The Winter War

In Memoriam: The Winter War November 30 1939 – March 13 1940 

The Winter War began 80 years ago today. The conflict began after the Soviets sought to obtain some Finnish territory, demanding among other concessions that Finland cede substantial border territories in exchange for land elsewhere, claiming security reasons,primarily the protection of Leningrad, 32 km (20 mi) from the Finnish border. Finland refused, so the USSR invaded the country.

The winter of 1939–40 was exceptionally cold with the Karelian Isthmus experiencing a record low temperature of −43 °C (−45 °F) on 16 January 1940.At the beginning of the war, only those Finnish soldiers who were in active service had uniforms and weapons. The rest had to make do with their own clothing, which for many soldiers was their normal winter clothing with a semblance of insignia added. Finnish soldiers were skilled in cross-country skiing.The cold, snow, forest, and long hours of darkness were factors that the Finns could use to their advantage. The Finns dressed in layers, and the ski troopers wore a lightweight white snow cape. This snow camouflage made the ski troopers almost invisible as the Finns executed guerrilla attacks against Soviet columns. At the beginning of the war, Soviet tanks were painted in standard olive drab and men dressed in regular khaki uniforms. Not until late January 1940 did the Soviets paint their equipment white and issue snowsuits to their infantry.

Immediately after the war, Helsinki officially announced 19,576 dead. According to revised estimates in 2005 by Finnish historians, 25,904 people died or went missing and 43,557 were wounded on the Finnish side during the war. The Soviet Union losses were approximately 63,990 dead, 207,538 wounded and frostbites, making total casualties 271,528.

A 1930’s style puukko made by Pekka Tuominen and his grandfather’s military items from The Winter War.  “In this photo is my grandfather Lauri Tuominen’s Winter War medal with SUMMA badge. Summa is one battlefield in Karelian Isthmus 1939-1940
There is also Lauri’s certificate for that medal and original cockade (blue and white rondel) and his military service book.”

 

Henri Tikkanen Yakut Knife

Review by Federico Buldrini

Henri Tikkanen is a young blacksmith living in Pieksämäki and former pupil of Mikko Inkeroinen. This is the first yakut knife crafted by him. For more about the yakut see this earlier post: Yakut

blade
length – 95 mm
width – 18.2 mm
thickness – 6 mm
steel – 1085
bevels – left convex, right concave
edge angle – 21°
hardness – ~ 59 HRC

handle
length – 101 mm
width – 26 mm in the centre
thickness – 19 mm in the centre

weight
knife – 70 g
with sheath – 130 g

The blade was forged with a hand held hammer recycling the steel of an old horse driven plow, with 0.85% C. It has a flat section, slightly tapered in height and thickness. After annealing and normalization it was heated in the gas forge, quenched in oil and tempered in the oven. While the bevels were dipped in oil the spine was tilted out so to be left softer. The bevels are ground to 21°, with just a hint of microbevel.

The handle is crafted from a piece of birch burl. The tang is glued with epoxy and has two little wedges at its sides to make everything the tightest possible. It’s sanded to a fine grit, giving the handle a very smooth and soft feel. It’s strongly tapered in height and thickness towards the blade. The section is oval and fills the hand well.

The hand stitched sheath is crafted from 2,5 mm thick bark tanned leather. Inside there is an alder liner, carved and then sanded. The belt loop is a simple leather strip. The retention is excellent, without becoming excessive.

In use

The knife has a perfectly neutral balance. Right out of the box the edge wasn’t perfectly smooth, so I gave it two passes with rotatory movement on DMT #600, two on DMT #1200 then stropped on Bark River black (#3000) and green (#6000) compound. Between the blade shoulders and the handle there is a tiny 0.5 mm gap.
I also sanded for a minute the spine’s edges with #120 and #180 sandpaper to get a more comfortable surface for thumb pushes.

First off I carved a couple of owls from a three months seasoned hazel branch. No problems in both cases, even though the knife isn’t particularly fast for such tiny projects, given also the tip thickness. There has been some minor resistance when planing the bases, while the knife suffered a bit more when carving the two notches under the facial disks, to start defining the owls abdomens. At the end of the work the edge was pristine. Six passes on Bark River white compound (#12000).

Let’s continue with two seven months old plane wood spikkentrolls. Excellent bite while roughing out the shape and planed three knots  with no problems. I felt a bit of struggle when flattening the base, but as I carved on the struggle actually decreased. When I carved the V notch in the hat, cutting from top to bottom to join the two halves of the notch, with the hollow bevel in contact with the wood, I felt like the edge didn’t have enough material behind it. Despite my feeling the cut was done fast and good. After the first spikkentroll the shaving bite was perfect and the edge pristine.
As for the first one, I felt good bite and ease of work when roughing and refining the cone hat. As with the first one, when doing the stop cuts defining the face and the pon pon I felt the edge separating the fibers definatly less than a V edge. Due to the asymmetrical geometry I also can’t do finishing pull cuts, since, when the concave bevel is in contact with the wood and the knife is pulled towards me, it creates long flat feathers, while I aim for small tight ones. I guess is a matter of habit. Again I felt some struggle caving the face’s notch and planing the base, but nothing big. At the end of the work the edge was perfect while the shaving bite was gone in the first two cm near the handle, the ones I used the most when roughing. Forty passes on white compound and twenty on bare leather.

Let’s continue with a six months poplar wizard. Not much to say, there has been some resistance when carving the three V forming the base for the features and at the end when planing the foot. On the other hand it was more agile than I expected when engraving the sides of the nose and the lip. When cutting perpendicularly to the fibers, removing the feathers created to deepen the Vs, I felt again as if the edge had too little material. Compared to other knives it wasn’t particularly fast.
At the end the edge was perfect and the shaving bite gone in the first two cm near the handle. Fifteen passes on white compound.

Let’s finish with eighteen months silver fir spatula. All the roughing was easy and rather quick, done only with push cuts since the geometry doesn’t allow pull cuts on concave surfaces without biting too deep and breaking the fibers, while on the other hand it did great flattening the spine. The blade thickness allowed for a good wedge effect when I was removing a lot of material to create the lower part of the shaft. The only pull cuts I could do were planing the angular end of the shaft and shaving tiny bits from the end grain in the curve front part of the spatula.

After all the roughing the edge was pristine and the bite untouched.
Easy finishing cuts, always pushing, also when flattening the edges all around, but in the front curve. At the end the edge was still pristine and, again, the bite was decreased only in the first two cm. Twelve passes on white compound.

Conclusions

Excellent first try at the an unknown style by Tikkanen. Comfortable handle and spot on heat treatment. The strong handle taper towards the blade was particularly effective for doing refining push cuts, engaging the wood with the blade curved belly. The asymmetrical geometry kept having a strange feeling; bites well when touches with the convex bevel, planes well touching with the concave bevel, but when asporting material, cutting perpendicularly to the fibers, on a a flat surface, it pulls the little material at the edge, actually feeling a bit underpowered.
An extremely specialized and interesting knife, even though such specialization can sometimes became a limitation. It won’t be the only yakut knife I’ll try, but I doubt I would prefer it to a rhombic section puukko, to me still the best compromise.

Laurent Juhel Maasepän Puukko Review

By Federico Buldrini

Laurent Juhel, born in Cotentin, Normandy, now lives in Bazouges-sous-Hédé, in Brittany. He divides his time between prehistoric archeology, his real profession, and knifemaking. His work as archeologist led him to study, and craft for his own interest, flint knives. After twelve years he started crafting outdoor knives using blades by Antti Mäkinen and Pasi Jaakonaho, having being fascinated by puukkos. In 2018 he started forging his own blades.

blade
length – 87 mm
width – 22 mm
thickness – 2,5 mm at the spine; 3,5 mm at the bevels junction
tang – 6×4 mm
steel – 100Cr6
bevels – minimally convex
edge angle – 15°, with a tiny microbevel
edge hardness – ~ 61 HRC

handle
length – 110 mm
width – 29 mm max.
thickness – 18 mm max.

weight
knife – 80 g
with sheath – 130 g

The blade was forged with hand held hammer from a bar of 100Cr6, it has a very subtle rhombic section, with just a hint of taper in width. After annealing and normalization it was quenched in oil and tempered in the oven. Blade and tang were completely dipped in oil, so hardness is consistent along all the blade structure. Bevels are ground to 15° and sport a hint of microbevel. The curly birch handle is divided, 24 mm from the blade, by three birch bark flaps, while the tang is hammered flat against the back of the handle. The handle is sanded to a fine grit, is slightly tapered in height and thickness towards the blade. It has a marked teardrop section and, even though not particularly thick, fills the hand well. The 2 mm thick leather sheath is hand stitched and has a carved and sanded scots pine liner. The belt loop is a simple twisted leather thong. The retention is excellent, without being excessive making the knife difficult to pull out.

In use

Out of the box I gave six passes on Bark River green compound (#6000) just to have the edge absolutely smooth.

Let’s start with the usual plane wood spikkentrolls. I felt no resistance while carving the first and the cuts always had a smooth surface. Due to the very acute geometry there was a just a bit of resistance while planing the knot. At the end the shaving bite was slightly low, while still actually shaving. Six passes on green compound.
No problems also while carving the second troll, with only a tad of resistance when cutting against the fibers the notch in the hat and while planing the base.
At the end the edge was pristine and still shaving, the bite was just a little bit less aggressive. Six passes on green compound.

Let’s continue with a six months seasoned poplar wizard. There was a bit of resistance when planing the two main facets. Then the puukko was very efficient in carving the features notches, even though the handle, given my way of gripping, is probably just a hair too slim to have a steady grasp when pulling the knife towards myself. To solve this I just had to shift the thumb/fulcrum slightly down the work piece compared to where I usually place it. The thin tip was excellent when engraving the sides of the nose and the lower lip. Finally there was a tad of resistance when planing the base.
At the end of the work the edge was pristine, but the shaving bite was gone. Fifteen passes on green compound restored it.

Let’s finish with the eighteen months seasoned silver fir spatula. There was no particular resistance during the roughing process, but when cutting, from both sides, around the bent bundle of fibers now creating the scalloping on the shaft. At the end of roughing the shaving bite was less incisive only in the first 3 cm of edge, otherwise perfect.
No problems also during the refining cuts; the puukko has always been comfortable and handy.
At the end of all the work the shaving bite was still intact, as said, just a little less keen nearer the handle. Six passes on Bark River white compound restored it completely.

Conclusions

First of all, a due praise to the combination of geometry and heat treatment. Even though the edge is extremely keen, the slightly convexed bevels manage to sustain it excellently, gaining resilience and just a little heft, without losing nothing of the aggressive bite. The blade itself, even if thinner than what it’s usually seen on puukkos this side, doesn’t feel under dimensioned.
The handle, even though not that thick, has always been comfortable and very intuitive in the hand. As said previously the thinness is felt only when pulling the knife towards yourself using the thumb as fulcrum, never otherwise.
Generally speaking, Laurent has given the knife has a very personal touch, while nailing well the Finnish spirit and practicality.