Text and pics by Reno Lewis
Mikko Inkeroinen is one of twelve FNBE certified Puukkoseppämestari, and he lives and works in the town of Mikkeli, in Eastern Finland. This specific knife is a beautiful take on a Tommi puukko, with forged finish flats, curly birch and a beautiful mottled brown sheath.
Mikko has mentioned before that Tommi puukko is his favourite knife model, so I was excited to see his take on this traditional model with a bit of a twist. To directly quote Mikko’s interview here on the blog:
“I think my mission is to show people that tools can be also beautiful. That is the reason why I make knives. My motto is “form is more important than level of finishing”. My favourite knife model is Tommi-puukko.” -Mikko Inkeroinen, 2013.
Blade
Length – 94mm
Width – 19,8mm at the bolster
Thickness – 3,5mm at spine; 4,3mm at bevel junction at bolster, 2mm at bevel junction at tip.
Tang – 3,5×3,2mm at peening, roughly 15mm wide at bolster
Steel – Böhler 115CrV3 Silversteel
Bevels – Flat
Edge angle -17°
HRC – ~ 60 HRC
Handle
Length – 116mm from bolster to peening, wood is 103mm
Width – 28mm max.
Thickness –22mm max.
Weight
Knife – 96g
With sheath – 146g
This is a somewhat different take on a Tommi puukko, having forge finished flats and a forward canted front bolster. The sheath is also more reminiscent of the war era Tommi puukkos with more subdued colors, compared to the traditional red and black sheaths. It makes for a very handsome package and could as easily pass for a dress knife as it could a serious working tool.
The blade is hammer and anvil forged from a round bar of Böhler 115CrV3 Silversteel with a rhomboid cross section and strong distal taper. The bevels are flat ground to zero at 17°. The blade has a very gradual, sweeping belly which makes for a very powerful cutter which is also capable of great finesse.
The handle is made from curly birch with a 3,75mm thick brass bolster and a 9,75mm long brass pommel. There are no spacers of any kind between the wood and the brass, showing excellent skill in fitting the two materials together. It arrived to me well oiled, and in pristine condition. The handle has a tear drop cross section in the front, a fairly generous midsection palm swell, and turns into an oval cross section towards the pommel, with a distinct taper in both height and width from the center out towards the bolster and pommel. The sections of the handle closest to the bolster and pommel feel a hair too narrow for my hands and might prove to be uncomfortable during powerful cutting.
The sheath, while not the traditional red and black, bares the same distinctive Tommi embossing. It is made from 2mm thick cowhide, with a box style lesta made from what looks to be either birch or alder, carved and sanded to shape. The entrance of the lesta is properly beveled and makes for a very easy to use sheath. The surface of the leather has a polished clear coat, and the inside is left untreated. It is hand saddle stitched with a waxed, braided thread of about 1mm diameter. It is then back-stitched three times and locked off. The sheath also bears Mikko’s makers mark and initials. The belt loop is attached by a brass ring.
First impressions were very good overall. The knife arrived with perfect fit and finish, with a good polish and a well-oiled handle. The bolster to blade fit is perfect, the fit between the bolsters and wood is also perfect, and the fit in the sheath is snappy and tight, without being too tight. The edge, while ground to zero, needed some work on a 6k stone before stropping to bring it up to a usable edge. The tip specifically was quite blunt, but it was easy to tune up in only a few minutes.
In use
This is a somewhat handle heavy puukko, with the point of balance roughly 30mm behind the front bolster. This makes for a very lively and easily controlled blade.
As mentioned above, the edge needed a little bit of work out of the box to be ready for use. A few moments working the very apex on a 6k King KDS stone and finishing on BRKT Black and FlexCut Gold strops had the edge whittling hair with ease.
Beginning with a basic silver birch brand spikkentroll. This wood has been seasoned for 8 years. I noticed a little bit of resistance while making shallow cuts, but little to no resistance making very deep and powerful cuts. The knife left a glossy finish while cutting both with and against the grain. Similarly, the knife bit deep and I felt no significant resistance while freeing the troll from the rest of the branch and flattening the base.
No loss of bite, still rough shaving with no damage. 5 passes FlexCut Gold, back to original shaving edge.
Next up is a simple wizards face. This is only the second time I’ve carved this particular piece, which really let me get a feel for the knife, using different grips and techniques to complete the work. I noticed great control while making long stock removal cuts. Very good aggression and bite while making stop cuts against the grain. The shallow belly and pointy tip was very intuitive to work with here, and made for very easy work. Using a pinch grip was very natural feeling while making stop cuts, as was using a thumb assisted reverse grip. In all, this puukko did very well at this job.
The spine is nicely rounded and polished and was very comfortable to use with an offhand thumb assist while carving.
The knife maintained consistent aggression and bite throughout carving, and would still irregularly shave after the fact, with no damage. 5 passes gold, back to original edge.
Next up is a simple spatula. Like with the wizard, this is only the second time I’ve attempted to carve this piece. The internal curves present a very good challenge to a thin, hard edge.
I split a flat blank out of a seasoned round of Big Leaf Maple, which is about as hard to carve as Silver Birch, just a little more fibrous. The blank split a little thicker to one end, and instead of using a hatchet to thin it out, I decided to put the Tako-Tommi to the test by doing all the stock removal with only the knife.
Very good power making heavy stock removing cuts while thinning the blank down. I also noticed that the blade did not tend to get stuck even if I attempted to take too large of a bite. It did well in this job.
While making the more powerful stock removing cuts, I noticed that the handle nearest the pommel tended to press somewhat painfully into my pinky finger, I believe this is due to how tapered the handle is at both the front and back. Aside from this, the handle indexed very well, and was otherwise very comfortable to use in every grip I needed.
The blade had very good finesse on the inside curves and maintained very good bite and aggression until the very end, where I noticed a sudden distinct lack of bite while beginning to make finishing cuts, as the blade began to jump and skitter, leaving an uneven finish.
At this point I stopped and gave it 5 passes on FlexCut Gold, and the edge came back to life.
After making the finishing cuts, the edge would no longer shave, but suffered no damage. 10 passes gold, back to original shaving edge.
Conclusions
The Tako-Tommi is, in my opinion, a beautiful example of a unique take on a Tommi puukko, without losing sight of its origin. This knife excels at making powerful, deep cuts, but loses nothing when it comes to finesse work thanks to the thin grind, distal taper and shallow belly with a distinct, pointy tip which was perfect for detail work. Both the knife and the sheath are as well thought out as they are well made.
The blade is very well done and held up very well to powerful stock removing cuts, torquing and scraping cuts, and never failed to strop back during use. The shape lends itself very well to both powerful cutting, as well as finesse work with the pointy tip. The handle, while perhaps a tad narrow in certain areas, functioned beautifully with great indexing and only presented signs of fatigue during the most powerful cuts. I noticed no other signs of hotspots forming, or fatigue in any other grip.
In all, a very well made Tommi puukko and sheath with a handsome, somewhat rustic appearance, balanced by a very high level of craftsmanship and fit and finish.
nordiska knivar 