medieval finnish swords / saami weapons

Jim McDougall · 8th July 2008, 06:01 AM

'passim'

Though the Saami seem not to have had thier own weapons, they were known to have given hlifsteinar (=protection stones) actually of stone or metal to warriors to place in the grip of the sword. These were to give power to the sword.

Jim McDougall · 8th July 2008, 03:36 PM

Chevalier, I hope this was of some use to you. I did enjoy the research, as always,and learned from it myself as I did. I did not expect much response overall on this, but appreciate your posting.
Thanks

kronckew · 8th July 2008, 04:01 PM

the lapps also have fairly long versions of their knives approaching machete size that they use for chopping, and can also be used as a short sword...

Rich · 8th July 2008, 05:05 PM

That Finnish machete is also made by Marttiini of Rovaniemi, Finland.
Same company as mentioned in the previous post.

Rich S

Jim McDougall · 8th July 2008, 05:53 PM

Hi Kronckew and Rich, thank you guys for responding on this. I always find the attention to some of these more esoteric topics really interesting, especially the puukko discussions. I cannot recall offhand, but how early did the puukko develop?

Rich · 8th July 2008, 08:07 PM

Jim -

The basic puukko and leuku designs have been around for several
hundred, maybe a thousand years dating back to Viking times. Of
course you never see anything that old outside of a museum. My
earliest puukko that I can date with accuracy is the late 1800's.
Although I really doubt that the Sami peoples ever used the
Marttiini machete. They certainly did use long (10-12 inch) leuku.

Here's some pics of some of my collection of Scandinavian knives.

http://home.earthlink.net/~rsblade/nordic.htm

Rich S

Jim McDougall · 9th July 2008, 04:46 AM

Thank you so much Rich for sharing those! What magnificent knives, and its easy to see how the Finns so personally treasured these, and how formidable they were in its use.

All the best,
Jim

8th July 2008, 06:01 AM	#1
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,299	'passim' Though the Saami seem not to have had thier own weapons, they were known to have given hlifsteinar (=protection stones) actually of stone or metal to warriors to place in the grip of the sword. These were to give power to the sword.

8th July 2008, 03:36 PM	#2
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,299	Chevalier, I hope this was of some use to you. I did enjoy the research, as always,and learned from it myself as I did. I did not expect much response overall on this, but appreciate your posting. Thanks

8th July 2008, 04:01 PM	#3
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,228	the lapps also have fairly long versions of their knives approaching machete size that they use for chopping, and can also be used as a short sword...

8th July 2008, 05:05 PM	#4
Rich Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: comfortably at home, USA Posts: 432	That Finnish machete is also made by Marttiini of Rovaniemi, Finland. Same company as mentioned in the previous post. Rich S

8th July 2008, 05:53 PM	#5
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,299	Hi Kronckew and Rich, thank you guys for responding on this. I always find the attention to some of these more esoteric topics really interesting, especially the puukko discussions. I cannot recall offhand, but how early did the puukko develop?

8th July 2008, 08:07 PM	#6
Rich Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: comfortably at home, USA Posts: 432	Jim - The basic puukko and leuku designs have been around for several hundred, maybe a thousand years dating back to Viking times. Of course you never see anything that old outside of a museum. My earliest puukko that I can date with accuracy is the late 1800's. Although I really doubt that the Sami peoples ever used the Marttiini machete. They certainly did use long (10-12 inch) leuku. Here's some pics of some of my collection of Scandinavian knives. http://home.earthlink.net/~rsblade/nordic.htm Rich S

9th July 2008, 04:46 AM	#7
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,299	Thank you so much Rich for sharing those! What magnificent knives, and its easy to see how the Finns so personally treasured these, and how formidable they were in its use. All the best, Jim