Manufacturing

Iisakki Järvenpää Company manufactures all its products and their components in-house; by hand, using locally sourced materials, at its own factory in Kauhava. 

 

Our materials, machines, and methods have been established decades ago, and we see no need to fix what is not broken. No computers are used in the manufacturing of our products. As has always been the case, all our tools are manufactured and maintained by our in-house toolmaker; even some tools from Iisakki’s time are still in use. 

 

Sustainability is considered a modern value; for us, it is a natural consequence of our methods. Our uncompromising attitude towards quality produces extremely durable knives that last for generations when properly used. And a knife that has seen hard use can always be brought to us for sharpening, maintenance, or repair. 

 

We avoid wasting valuable manufacturing materials to the greatest extent possible and ultimately recycle anything that can no longer be put to use. For packaging, we use only renewable materials like tissue paper and cardboard. 

 

Meet our Knifemakers ›

Handles

 

For our handles, we primarily use curly birch sourced from Central Finland and Häme. The birch arrives at the factory as so-called scabbard-sawn planks. It is then dried to precisely the right moisture level for further processing.

First, the wood is cut into individual blocks, through which holes of different sizes are drilled from opposite sides. These blanks are then individually milled into the desired, model-specific shape using machines manufactured in Jyväskylä in 1974. Each blank goes through two different stages on a specialized lathe, after which the ends are cut to the desired length and shape using adjustable saws. We source our birch from several domestic suppliers.

Another handle material we use is birch bark. Our birch bark currently comes from Seinäjoki and Joensuu in sheets measuring about 40x50 cm. Individual pieces of various sizes are punched from the sheets for different knife models. The ends of the birch bark handles are decorated with colored stripes made from domestic glossy cardboard and leather in various colors. The birch bark handles are assembled piece by piece, entirely by hand, without any glue or other adhesives; they are held tightly together by the full handle's riveting. 

Grinding

 
Each knife is individually ground on a belt sander to achieve its final shape. Each handle is ground using three different grit sanding belts. The shape is determined by the craftsman's eye, fitting it to the hand, and also by checking it against a template sheath. The handles must be regularly compared to previously made ones to ensure that the shape and proportions do not change over time. 

Blades

 

To ensure high and consistent quality, we use special knife steel for our blades. The steel is an exception to our use of domestic materials, as it is supplied by the Thüssen Group in Germany in full sheets. However, the material itself may very well have been transported from Finland to Germany.

 

Knife steel is precisely refined to achieve the desired carbon and chromium content, and this level of quality is not available elsewhere. Until the 1980s, the blades were hot-forged in-house, using materials such as old files, and even earlier, old horseshoes and kicksled runners. From 1922 onwards, we aimed to increase the carbon content by using a drop hammer (also known as a “heijari”), which removed impurities from the material. Before that, the blades were traditionally hammered by hand using a blacksmith's hammer. 

 

Today, the blades are pressed from steel sheets that are already fully consistent in quality and alloy composition. After this, the blade blanks are hardened and then individually ground on a grindstone, with each side of the blade being ground separately on its own stone. Finally, the blades are polished to a basic shine, with the final gloss achieved once the knife is assembled. 

Fittings

 

We manufacture the fittings for our knives, sheaths, Helavyö belts, and jewelry from solid sheets of brass and nickel silver. Each fitting requires several individual steps. Almost all our lower bolsters are pressed five times, gradually shaping them into the correct form. Between pressings, the bolsters are annealed to prevent the material from becoming too hard and brittle. Finally, the shape is fine-tuned to the correct dimensions and form through milling. The upper bolsters are either made using the same technique or by casting. 

 

All fittings are shaped with a press and soldered together with tin. 

 

Some models feature individual fittings cast in brass and bronze. The majority of these are cast in-house from brass, nickel silver, and silver. A few models are cast in bronze and aluminum for us by Koruvalimo Raiskinen in Kirkkonummi. 

Leather Parts

 

The leather for our sheaths, belts, and jewelry is also supplied as whole hides. The leather is processed from domestic cowhide by Kokkolan Nahka in Central Ostrobothnia. 

 

We use only vegetable-tanned leather. This traditional method of leather treatment is a vanishing folk tradition, and besides these suppliers, no one else does it anymore. Vegetable-tanned leather allows for traditional shaping and decorating of sheaths that cannot be achieved with chrome-tanned leather. 

 

The decorations on the sheaths are also worked individually by hand into wet leather, mostly using heat tools but some also with cold tools. 

 

Assembly and Packaging

 

Every one of our knives is assembled individually at our factory in Kauhava. On our website, we showcase videos of the various manufacturing processes and product assembly. 

 

We wrap all our knives and Helavyö belts in tissue paper and pack them in cardboard boxes. These are made for us by ER-Pakkaus in Seinäjoki. They also provide the boxes for our felt hats and kitchen knives, as well as the paper bags we use in our store. 

 

Alternatively, you can choose a tin or plywood box for packaging. We manufacture the tin boxes ourselves in Kauhava. The plywood boxes, which feature a leaf-sawn Iisakki Järvenpää signature on the lid, are made by Jaana Kallinen in Oulu. The steak knives with birch handles are delivered in a wooden case made from black alder by Bo-Åke Ljungars in Maalahti.