The Finnish Billnäs 12.2 axe

• Traditional Finnish Axes
Check out Marcus's video on Traditional Finnish axes.
• Beaver Creek Woodcraft...
Review by Burning River Bushcraft

[@KuukkeliBushcraft]

I bought one of these a couple of weeks ago. Very informative video thank you and hello from Finland.

[@traditionaltools5080]

Excellent video. Brief, good cadence and you covered everything.

[@mad51889]

Good stuff man! I subscribed and hope to learn more. I find this stuff fascinating.

[@anttitahvanainen4545]

Greatings from Finland! You have made realy nice handle. I allso collect billnäs axes. Last week i found my granfathers old axe in his storage.

[@beavercreekwoodcraft8134]

Kiitos paljon Antti!

[@borisv.6503]

Greetings can I ask you. What are the best websites to buy land in Lapland? Kiitos. My skills of Finnish language are quite limited but I hope Ill get better. Greets from Czechia and happy new year!

[@anttitahvanainen4545]

@@borisv.6503 I would start www.metsätilat.fi and area Lappi

[@LexLuthor1234]

Dont they make/sell the billnäs axes anymore?

[@anttitahvanainen4545]

@@LexLuthor1234 manufacturing has ended maby 40 years ago.

[@bundufundi]

Very good overview, thanks!

[@charlesbenoitthomad]

Love your design. Great job on that handle.

[@ASNominal]

That is gorgeous, great work sir.

[@yoman2854]

Hi this was really informative thanks!

[@UKI1981]

Nice looking axe! 👌🏻

[@HoseTheBeast]

Billnäs axeheads are beautiful and so recognizable! Always a thing to look out for when checking out second hand shops in old farms in the finnish countryside!

[@mattalbright180]

Those Finnish axes are awesome. You do a great job on the handled too! I need to seek my grandfors and get you to make me one up.

[@feralgrandad4429]

Hi, found you on a youtube search after picking up my first Finnish axe (all my others being Swedish) Great informative video. Thanks for sharing and top job on the handle. regards from the UK.

[@beavercreekwoodcraft8134]

I was literally just looking you up on IG because your post popped up in my feed, #finnishaxe 😁

[@feralgrandad4429]

@@beavercreekwoodcraft8134 well that was a little crazy ha ha. Did you see my Finnish axe is actually marked "Fiskers" on the head? Is that unusual? its a 19 inch handle. Do you know what model ive got please Mathew?

[@beavercreekwoodcraft8134]

@@feralgrandad4429 you have the very latest Finnish axe right before Fiskars went to plastic in the 80s. Not rare, but the ones stamped Fiskars instead of Billnäs are definitely less common. What are the model numbers next ti the Fiskars stamp? 1123 or 1133?

[@feralgrandad4429]

@@beavercreekwoodcraft8134 It has 1133 stamped on it. Its nice, surprisingly heavy for its size. I'm still going to look for a more traditional one too.

[@beavercreekwoodcraft8134]

@@feralgrandad4429 the 1133 is an excellent axe I have rehandled a few of them. They are very much a more modern version of the 12.3 axes by Billnäs and Kellokoski. Head weight is about 1100g. Fiskars bought Billnäs in the 50s I believe, but didn't actually change the name until the late 70s or early 80s from what I understand.

[@4StringSling]

Great video!! Thank you

[@caide]

Good job! Beautiful haft!

[@LexLuthor1234]

Nice informative video, thank you :)

[@jadedsamuria]

Whaaaa dude youre an artist.

[@lexluthor6497]

Nice one.I live 20min from billnäs village.fiskars village is like 2 miles from billnäs so i guess axes are/has been a big deal over here.The fiskars axe factory is in billnäs.Got a few billnäs axes just laying around must fix them up.

[@beavercreekwoodcraft8134]

Fiskars bought Billnäs and continued to make kirveet under the Billnäs name until the late 70s when they changed the name to Fiskars. I understand that the old Billnäs forging press is still in Billnäs, though it sits outside rusting away. Would make a great trip to see it.

[@cabotbluegill]

Very interesting explanation of the Finnish axe

[@marcuslepola6515]

Beautiful compact handle!

[@beavercreekwoodcraft8134]

Thank you Marcus! Your writings and advice were a big influence.

[@nickinthefield4202]

Thanks for the very well presented video. Great skills on the handles Dude. I have two Finnish axes, one is a Billnäs 12.3, one is a Kellokoski 12.1 (I think).The handles are very difficult to make, very subtle design. I’m in the UK. 🤘🏻

[@nyholmoskar6033]

Very nice shape and colour of the shaft

[@Mkahelin]

Very good and informative video, nice to hear the history aswell. I believe there was one called Mariefors bruk aswell. Think they merged with Kellokoski.

[@beavercreekwoodcraft8134]

Yes, I'm not sure how that originally went down. Today they are simply referred to as Kellokoski, but the stamp has MB with the crown logo. Most people in the west only known Billnäs Bruk and Finnish axes are generically called a Billnäs. Honestly, and most Finnish collectors agree, Mariefors Bruk/Kellokoski made the best kirves. Apparently they did have some steel/heat treat issues at an earlier time that may have partially soiled their reputation. Also, if the surviving examples are any indication, Billnäs Bruk produced a larger quantity of axes compared to Kellokoski. There was also Stromfors Bruk, but their axes are quite rare and hard to identify. Thanks for watching!

[@1873Winchester]

Mariefors is the swedish name for Kellokoski

[@papi_dummy]

pine tar... terva! ur finish is a popular flavor in finnish candy

[@beavercreekwoodcraft8134]

I like Terva Leijona, I get a few boxes from time to time. Thanks for watching

[@pumello]

I picked up a billnäs 12.2 the other day for 15 bucks. Handle had been spray painted silver. I felt so bad for it I bought it and restored it.

[@juancarrillo3104]

Nice video. I was also wondering where did you got that sweater?

[@beavercreekwoodcraft8134]

Asbell Wool, this is their blanket weight OD Anorak.

[@breetaye]

just been trying to figure out how much it would cost to buy a finished bilnas 12.3, any advice? hello from down under!

[@beavercreekwoodcraft8134]

Hello back! Contact me on my FB page and I'll see if I can help you out. Thanks for watching.

[@man-qz8ki]

Nice.

[@passwordistaco507]

I want one. Where to get?

[@hugonorthmen4209]

Its really good axe, i think its better than modern fiskars. I have one with S.A. stamp (Finnish army).

[@filipiversen1331]

Where could you buy one of these?

[@beavercreekwoodcraft8134]

It depends on what country you are located in, I would say. Most Finnish axes available in NA are from eBay

[@filipiversen1331]

@@beavercreekwoodcraft8134 Thank you! Appreciate your reply. Been hoping to get my hands on one of these for a long time, but I don't have the skills to make a handle unfortunately. I have seen that Northmen make one, but it is about a year wait for it and about 500+ dollars.

[@beavercreekwoodcraft8134]

@@filipiversen1331 send me a message on IG. If your looking for one, I may be able to accommodate at a lower price point.

[@LukePighetti]

I think you should change the name of your channel to The Axe Scholar haha

[@milespennington5255]

this guy is if a medieval bombard was a person.

[@beavercreekwoodcraft8134]

I think that's a compliment?😂

[@justicar5]

Like Russian Axes (and to an extent Japanese styles) the materials available set the design of the tool, and it looks weird to our eyes, because we had hickory, beech and ash to make handles from.

[@beavercreekwoodcraft8134]

The coolest part is understanding the properties of different materials and designs and seeing the positive and negatives. For instance, hickory is very strong, but transmits alot of shock. Birch is not nearly as strong, so the eye design has to compensate for that, but it transmits very little shock back to the user.

[@beavercreekwoodcraft8134]

Thanks for watching!

[@yoman2854]

@@beavercreekwoodcraft8134 yes, it seems like the lack of hard woods made a more durable design, even with birch these might have been less likely to break than a so called 'american' style axe. I have a French hewing axe and it has a very similar socket to a Finnish axe, it dosent even need a wedge! I just drove the handle in hard and I can't get it out using a punch (it was a wooden punch so I could have tried harder, but I figured at that point it will hold fine for now, and hewing is less intense than chopping)

[@isoalma]

Markoboy87

[@vitalikkhmelenko6634]

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