Puukko and seax

Rich · 19th June 2019, 12:57 PM

Not sure where to post this. I was wondering if there is any direct relationship between Finnish puukko and ancient seax? Any thoughts or comments welcome. Stylistically there is no similarity that I can find.
Rich

David · 19th June 2019, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich

Not sure where to post this. I was wondering if there is any direct relationship between Finnish puukko and ancient seax? Any thoughts or comments welcome. Stylistically there is no similarity that I can find.
Rich

Curious question Rich. As you point out, stylistically there are very few similarities other then they are both edged tools.
Also in question is what you exactly mean when you say "seax". I believe the word literally just means "knife", from a root word that means "to cut" and blades that have been called seax come in a great variety of shapes and sizes. There are short seax, long seax, broad seax, curved seax, "broken-back" seax. They really all seem like completely different knives and swords that all fall under the single name. Most of them, however, do not seem to be nearly as small as the puukko, which is generally more the size of a parring knife. The Sami knife, which seems much more related to the puukko than the seax does, would be closer to the size of many medium sized seax, but i still don't see any developmental relationship there.

Rich · 19th June 2019, 01:54 PM

Thanks David -

I was thinking more of the "broken back" seax style. I've done what research online that I can but can find no direct link between the standard puukko style and the broken back seax. I should have been more specific in my original post.
Rich

mross · 19th June 2019, 03:11 PM

I do not think you will find any relationship other than roughly the same geographic area. As was pointed out there is a size disparity and if memory serves me the edge geometry is very different. The handle shape and attachment method I believe are different as well.

Rafngard · 20th June 2019, 04:12 AM

I'm not sure if there's Finnish or Sámi examples in the archaeological record, but I've seen a few examples of Viking era, or just post viking era Scandinavian small knives of fairly similar design. In fact the modern Morakniv is quite similar to a puukko.

I suspect there's a nearly straight line between Viking era knives and the modern puukko (and also the modern Morakniv).

Have fun,
Leif

Jim McDougall · 20th June 2019, 03:53 PM

While not really familiar with the 'puuko' knives, I know there was a great article written by the late Robert Dohrenwend :
"The Puuko", Arms Collecting, Vol. 39, #1, Feb. 2001
It seems another reference is "Collectible Knives of Finland"
Lester C. Ristenen
I believe Alan Maisey is a notable collector and authority on these as well.

From what I have understood, the puuko appears to have been designed and popularized by the Saami people of Finland over 1000 yrs ago. While modern examples do not seem to have the 'broken back' blade character typically, I am not familiar with older ones.
The broken back seax does seem to have been well known in Germany from c. 8th into 11th century Germany, which would well correspond with the generally recognized 'Viking Age' from 8th c. into 11th (1066AD).

It seems likely these seax may have influenced the development of the puuko, but the articles mentioned and experts might share more detail.

19th June 2019, 12:57 PM	#1
Rich Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: comfortably at home, USA Posts: 432	Puukko and seax Not sure where to post this. I was wondering if there is any direct relationship between Finnish puukko and ancient seax? Any thoughts or comments welcome. Stylistically there is no similarity that I can find. Rich

19th June 2019, 01:54 PM	#3
Rich Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: comfortably at home, USA Posts: 432	Thanks David - I was thinking more of the "broken back" seax style. I've done what research online that I can but can find no direct link between the standard puukko style and the broken back seax. I should have been more specific in my original post. Rich

19th June 2019, 03:11 PM	#4
mross Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 478	I do not think you will find any relationship other than roughly the same geographic area. As was pointed out there is a size disparity and if memory serves me the edge geometry is very different. The handle shape and attachment method I believe are different as well.

20th June 2019, 04:12 AM	#5
Rafngard Member Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Minneapolis,MN Posts: 340	I'm not sure if there's Finnish or Sámi examples in the archaeological record, but I've seen a few examples of Viking era, or just post viking era Scandinavian small knives of fairly similar design. In fact the modern Morakniv is quite similar to a puukko. I suspect there's a nearly straight line between Viking era knives and the modern puukko (and also the modern Morakniv). Have fun, Leif

20th June 2019, 03:53 PM	#6
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 9,943	While not really familiar with the 'puuko' knives, I know there was a great article written by the late Robert Dohrenwend : "The Puuko", Arms Collecting, Vol. 39, #1, Feb. 2001 It seems another reference is "Collectible Knives of Finland" Lester C. Ristenen I believe Alan Maisey is a notable collector and authority on these as well. From what I have understood, the puuko appears to have been designed and popularized by the Saami people of Finland over 1000 yrs ago. While modern examples do not seem to have the 'broken back' blade character typically, I am not familiar with older ones. The broken back seax does seem to have been well known in Germany from c. 8th into 11th century Germany, which would well correspond with the generally recognized 'Viking Age' from 8th c. into 11th (1066AD). It seems likely these seax may have influenced the development of the puuko, but the articles mentioned and experts might share more detail.