How to take good care of your knife

Make sure the knife is dry before putting it back in its sheath. The knife should be sharpened regularly. Do not wash any of our products in a dishwasher.

Carbon steel blade: It is important to dry the knife well after using. The blade should be regularly treated using a thin coating of unsalted oil. Cooking oil is ideal for this purpose.

Warranty

Quality is extremely important for Riipi Puukko. Our knives have been made to last. We give a 5-year guarantee for our products. The warranty does not concern defects that have been caused by misuse, e.g. rusting of blade.

Parts of the knife

The Blade 

The right kind of blade assures the functionality and longevity of the knife. We have chosen only the blades tested to be good for our selection. Whichever knife or blade you choose, your selection will be safe and right for a usage knife.      

The blades are made for us by Laurin Metalli based in Kauhava and by village blacksmith Toivo Jaaranen.

BLADE MATERIALS:

Carbon steel

The carbon steel blade is best suited for hunting and recreational use. The blade is easy to sharpen, but requires care to ensure the blade does not rust. It is important to dry the knife well after using.

Stanless steel

Stainless steel is an excellent choice especially for fishing and basic use. The blade is more challenging to sharpen than carbon steel.

In use it is more carefree thanks to its stainless steel.

Damascus steel

Damascus steel is the Ferrari of blades. It is really distinguished steel, one of world’s most best quality steels. Damascus is made of many different kinds of steel. It is stainless and can even take seawater. It keeps sharp and has to be sharpened seldom.  

In addition to service capabilities the blade has a fantastic look. Damascus steel is almost maintenance-free.  

BLADE MANUFACTURERS:

Village Blacksmith Toivo Jaaranen

Toivo Jaaranen is a fourth generation blacksmith. His workshop is located in the village of Turtola in the Pello Municipality.

His blades are held in high esteem and are well-known all over the world.

Puronvarsi / Yp taonta

In the brook family, the work of a blacksmith began as early as the 1850s. The skill of forging has been passed down
from generation to generation. This is how Yrjö Puronvarsi, the founder of Yp Taonna, also learned his lessons. 
Yp Taonna's blades can be seen in several Finnish knives. With the change of generation, the blacksmith's work has 
continued with Antti Mäkinen, Yrjö's grandson. Antti is a six generation blacksmith. 

Laurin Metalli blades

The material used for the carbon blades is high carbon steel with a carbon content of 0.8% and hardened to 59–60 HRC. The blades stay sharp for a long time and are easy to sharpen.

The stainless steel blades are hardened to 57–58 HRC.

LENGTH OF THE BLADE:  

The length of the blade has a big effect on the use of the knife. The length of the blade is best when it’s chosen according to usage.

Below is information on how to choose the length. The measures are directional, and there is no right length for a usage, but it can hint you on what kind of blade we recommend to each use.      

Handles  

We build the handles by hand, The design of the handle is precision work because it defines how the knife will fit in your hand. We do not use e.g. lathe, but the design of every handle is precisely and uniquely finished.  

The handles for our knives are treated with wood wax. We never use varnish for coating the handles, because when the knife gets wet the varnish will eventually start to chip away.

Thickness of the handle  

The length of the handles in out knives is constant except for children’s knife and whittle.    

The thickness of the handle may be affected in our knife machine. The most common thickness is traditional. This is for most users. Thinner handle is for children to adolescents and for people with small hands. The tick handle is for people who have a clearly larger hand.    

Design of the knife handle  

The design of the knife handle is particularly for the experienced knife handler a matter of taste.

For inexperienced knife handler we recommend a shaped or especially shaped handle.

HANDLE MATERIALS:

Curly birch

Our knife collection uses two different types of curly birch. The so-called extreme curly birch has more than normal curly patterns. Curly birch is ideal for use as the material for the knife handle as it is durable as well as handsome.

Birch burl

Birch burl is light in colour and a beautiful looking material. The birch burl has wood grain that forms plenty of different patterns. We use birch burl that comes from Lapland. We dry and treat some of the birch burl ourselves. The largest birch burl we currently have in stock is over a metre in diameter.

Applewood

Applewood is an elegant, hard and durable wood. The wood has two shades, which makes it an interesting material for knife handles.

Mountain-ash

Mountain-ash is a material held in high esteem, and is durable, tough and handsome. In addition to being used for knife handles, mountain-ash is also used in wooden mallet hammer heads. Ancient beliefs say that the mountain-ash fends off evil and bestows good powers. Just like the Applewood, mountain-ash has two shades making it an interesting material to work with.

Bone

The bone we use is mainly elk thighbone and antlers. The bones and antlers we use are sourced from local elk hunters before being treated at our workshop. Usually bone is not shimmering white. We recommend bone for decoration pieces.

Goat willow root burl

Goat willow root burl is a highly esteemed and indeed rare material. It is perfectly suited as material for making knife blades. It has a rather dark shade with plenty of hues and patterns.

Mammoth tusk

The mammoth tusk we used has been brought up from the bottom of the ocean, after which it has been treated to become more durable. The majority of mammoth tusks are found in Alaska and Canada. Due to its rarity, this magnificent and unique material has a high value.

Buffalo horn

Buffalo horn is wonderfully shiny bone with black and grey hues. We currently source our buffalo horns whole from Denmark.

Acrylic

Acrylic is a plastic compound that is a tough and durable material. Acrylic can be used to make good-looking and distinctive knife handles. We use colourless and dyed acrylic.

Walnut

Walnut is a brown wood that works really well as the knife handle, for instance for enhancing the lighter coloured wood.

Flame birch

Flame birch is a light-shaded wood with flamed patterns. As with other birch wood, flame birch is a tough and durable material well suited for using as knife handle material.

Goat willow

Goat willow belongs to the willow family and looks like a birch and pine hybrid.

SHEATH

The knife sheaths are custom made for each knife in our workshop. Because the knives are handmade and every knife is different from one another. This is why every sheath also must be different from one another. Sheaths are handmade, of course.

Leather

The sheaths for our knives are made from cow hide 2–2.2mm thick and are vegetable-tanned. Our sheath collection comes in black, brown and light colours.