Quick leuku...sort of,job. Trades ?

Heres a few snapshots of this knife i made recently.

Its forged and ground from an old Viiala file,un used. I have had this unfinished blade on my drawer for a long time and as i didnt have time to do anything from start to finish, i used this file blade now. Its not artsy fartsy high end blade at all, as you notice,just a crude but  working one. Heat treated properly to get rid of brittle properties of files high carbon steel.

It has  two different edges, one for whittling and one more convex like for chopping and splitting, as leukus are meant to be used. Th efinal edge has to be done, its not ready in the pictures, i have to do some work with my DMT sharpeners when i have the time,or leave it as it is,for some sharpening perv.  Its not and axe,though, and it has a normal sturdy stick tang,as they traditionally do.

On the spine side, theres sharp corners for firesteel use,and a short part with fake edge, for cracking bones of game bird or such,so you dont have to break em with actual edge itself as it might leave a mark in it.

The handle is made out of moose antler, thick leather spacers,some dyed and oiled lighty curly birch, then sanded and covered with hard parafin wax on top of the wood and leather parts.

The butt is like this. Riveted tang with simple brass spacer,and theres also a hidden reinforcing screw holding butt,leathers and the woods together,under that almost hidden :) stump of 30-06 rifle cartridge that is fixed to its place with epoxy.

It has a simple dyed and oiled leather sheath with wooden liner in it,too.

Thats about it, nothing special or anything,as you see. Its not pure leuku, but it looks bit like leukus, i think, atleast if you have bad eyes.

I might sell this with Paypal, or trade it into something like single blade folding knife,good matchcase,multitool,pack,rifle scope,survival gear,or something.

Oh by the way, the file teeths are visible but smoothed out dull,so you cant file your nails with this anymore.

Fjällräven Chap G1000 trousers & Greenland wax.

As the fall is here,a nd its pouring water daily and i think ill be gettin wet all the time over the coming weekends hunting trip i got my self a new block off Fjällrävens Greenland wax that i just love. Easy to add by rubbing on followed by gentle melting it in the cloth with heat from hairdryer and such. I dont use any Gore-Tex jackets nor pants, as i dont have the fund to get any and i am afraid that ill break em immediately somehow, most likely id end up having a hole in the cloth made by campfire spark. That would not be cost effective and i rather sit by the fire than away from it. BUT, if you run a business selling & manufacturing Gore-Tex clothing, you have em in Big sizes and in natural colours that blend in forest, i be happy to try out em, if they would make me see GT in different angle. I sure would not turn away a pair of some cool Optifade gear ;).

Well in any case, i am now rubbing in a heavy layer of this wax, and i am pretty sure i wont be disappointed, after using this wax for years. I dont expect any 100% water proof at all, as i rather have a breathing and wet clothing than non-breathing  totally waterproof clothing that will get wet inside anyway due to my heavy sweatting:).


I am pretty happy tell that the Fjällräven trousers that i got  some time ago, are working like clock. I was bit suspicious for some reason but i havent disapponted at all. The size and form are just in the spot, i havent breaked any zippers nor lost any buttons. The only small fails are the breakage of seam under front zipper, the 5 cm long one. But i got it sorted out, with stronger seam. The other was my own fault,kind of. The other backpocket,has a zippered pocket covered by flap with pressbutton. I got the zipper puller somehow stuck between boards while sitting,and when i got up from bench, the puller snapped off. It was only bent and opened,nothing had breaked,and i just put the puller cord back, pressed the zippers opened loop close with multitool and its been working well after that. G-1000 fabric i have found earlier to be awesome stuff, its very rugged, but not that heavy  and its spark resistant as plain cotton,but it dries a bit faster than pure cotton.

Few mods to "old" Mil-Tec camouflage anorak.

 an Iǘe had this old worn cheapish anorak made by Mil-Tec, hanging un-used in my closet for some over 2 years. I found it again when i was gathering stuff for flea market and decided not to throw it away. It serviced me adequetely(?) but i think i kinda forgot it, when the stretchy adjustment cords gave up at winter,as all the rubber does. the camouflage in it never had a strong colours nor contrast, and now when its worn its even more calm. May that be good or bad, i donno.

So, i started by ripping and cutting away all the fleece lining it had. Ive never been the biggest fan of fleece, although i understand that this garment was designed so that the outer nylon layer protects from light rain and blocks the wind, and the fleece jacket inside is to keep user warm.  But as i am a sweatty pig, and i rarely feel cold no matter the time of year, i sure would like to have an anorak and a freedom to choose, whats under it,may it be separate fleece shirt, or just a t-shirt or what ever. I left fleece only to the hood,not so much for keeping my head warm at winter if i lose my cap,but to keep the damn hood silent. I cant stand the noise that bare nylon hood keeps while moving.

Next thing i got to do, was to modify the chest pocket a bit. It was originally just one big space,but i stitched it more, making one slot for small knife sized object,one small for pen and then i made the rest of the pocket smaller too,i mean more shallow as it was so deep. So,now it has some organized space. I dont need to have a one major pocket in anorak as i dont stuff my canteen nor axe in it,maybe just a compass,folded map,firesteel,keys too. For keeping the vitals secured , like method of fire making and keys, i made a simple paracord lanyard with a stainless clip in it. I stitched it into the end where the zipper is in closed position, so i can easily have the lanyard hanging out and have the pocket closed, if i need to hand a flashlight outside the pocket or similar.

After that, iCut open the sideseams under the armpits, and thought that id add a few pieces of mesh cloth to have more sweat ventilation under arms but i ended up opening the entire sideseams. This was to make the anorak bit bigger, so i can use woolshirt and other thicker stuff under it. I didnt have any camo cloth anywhere but i remembered that i had a small piece of PU coated blaze orange Cordura somewhere, found it as used it to make these bit under 2" wide side strips. They dont even look so stupid dont they ? and those give a bit of needed visibility especially during hunting season, and such. I think they wont be so nasty in eyes of game either as they are visible from sidewiev mainly, dont if you look straight towards me.

At the nd of orange pieces i added these mesh cloth pieces  to make triangular shaped ventilation thingys. yep, my seams are what thet are but i think they will last anyway, may they look ugly or not. I admire few individuals that have the skills to make cool sewing projects that look like made in factory but i cant and my fleamarket sewing machine aint the most professionally working either :).

Then i added two simple loops. One per sleeve end, so i can attach my mittens or gloves to the sleeves so they dont fall in to snow while taking a piss while ski'ing or drop em to river while paddling etc. Its far easier to have the gloves hanging from sleeves that trying to pick em up from deep snow if the ski´ s  are on your feet, trust me.

 To the right hand sideseam i decided to add onerotating  plastic clip with stainless gate spring, so i can maybe hang something light if i need to. Like my furhat if its in the way or kuksa etc. I ended the seams lower end with strips of nylon webbing to reinforce them...and yes,to make em bit easier to look :).

  I switched the dead elastic cords with coyote tan paracord piece. That lives thru winter im sure.

 To backside i stitches a small piece of velcro and made an removable "see me if needed" patch from reflective cloth and blaze orange Cordura.

And a similar to chest too. These are removable so i can camouflage me a bit better or have me seen if i want to. It doesnt make me unvisible sadly !. These patches might be at their best in dark winters especially when its pouring snow. We have reflective patches and all, with head lamps, and it sure makes a difference when you ski or walk with others in fog etc, and these patches flash when you scan for them with a flashlight. In heavy snow you easily get lost you know if you go to fast or slow and lose the others. And on hunting, its way cool to have a visible small patch in your back so others may shoot you so easily :).

To left side sleeve i stitched a small used subdued Finnish flag to cover small hole and i think it looks pretty neat.

For this time, i was ready. I am pretty sure ill be trying to make an water resistant venting to backside too and adding a hidden backside pocket for seat pad. But now, i just sprayed the whole anorak with Holmenkol hightec proof that i am testing to see if it works. Ive heard it does but i want to see it myself too.

 Thats about it for now, il be using this tomorrow and over the weekend and then i know was it worth the effort at all.

Happy birthday to me. ( Eka Swingblade knife)

I am aging again, about  tomorrow, as i do every year it seems. i got this gift certificate, or do you call it vouchier ?. And i used it to get a box of Federal Game Shok ammo for my 22 WMR. It wont be lasting long now as its hunting season for small game so i also chose this knife that i have been thinking of, and hearing that it might be well made and might serve my needs too. Its an EKA Swingblade, with bright orange handles, to help me find it after i lose it in the forest.

Made from Sandvik 12c27 steel that i already have good experience of, as my Eka Super Swede pocket knife has the same steel in its blade. I dont have any field, nor hands on experience of the knife yet but i really really hope it turns out to be a decent knife for my hunting needs.

The knife blade is 10 cm long and the gut opener blade 8 cm.
The knife comes with a plastic lined with a nylon fabric. Simple and can be washed easily. It has a good sized belt loop too. The only small downside is that the belt is secured on its sheath with a noisy and wearing piece of velcro. But thats easy to change, to me :).

Steel quality is Sandvik 12C27 hardened to 57-59 HRC.

 The knife has a rotating blade made from sole piece of steel. The small button locks the blade in its place.

The gutting blade has its sharp edge on the opposite side than the main blade making it easy to use the knife in familiar position in your hand and open the game. It also has a round, dull tip so it wont stick into guts or worst, pierce the guts.

Both blades have a good, quite sharp, simple and grippy jimping on the spines. Good detail on a knife meant to be used often on bloody, slippery jobs.

Many seem to believe that the handle is made only from rubberized plastic but its not. The handle has a good, sturdy stainless, skeletonized steel frame between the handles visible slabs.

The handle is also easy to put down in parts as its assembled with quite commonly found bolts and counterpieces. Again a good detail for knife thats to be used on game handling where its good to have a knife that you can clean and wash, well to prevent germs.

Have a nice weekend !

I think i will have, atleast....hunting, fishing, bathing,eating and sleeping. Might have to take few beers too.

Plans for the weekend, with TOZ 34.

I think ill be heading to Kuru, to hunt as the seasons are starting !

Today i cleaned and checked out my "new" shotgun, TOZ-34, and put the HiViz bead on its rail,and thats about it, ill try to get a few shots fired before weekend too. Its not a hi-tech, nor a legendary outfitters shotgun but to my wallet and hand,it feels pretty good so far.

Sorry about crappy pic,my phone dropped on ground yesterday and its now working well now.

Fishing & Camping weekend in small island.

I found myself heading to see my buddy who i meet only 2-3 times a year but now we both had no plans for 2 days. When i arrived we just loaded our packs, water and fishing stuff etc in to his boat and drove some...maybe an hour till we were at rocky shore if this 30 x 150 m sized island,with plenty of moss and trees,at top of its cliffs.

Sorry for lack of actual fishing pics,but i dont have a waterproof camera nor phone, and i kept my cellphone with camera,turned off for most of the time, to save the battery for emergeanzy situations.

 Optimus Terra Kettle, Crux lite gas stove,Kupilka 21 "kuksa",and a hobo utensil, that has spoon,folding knife,and fork that come apart, stamped as SIGG. But im its not made by SIGG,just stamped to have the trademark on it. Anyways, its a cool and uselful addition to my cookware that seems to get smaller and lighter.

We didnt do anything cool or interesting. For most of the time we were fishing from shore or from boat, night and day, and then eating in somewhere between. Lots of swimmimg, too.

We collected pieces of old fallen trees,branches from shore and then had good warm fires at nights. Way nice, just to lay in the ground,  drink few beers, fry fish and talk some BS.

                                                    Coffee in the morning.

 At saturday morning i was checking the pole i left on the shore,it had a piece of bass as a bait in its hook and it was just on the lakes floor,all nigh long. Well Well, look what we got here:

                                            This creature was delicious after a good smoking !

I´ve really liking my "super" rare Finnish army special unit pack,from earlier 80´s. I had way too much stuff with me, in it, since i didnt know would we sleep in cabin,house, existing lean-to or where and would i be using open campfire, or gascooker, etc, so at home i just stuffed everything but the kitchen sink to it. This thing is bulletproof i suspect. My bed was combined from Savotta army sleeping mattress,thats rolled under packs flap there,and on top of flap theres Vi-He Ransu shelter. Aside those, i had an old army surplus felt blabket and Savotta space blanket that we used as shelters floor.

The good old, trusty almost ultralight Ransu shelter. Awesome and spacious,without its removable insect mesh / floor part. Without floor piece you 3 peoples can sleep in it and still theres space for essentials in the lower end.

                                              No stress.

                                             Good times. Screw the television,we had much better time at night around fire. Hunting stories,fishing lies,all kinds of thoughts and bit of booze. Two of our buddies arrived there too, but they had forgotten to bring any shelter with em but luckily i had a surplus tarp, with me and paracord, so in short time i made a quick lean-to for them to sleep in. It wasnt raining at all, nor cold. Actually it was hot as hell all the weekend so there wasnt even need for any sleeping bag,but as the island was in biiig lake,and it had rocky shore and we were on top ridge of it, the occasional wind was pretty hard. So the lean-to was made to protect guys mostly from the rain and it also worked as a windscreen for fire.

                                                        Some stuff that i seem to use the most nowadays. Vic German Army OH folding knife with home made plain edge,and some filework on the spine, and Kupilka 21 "kuksa" that i had to costomize a bit afer its handle cracked a bit, last winter. So i smoothed the broken handle, drilled a hole for lanyard with Vic´s awl, heated the handle and bent it a bit. So its ok to use again.

 This 3.5 meter long (?) cheap BlueFox 15 piece telescope fishing rod has lasted for some 3 years now and prooven itself with loads of fish that ive got with it. Cost like 18 euros or similar. Its only some 12 inches short when its on its shortest, and with its tiny sheath, it fits nicely on sidepocket of  my packs. This weekend i got 1,8kg pike with it. Its not the finest fish there is but after filleting it, with some lemonpepper and salt scrubbed in it,and frying it above campfire,it sure was nice meal. Coupled with a Karhu beer offcourse :).

                                                    No need for rare restored axes :). Axe never left anywhere in my life. So axe is not "back" :).

Well thats about all the pics i had and i cant come up with anything that i think you might be interested to read.

At morning, in few hours, ill be heading somewhere again. See ya !