The Puukko

A couple of other Tommis for the reviews. Antti Silvennoinen and Lauri Karjunen.
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I think this was under $5 at an antique mall (I hope that vendor lives forever). The sheath I had lying around may or may not have had a 99-cent filet knife in it originally.
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The bone was so porous that I packed epoxy putty into the front of it and painted clear epoxy finish on the rest of it. The epoxy finish sets slowly, so I was able to put multiple coats on the pores until they stopped blowing air bubbles.
 
RayseM said:
hawkhead hawkhead - Sorry to take up this photo and Puukko info thread for such a question but you aren't someone I can send a PM, so I ask here. Maybe for the benefit of others too. You can PM to me or EMAIL HERE
to keep the thread uncluttered with shop talk. I can edit out all the text and post a puukko photo instead. :)


I see you use Y Puronvarsi blanks on occasion and quite successfully. They end up as beautiful knives - AND - with metal bolsters.
:thumbsup:
I'm working on my 2nd rehandling of a YP blade and for the 2nd time I am being beat up by the condition of the tang, in particular where it meets the shoulders of the blade. :mad: On both of my projects the grind from the blade to the tang was inconsistent - you might say casual. The blade polish - the shiny bit - goes up onto the tang that and there it is considerably thinner than the rest of the tang and then from there, the tang has no consistent thickness or straight edges. The blade shoulders are crooked too. Try as I might to fit a bronze bolster to these blanks I am completely defeated by the extra thin shiny area at the beginning of the tang that creates a hollow. :( I get fitted nicely with no gaps to within the last 1/8" or so of the shoulders and then the blade thickness falls away and I have a hole.

I don't have equipment to reshape the tangs other than some hand files. I do have a grinder but would need a serious jig to allow me to control the thickness. Nonetheless I hand file as much as I can but I simply can't take the entire tang down to the minimal thickness of that hollow area. I end up using a wood "bolster" with epoxy and wood slivers filling the gap(s). Looks OK but not the job of a pro. I think the YP blades don't allow precision work but then I see yours :cool: and I am suitably humbled. I did a recent birch bark handle with bronze bolster on an Ethan Goss blank (there's a photo of it somewhere in this thread) and that was a cake walk by comparison to the YPs. Came out beautifully (so I think). :)

Any secrets you might care to share - other than get more equipment or use other blanks?

Thanks much.
Click to expand...
I apologise RayseM for screwing up. I went through the thread yesterday and saw that I had not responded to you. My response is mostly pictures; so here goes.
Puronvarsi blades do require some work. Yes, the tangs are difficult, but not impossible to clean up. This blade is a 100mm x 28mm Hunter.

I ground the spine flat and square, cleaned up the grinds to remove tool marks and wobbles then slightly reshaped the belly. I set my file guide and ground the rear of the blade square. Then reground the tang so that it was reasonably straight and slightly smaller in thickness than the blade. This make fitting the metal bolster easy. I beveled the spine on this blade.



Hand filing the tang Is futile. The tang is hardened. I(grind) trim the tang to about 90% of the handle length. I do not peen the tangs (the traditional Finnish method). I cut the the hole for the tang leaving about 1/16-3/32" for epoxy. I grind 10 notches in the tang to aid retension. I have not had a failure with this method.
Traveling on the Learning Curve can be precarious some days, but that is part of being a craftsman. We all have a drawer full of mistakes and outright messes. Ask me how I know. You tube has knifemakers who have used Puronvarsi blades; take a look. If I can help with anything, let me know.
 
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