に上陸。そこで、何の邪魔も入らないゆっくりとした時間を楽しみました。

Haven't been posting about my summer holiday trips but does not mean I have not done any. I was on day trip with my canoe on Monday at small lake near my house.
Took the canoe out on the lake quite early in the morning, did the round trip of the lake before landing on the island.

裏山の撮影をしながら焚き火で昼食を作り、ブッシュクラフト的な釣りをしてみたり…
でも、1番楽しかったのはカヌーだからできる水鳥観察。音を立てずにゆっくりと近づき、湖面でくつろぐ水鳥を間近で見る。今までは経験出来なかった感動です。
did some crafting, made something to eat and just relaxed. But the best part of this day was canoeing. addling quietly makes possible to observe the birds on the lake very close. it was the sensation never have experienced.

次のカヌー予定は明日、友人のメキシカンと共にいってきます。
next canoe trip is tomorrow evening, this time, I am going there with that Mexican friend.

Axe Talk - Use of Axe

This post is the last post of this Axe talk series. At first, i was planing on to write about how nice to use Finnish axe. But I soon realized that writing about that would be totally senseless, because then will be filled with one's preference, situations and conditions.

So, I have changed the topic to "Use of Axe" and would like to talk about an axe as a living tool.


When think of it, the main job of an axe is to split or to chop / fell a tree. And as for Bushcrafters, carving job is also a popular job for an axe.

Well... let me ask you a question;
"How well can you make use out of your axe(s)?"

I thought I have seen quite enough of what can do with axe, but when I saw how Finns have utilized axes in old days, it changed my prospective of axe's versatility. The one place you can see it is from the clips of ISIEN TYÖ. (Just pick any clip in there and most likely you will find some axe in action.)

In there axe is not just for chopping and splitting wood. On the hands of those guys, axe is a true multi tool, or I should lather say "A life tool". Used for making everything you need for farming, forest work and day to day living.

Nessmuk has carried the sets of essential cutting tools, which we call "Nessmuk's trio". It is a set consists of double bit axe, fixed blade knife and folding pocket knife. The idea is that with this set, you should be able to handle / craft all your needs around camp and wood land traveling.
Applying this idea to Finnish old time, then I think it would be like this;
Finnish style axe
Puukko
Bucksaw

As what I have seen, with these tools, Finns really have made all what they need to thrive them life. A house, tools, fixing tasks, processing live stocks, making toys and so on. And the axe was taking the main role on all.
Of cause the puukko was the one which was carried all the time on man's belt and was considered as a most important tool. And as for northern people, Saami, that was leuku. but once men are out in the field, doing the work, an axe was probably never left home, if not, was with the men most of the occasion.

Keeping in mind how the Finnish axes has been used in Finnish land by Finns and look back to what I have written in previous posts of axe talk, Finnish axes have evolved to became the tool for to make living in Finland possible. The Swedish or the American type would have done the job as well, but if needs of doing all that has to be done, with one choice of an axe, then probably there were no more reliable axe than the Finnish axe.

Now all of us bushcrafters, the students of learning the way of nature and skill set of basic way of thriving life in natural environment, knows that skills and tools used in different environments are very similar. But has difference to accommodate the different needs.
This makes me think of that "is the world famous Swedish axe still that good when taken out from Swedish nature?" or "the Nessmuk's trio really enough?".
What if I take Finnish axe in to hard wood forest? Or to the giant size tree forest? Or other way around, taking full size double bit to Finnish nature try to accommodate the needs under the harsh cold weather?

Let me ask you that question again;
"How well can you make use out of your axe(s)?"

クレイジーメキシカン専用プーッコ、ついに完成！

自分用のマトモなナイフが一本欲しい！できれば自作したい！と言われ続けダラダラと一年も先送りしてしまいましたが、ついにクレイジーメキシカン専用プーッコ完成です。(^O^)／

ブレード:古ヤスリから鍛造.
刃渡り; 80mm
刃厚: 5.4mm (元) 4.3mm (ティップ側シノギ)
スカンジフラットグラインド
ハンドル: サンザシ、牛角、レザースペーサー
タング: コンシールドナロータング
全長: 200mm

New equipment

Found a new addition to my gears from my favorite frae market. It is a old back pack and I have been looking for it for some time and finally found the one I can agree on price vs condition.

It is a old SAVOTTA frame back pack. Quite good condition and very much in serviceable.
No damage at all that I can find, only few seams have broken but no immediate fix needed. It has 2 large side pockets and 1 back pocket. Made from rubber back coated canvas and leather straps.

I can see that it has been used a lot, but still functions as good as new. It is amazing that how well it has been made.

Oh, and the best part is that I only paid 7e for this:)

I have been up to so many activities lately...

This year, I am taking my summer holiday quite early. About 2 weeks have past and week and half left.

Some of you who have been following my blog long time may have noticed that the update slows down as when I am on holiday, that is because I fill up my 24h of day with things I need to do and want to do.

In the day time I am at home duty work. This summer is reorganizing garden. Gathering all garden plants to one spot, expanding the vegetable garden, and hopefully can manage to build a fire pit for grilling.

new vegetable garden to be..

Hope to get this fire pit done this summer...

gathering plants to here. use to be filled with annoying large bush.. 

And when raining or too hot to work outside, then extending the storage space on 2nd floor.

Took out wall and there was large space hidden...

Then the night time, I go to basement, making knives, modding outing gears, sharpening axes.. :)


Talking about the knife, I am still at trying to get the satisfactory look on those neck knives. The Makiri neck knife. I am remaking the handle now for the 3rd times. 1st one was getting nicely, but then I clacked it when peening the brass pin. The second one was just did not like the grain of wood, the 3rd one.... Nothing wrong on this one, but I can tell that I will not gonna like this one when I finished, so I am quite sure, I am going to make the 4th one....

I was getting frustrated on this project, so picked up the one I am making it for my best friend "The Crazy Mexican". (See the post http://bushnblade.blogspot.com/2012/04/it-was-easter-holyday-and-has-4-days-of.html#links)

This type blade is not the first time, so coming up fast and no difficulties. So I have tried new materials on this knife.



What do you think?

Blade: forged from old file.

Blade Length; 80mm

Blade thickness; 5.4mm (at bottom) 4.3mm (at tip side)

Scandi grind.

Handle:

Material; Orapihlajat (Crataegus monogyna, known as common hawthorn), cow horn bolster, leather spacer

Tang: concealed narrow tang

Total length: 200mm

Still need to finish the sheath then final polish. But I really like this materials. Especially the wood, it is very hard but not like oak, it has good elasticity as well and I love this color and texture.

Axe Talk - Hanging Finnish Axe

Now, you have seen how much different the Finnish axes are from others. Well… it does not end yet. When comes to replacing helve, the Finnish axe has its own way.

The method of hanging Finnish axes is not much different from other types of axes. Make the helve fit to axe and drive the wedge in. And the most commonly used wedge is also the thin wooden wedge, same as of Swedish or American type. You can see this on nowadays’ hardware store replacement helves and old documentary movies of Finnish folk “ISIEN TYÖ”. 

So I was happily fitting all my Finnish axes with this method, but then I have noticed fom Kellokoski axe that this is not good enough.

The problem is caused by the top opening of eye that it widens in all directions. So if I drive single thin wedge in, on the blade lengthwise of the hole leaves a large gap. Of cause, I can fix this problem by cross wedging with 2 wedges, which what I have done, but Finnish axe have different method to solve this issue.

Do you know what this is? Or how to use it?

I am calling this “The Finnish Wedge”. This wedge is called "Käärmekiila", translated as "Snake wedge"

When I saw this wedge for the first time was on one of the movies from ISIEN TYÖ (Note: I think it was, but now I cannot find which movie clip...). in the book called "Kirves" In that movie clip book , it was explained that, what guys are making are call “Kiila”, means “wedge”. But since it has so different in shape, I did not understand that was for axe.

Then later on, when I was looking at the Finnish army educational document of axe again, there it is, the same wedge described and also how it sits in to tukkapuu (the helve top part sticks out from top of axe).

It is most unusual but makes sense. So here I am, recreating this "Finnish Wedge" "Käärmekiila" to hang Kellokoski N:o12.3.

First, make helve fit to the axe. draw the top eye hole out-line on top end of the helve then start whitering.
also, it seems so that to make shoulder on the on the neck, where the axe sleeve ends, seems to be common. I thought it is a good way to make the sleeve - neck line flash, so made it as so.

notice how rectangle like hexagon it is? Quite long and heavily tapered? this is quite good copy of the inside of the eye.

now, this is the part I am not suite sure, how it should be done. I understand that need to make the diagonal cross cuts on top end of helve. the question is do I need to cut it with saw, or just splitting it...?

I decided to go with just splits.

Then seat the axe and time to drive the wedge in.

Little messy?? I think the reason for that is; there is a 1 extra slit, which was there as I have bought the helve. It is for the normal wedge and that has caused little problem there.
But still, I can tell you for sure that this wedge makes excellent hold. Also because of the shape of wedge, it really should not be needing to glue the wedge to make sure that the wedge does not come out.

This was my first try to recreate this method and *still have some questions need an answer*. But I definitely have confidence on this and can see many benefits. well, I still need to swing this newly fitted axe to confirm what I am feeling of this wedge.


adding this as for revised version:
*still have some questions need an answer*
The one question I had at the time of writing this was "how thick the wedge suppose to be". the answer was on the book "Kirves". it is approximately 1/3 of eye size. so One I made was little too thick, but was close enough.
Still have question on how long it should be... Well, the answer might be on that book, I just need to spend more time reading it with dictionary on my hand.

裏山ブッシュクラフト - #04 ランプ(#04 Lamp)

今回は、森で手に入る材料を使ってランプを2種類作ってみました。
非常に簡単に作れますが、火と油を使いますので、十分に安全を確認して行うようにお願いします。

This time is making bush lamp from the materials you can find in woods. Easy to make, but using oil and fire, so make sure to take all precaution needed.

Axe Talk - Axe Head

Lets move on to see how the axe head is made.

The Eye:
 I think it is quite obvious that the eye shape of Finnish axe is different from any other axes we know and it even makes me say “This is illogical!”

As all we axe lovers and bushcrafters know that eye hole of axe is tapered down to about middle, then opens up towards top opening and the size of both ends are not very much different. But look as the Finnish axe... that is not the case. pay attention to the size difference of both openings.

The eye of the Kellokoski No:12.3.
From top (picture left)  & bottom (picture right)

Here is the eye of the Kellokoski No:12.3. can you see how much it tapers down toward the top?
The narrowest point is located about 1/4 of the depth from the top, then widens, but still about half size of the bottom opening. Billnäs also have same construction in here.

This looks of eye kind of made me worry at the beginning, that how would this hold the head? But once you drive the wedge in, it sets the axe head really well. It could be so that the hole is very long so it creates more friction inside. So far, I am feeling that this is much stronger against the change on helve caused by moist and heat. ( Again, this is my opinion, no base to confirm…)

Other difference on eye is the shape. most of axes have oval or egg shape, but Finnish axe has square-ish hexagon. with my experience, making  round is much more difficult than making angled. Take Japanese axes as an example, those are fitted with rectangle. when making replacement helve, just need to measure the size and cut it straight, then you have the perfectly fitting helve. on the other hand, oval eye need to check the fitting often to make sure, I do not remove too much material. so these Finnish axes falls in somewhere between and so far, I find it easier to make fit than oval eye.

The Sleeve:
I am actually not sure how to call this part but I am calling it “sleeve”. It is the part the helve hole is extended down to cover the part of helve.

Gransfors Bruks Axes and other Swedish axes have this construction but just covering the side of the helve, often triangle shaped and much shorter. The Finnish axes have it to cover all around as it is basically a pipe covering the neck.
Some people say this is good because it protects the neck of helve. It might be so, but I think there is more to it than just protection.
As I have mentioned on previous section that I think this gives more friction to set the helve secured.  Also because of the shape on this section, it gives user a possibility to hold it in chocked position comfortably.
Other advantage I can think of is that even the base of blade is so narrow; it is not compromising the strength and diffuses the stress to helve widely.

Oh, one more thing. You can see the small hole on the sleeve in the picture. That hole is for extra secure the axe on helve by screwing the screw in. I have only seen this hole on Kellokoski axes.

The Poll:

The Poll is also very distinctive feature of the Finnish axes. Not all of them are this way, but almost. It looks like as the extra steel plate was welded on to poll, but according t my knowledge, this part was draw out from axe body. You can see how much mass of material left on this place from the picture attached on "Geometry" section.

I often hear that the poll should not be used as a hammer... well the finish axes are made to take beat as you can see.  It is definitely meant to be used for hammering wooden pegs and so on. I haven't seen Finnish axes with this type of poll has mushroomed big, as you often seen on old axes. 

Geometry:

It would be simply easier to see than by words so here is the picture.

From left;
Kellokoski -12.3
Kellokoski –American
S.A.W small axe
 Unknown swedish type axe
Billnäs - 300
Billnäs - 1123

I think it is quite obvious that the Swedish axes are much thinner… or Finnish axes are much thicker…which ever way you want to say it.

Other thing I would like to point out is the cutting edge. So far, I have only seen them with “V” edge, not convex.

According to the Finnish army educational document of axe (you can see a page of it in here; <http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?141370-Traditional-Finnish-Forest-Axe-(hand-forged)>) the primary edge is 30degree angle and the secondary edge with 50 degrees. So to be accurate, the edge is 2 step V edge or 2 step convex.

As for the sharpenign method, The educational document suggests the sharpening with large hand cranked grinding wheel and this was in fact common method.

To be continued to next post ... "Axe Talk - Hanging Finnish Axe" or "Axe Talk - Using Axe" which ever I finish writing first.

Axe Talk - Helve

Now, let’s look at those Finnish axes in more detail.



Finnish Axe Helves:
I would like to start with the helve because in my opinion, this makes the biggest difference on Finnish axe. from others. Also as I have mentioned on previous post that wrong helve makes the Finnish axe a wrong axe.

Avobe are the photos of Finnish type and Swedish type of helves. Generally, the shape on Finnish type are more straight from the axe head, but suddenly curves on the bottom. The Swedish types are more snaky all over.
Other difference I have notices was the thickness of the helve. I find the Finnish type of helve are generally thinner than Swedish type. It might be difficult to see it from the picture, but if you hold it, the difference is obvious. From the right side of photo, you can see that 80 cm Finnish helve (right most in photo) has about same thickness of 60 cm Swedish helve(2nd right in photo). same goes to Buillnäs N:o 300 v.s S.A.W small axe.

One more thing I would like to add; it is about the material used. I never have seen the Finnish axe with hickory handle. If I go to shop and look for a replacement helve for Finnish axe, all of them are made from birch. On the other hand, the Swedish axes are fitted with hickory. Well, hickory is not a common tree in Finland so this make sence.

Balance of Finnish Axes:
If I understood correctly, on most of axes, there are 2 different balance and are usually located on same location as can see on the picture below.

Balance of an American axe. Balance point is right under the neck of helve.

Two things to notice here.

1: balance point is one, located right under the neck and balancing both helve lengthwise and blade lengthwise.

2: So, when hold the axe from the bottom of the helve, the head easily sits horizontally.

This is same on Swedish type axes.

Now let’s look at the Finnish axes…

 

Billnäs N:o300 with original helve and Kellokoski 12.2 fitted with correct Finnish axe helve.

Notice that both are balancing exactly the same way, but differently from American or Swedish axes. The helve length wise balance is right under the neck like American type, but not balancing blade lengthwise. The edge side of the head is heavier so it points down.  But pay attention to the shot of me holing it from bottom of helve. It balances horizontally. I am not holding those firmly, but more like 3 finger grip.  This balance comes from extra curvature on the end of the Finnish style helve. To confirm this theory, I have tested with the Billnäs N:o1123, which has the Swedish type helve.

As you can see from the picture, no position makes the axe head balanced horizontally. there fore the Swedish style helves are not suited for using on Finnish Axes.

I must admit that I only have very limited amount of samples on my hand to test to draw such conclusion. But so far, this has shown clear indication of difference, that might be good idea to take in consideration when replacing the Finnish axe helve.

To be continued to the next post "Axe Talk - Axe Head"

I am in Rauma now.

I am in Rauma, staying over night at camping place tonight so my dog can participate the dog show.

Expecting the rain tonight, so set up poncho as a tarp on top of tent. Mmmm.... Looks very hobo shelter now...

Axe Talk - Kellokoski

Kellokoski:

This image is taken from the Kellokoskicatalog of year 1922.

History in brief:

(Note: My skill of Finnish language sucks; I might understand it wrong….)

- In 1750’s, the development of Kellokoski has started around the mansion of Kellokoski
Starting from the development of farming and livestock industry, the are grew to become a viledge of kellokoski in 1795. The Kellokoski tehdas or Mariefors Bruk, knowne as Kellokoski was the first manufacturing plant build in the area.

- The production plant has enjoyed its peak in mid-1800 with rod metal as the major product. But toward the end of 1800, the production downsized. Only forge works were in production at that time and in 1895, Kellokoski ironworks bankruptcies.

- Following year 1896, the owner changes to John ja Carl Fredrik Carlander brathers and the Kellokoski factory was moved to new location.

- In 1962, the owner ship of the factory moves to Fiskars and in 1980’s, the mass production ends its work.

(source: http://www.tuusula.fi/)

It seems so that Kellokoski was larger scale operation than Billnäs was. Also so far, I have seen Kellokoski’s axes and tools more available in flea markets.

Kellokoski axes. From top right; N:o12.2, N:o20.3, N:o12.3

In the picture above, you can see 3 Kellokoski axes. All of them are similar in size as about 1.5kg. On the Kellokoski catalog of year 1922,N:o12.2 and N:o12.3 are listed as N:o12/2 and N:o12/3. According to my source, after the changes of lineups due to the production decrease, the numbering system has changed from using “/” to “.”. The model N:o20.3 is not listed on the catalog, so assuming that is a model came after the model lineup changes.

Among these axes, the model N:o20.3 has totally different shape from lest of axes. Because this axe is not a Finnish type. If look in to the catalog page 7, similar axes are categorized as an American axe.

No punch out marking at all on the axe

The interesting thing about Kellokoski axes is that no punch out marking found on the axe. Only markings I can see are the forging marks.
Estimating that all of these axes are not that old, yet not new enough to be made mass production line. This makes me wonder "How late were they with implementing the mass production line…".

I have visited town of Fiskars last summer and I was lucky to run in to the special exhibition of “tools”. It was exhibited by Fiskars and had items that were come from Fiskars production.

Among those items, there was a display of axe forging process. And the sample axes were from Kellokoski. 

Kellokoski axe forging process. Picture taken at “Fiskars tools exhibition” in town of Fiskars.

Unfortunately,  there was no mention of the Year made but being able to see such forging sample left for display and are in possession of Fiskarse, I am assuming that are from Fiskars era of Kellokoski.

Unable to see the punch cut markings on axes I own and those samples under Fiskars archive..., it is very much possible that Kellokoski has produced their axes by forging them till the end of factory history. 

Not having mass production line till 1980’s… I find it quite amazing.

To be continued to the next post "Axe Talk - Helve".

Axe Talk - Billnäs

Probably, I am not very suited person to talk about this topic as I am not experienced as much as other hundreds, if not thousands of axe man, woods man and bushcrafters out there.  But I have not seen much information about Finnish axes on internet and I start noticing growing interest on Finnish axes. So I decided to share what I know and my thoughts about Finnish axes.

Please understand that information you will see might not be true / correct because I am writing these post based on my research (which is very limited due to my lack of language skill and limited access to information) and observation. Some are what I see, feel and speculate and other are based on what I read or heard. I will provide the information source if possible. If not, I will state that the information is by speculation and/or observation.



Finnish axes:

If you hear "Finnish axes", the first picture comes to your mind probably is the modern Fiskars axes. Those really are excellent axes; affordable, available, easy to maintain, cuts and sprits well, light weight and almost indestructible. But that is not kind of axe I am going to talk about it in here. What I would like to talk about is the good old / traditional Finnish axes.



Different traditional axes



In the picture, you see  Finnish axes and Swedish axes.  The one on right most is unknown in origin. There is no traceable making on it except that it most likely a smith forged.

As you can see that Finnish axes have quite distinctive look. Narrow and long blade shape, top tip of the blade edge is lower than top of axe, has sleeve on eye….  But before moving on to look at each axes, I would like to point out that all of these axes are factory made (except the right most one) and it is quite safe to say that these are “hardware store axe” of that time.

Let’s look at the each axes closer.

Billnäs:

This image is taken from the Billnäs catalog of year 1928.

History in brief:

- Billnäs Bruk or Billnäsin tehtaan osakeyhtiö (Billnäs Ironworks), knowne as "Billnäs" was founded in June 1641 by Carl Billsten, the founder of Billnäs Ironworks.

- Billnäs moved to Hisinger family's possession in 1723. Johan Hisinger was especially active in building and developing the Ironworks’ operations.

- In 1883 the ownership of the Ironworks moved to Fridolf Leopold Hisinger. With the influence of the new owner, the old workshops were turned over to production plants and the production focused on doorknobs, axes, picks etc. In the busiest year 

- in 1915 the Ironworks employed 1072 people. The production of the office furniture started in Billnas in 1909.

- In 1920 the Billnas Ironworks was incorporated into Fiskars Corporation. The manufacture of old tools was continued. 

- In the late 1970s the old manufacturing facilities of the Ironworks became obsolete to the use of modern industry and the operations in the Ironworks decreased in the mid- 1980s.
And in 1983, the Billnas Ironworks has forged the last axe.

(source: http://www.billnas.fi/fi/index.php)

No. 300 (left) 800g and No. 1123 (Right) 1200g

And here, I have got 2 axes from different period. The model N:o 300 has clear characteristics of mass manufacturing period. But the model seems to be existed since 1928 with different N:o.  checking from the Billnäs catalog of year 1928. There is a model N:o 61/2. Which has the same profile and specification. So it could assume that the one I got was after the reduction of product range.

The Other one, N:o 1123. This was estimated as the model from pre-chainsaw era. (by the person who is more knowledgeable on this topic). As I have got this axe, it did not have the characteristics of mass manufacturing. Also the model number is punched with old numbering system.

With the punch out mark on left and right without.

The N:o 1123 was little modified by me. The sleeve goes to helve as can see on  N:o 300 was cut off about 1cm short. I have done this to fix the unbalance caused by shortened blade length.
On the other hand, N:o 300 is varialble specimen as near perfect in condition. It has the head mass of almost same as when manufactured (assuming N:o 61/2 on year 1928 catalog is the equivalent model). Also the helve seems to be original Billnäs standard parts. (assumption based on “Luettelo Billnas'in Takeista 1928_01_01_1928.pdf” Page 77).

I must confess that at the time I got N:o 1123, My knowledge of re-handling Finnish axe was none. So the one you see on picture is fitted with Swedish style helve. Which makes this N:o 1123 a not great axe. Why? The reason was hidden in N:o 300.... but I will talk about that later.

To be continued to the next post, "Axe Talk - Kellokoski".