Scandinavian fixed-blades

[Desktop]

Hi,
I'm new to this forum and thought I might introduce myself and also post some knife pics. Here are some vintage Scandinavian nickel-silver knives most of which I've had in my collection since the mid 1970s. Enjoy!

[jonet143]

welcome, desktop! cool collection.

[carvin don]

Neat knives

[Hukk]

Welcome aboard, I enjoyed seeing your Scandi or Puukko's. A knife I enjoy making, but so far none with such fancy nickle silver trappings. Just some fancy wood handles and down the road, I need to make more, I just don't know when.

Welcome to AAPK!

[Froggyedge]

Swedish all of them I believe. Number four from the left is quite special!

Do you collect Scandinavian knives?

[Hukk]

You're probably right! I've never seen a Puukko with so much silver. MAYBE - I can change that - uh sometime next year. I need to take a month for MY STUFF. Get the Elk Hunters and Christmas (Finland ) Presents done. Then, it's time for my stuff. There is a site on ebay that sells fancy guards and ferrules - but he charges way to much for shipping. I can buy it cheaper in Europe, he's so high.

Some nice supplies https://www.brisa.fi/portal/index.php?o ... e&Itemid=1

Nice handmade Ferrules and guards I'd like to have a few to play with some day. https://www.brisa.fi/portal/index.php?o ... anguage=en

I've seen some absolutely awesome knifemakers from the Scandanavian countries. No Bowies that I've seen but some great cutlers.

[Desktop]

Swedish all of them I believe. Number four from the left is quite special!

Do you collect Scandinavian knives?

Yes, you're correct! They're all from Sweden. Number 4 from the left was made by a Finnish knife maker, I think it was done in the 70s but it could be as old as the 60s. Simple design and engraving but very elegant. Not sure but there might be other sizes of this knife. This is the only one I've seen in person and I've had it since the early 70s. I do have about 10 or so Scandinavian knives still in my collection but I haven't bought one in years.

[Desktop]

I've seen some absolutely awesome knifemakers from the Scandanavian countries. No Bowies that I've seen but some great cutlers.

Yes, there are a lot of very skilled knife makers in Scandinavia. I would love to have some nickel-silver knives from Norway, the design and engraving is just spectacular!!
Here is an old knife that came from Denmark I believe (I could be wrong) and sold on auction earlier this year. I believe it brought the highest amount ever for a fixed-blade knife, something on the order of $12000 (give or take a few). It's a beauty. Unfortunately, I can't remember the story about the maker and exactly when it was made. But I do think the maker's name was Magnus Hanson and the knife is vintage.

Magnus Hanson_knfie.JPG (75.41 KiB) Viewed 9032 times

[Froggyedge]

Hukk,
I don't collect puukkos, but I do like them a lot. One of the first knives that I purchased for my savings as a kid was a horsehead puukko. Sadly, I don't have that knife anymore, but I know that it is still in use and still going strong.

In “How much knife do you need?” you wrote

In Finland, in the days gone by the passage to adulthood was marked by the gift of a Puukko to both men and women.

A very nice tradition!

I stumbled across this “puukko-lady” some time ago. Knives are for girls too!

http://finnish-puukko.blogspot.com/2007 ... ol-of.html

[justold52]

Now thats a lovely group of blades and sheaths.

Thank you very much for showing them.

I have one Helle Safair HE 35 Curly Birch 3 layers steel 9 1/2 ",

that I enjoy holding and foundling.

[Desktop]

Hukk,
I don't collect puukkos, but I do like them a lot. One of the first knives that I purchased for my savings as a kid was a horsehead puukko. Sadly, I don't have that knife anymore, but I know that it is still in use and still going strong.

Here is a small old horsehead puukko that's been in my family since the 30s or 40s I believe, not sure exactly when it was bought. I got if from my aunt and it was her father's, she's 94 now. The large Sami knife I bought new from the maker in 1982. It's been in the collection and unused ever since.

[Froggyedge]

Here is an old knife that came from Denmark I believe (I could be wrong) and sold on auction earlier this year. I believe it brought the highest amount ever for a fixed-blade knife, something on the order of $12000 (give or take a few). It's a beauty. Unfortunately, I can't remember the story about the maker and exactly when it was made. But I do think the maker's name was Magnus Hanson and the knife is vintage.

The knife is made by a Norwegian and his name was Magnus Hansen. But you are also right stating that the knife came from Denmark. Magnus Hansen was born in the county Troms in northern Norway in 1835 but he later moved to Copenhagen in Denmark and made most of his knives there.

This is a detail from the sheath of the same knife, where you can see “Riksløven” – The Norwegian Lion holding an axe.

Magnus Hansen Riksløven.jpg (80.07 KiB) Viewed 8942 times

If you don't like history, skip the rest…

A standing lion, holding an axe..???
Yes, and it's actually a very old Norwegian symbol, the Coat of Arms of Norway, first used by King Eirik Magnusson in 1280. The lion and the crown of course symbolize a king, but the axe is interesting.
In 1030 King Olav (or Olaf) Haraldsson was killed in the Battle of Stiklestad. He received three severe wounds, one of them by an axe, and died leaning against a large stone.
Olaf is held to be the driving force behind Norway's final conversion to Christianity. Miracles were said to happen and he was declared a holy man and became the patron saint of Norway. (Olav the Holy, Olav the Saint, Saint Olav)
The axe the lion is holding then is the Martyr Axe of St. Olav, the king often referred to as the eternal king of Norway.

The Norwegian Lion as it looked in 1285

Riksløven 1285.jpg (22.78 KiB) Viewed 8939 times

The Norwegian Lion - current version

[Desktop]

Thanks Froggyedge!
I'm glad I wasn't too far off when I described the knife. I only had the picture - never wrote down any details when I heard it the first time.
I love history and thank you very much for the information!
DT

[Hukk]

Now thats a lovely group of blades and sheaths.

Thank you very much for showing them.

I have one Helle Safair HE 35 Curly Birch 3 layers steel 9 1/2 ",

that I enjoy holding and foundling.

Some of those Helle 3 layer knives have the center layer hardened to 63RC!

I will have to take a picture of a couple of mine, one is a horse head.

[Hukk]

Here are a couple of knives from Finland at least the knives are marked as such. The leather sheath for the horse head knife is not an original for that knife. I think it was made in Norway. I can't read the stamp in the belt loop on the back very well and it looks to say Norway.

I like the feel of the larger knife (Kauhavan Puukkopaja) and it has a razor edge. The top is antler, I can see the texture while the bottom of the handle appears to be bone. Holding them in my hand, I can tell a difference in texture.

[Froggyedge]

Definitely not the original sheath for that Horsehead! It should look like the one Desktop has. My old Horsehead looks just like the one you have, but white instead of red on the handle. The sheath is exactly like Desktop’s. Not possible for me to determine from the picture, but it may very well be Norwegian.

[Hukk]

I've been wanting to make a Saamiknife from this tutorial and a Saamisheath from tutorials from the same site.
https://www.brisa.fi/portal/index.php?o ... &Itemid=20

https://www.brisa.fi/portal/index.php?o ... &Itemid=22

I've been meaning to join the Brittish Blades site for the Scandinavian Blades for about a year but I only have so much time - I'll find a way, there is about a dozen things I've been going to do. Pearl tutorial coming soon, but first I'd like to show how I make a template for shields, I have a knife picked out and I have 2 sheild templates I will make. Better to make a mistake on a steel template than on a piece of pearl. That's coming up, I've just been swamped.

I need to redo my compressed air system, they don't make the stuff I used to have (just as well - cracked polycarbonate bowl). I will set it up so I have 2 tanks in series configuration and can pull 140 psi, 90 psi and 40 psi just by chosing which connector I plug into - and a regulator if I need something diferrent. Guess what I'm doing tommorow?

[Froggyedge]

Looks like a great knife and a typical Sami knife of the smaller kind. In Norway the bigger Sami knives (in Nowegian “Samekniv”, In Finnish “Leuku” and in the Sami language “stuorra niibi”) are more recognized than the smaller kind, but for most everyday knifework (not being a reindeer herder…) the smaller kind is the more practical.

The traditional Sami knives have a long history and the designs are very old.

This is one I think sold for more than $1700 on an auction a couple of years back.
(Personally I find it hard to believe that it is really that old…)

[Desktop]

Wow!
That's a very nice old one Froggyedge!

[Hukk]

That is a beautiful knife and sheath, hard to put into words! One of these days, I will make one somewhat similar - have the stuff - my time doesn't belong to me.

[Froggyedge]

Speaking of Sami knives…

Maker of the most recognized Sami knives of the big kind in Norway is the Strømeng family. They have been making these knives for six generations.
Current selection of Sami knives from Strømeng.

Srømeng.jpg (97.14 KiB) Viewed 7068 times

These knives are almost a part of the old national costume (in Norwegian “samekofte”) of the Sami people of northern Norway.

kofte og kniv.jpg (17.16 KiB) Viewed 7067 times

In this Sami Kindergarten the kids are taught about the use and handling of the big Sami knives at an early age.

Sami Kindergarten.jpg (34.3 KiB) Viewed 7067 times

I came across an article about the Strømeng knives today.
In this picture the upper knife is a new one, the Strømeng knife below is more than a hundred years old.

Strømeng new and old.JPG (11.91 KiB) Viewed 7067 times

Hjalmar Strømeng is holding one of his knives and is telling about the directions he received when he took over the knife making business from his uncle Isak in 1988.
The old knifesmith allowed him to make changes in the ways of business, but never ever should he to stop using brass on the big Sami knives.
According to old Sami tradition brass is a sacred metal with magical properties.
The brass on the knife can keep evil spirits away, and the brass also has healing powers and can be used to stop bleeding, remove abscesses and take away pain.

Hjalmar Strømeng.JPG (14.67 KiB) Viewed 7067 times

[Desktop]

Nice knives and some very interesting information Froggyedge!
Thanks for posting!

[Mossdancer]

Hi;
Just noticed this thread and thought I would post a Swedish Knife I was given a few years ago.
moss

[justold52]

"Some of those Helle 3 layer knives have the center layer hardened to 63RC!" HUKK said and thanks for that info.

I think they would make a gr8 knife for Sunburst to use on his pigs when his son goes hunting. He said the hair in the pigs has a lot of dirt on them and was very had on a knife edge.

I tryed to give my son a Puukko but he did not like the sheath that did not hold the knife to his thigh. I see most of these shown also flop on the sides of the thighs. I am sure there is a good reason for it.

Any one here know why ?

[Mossdancer]

Legend has it that when hung over the kids bedroom door the rustle in the wind would scare away the evil spirits.
moss