Tommi Mäkelä knives

Whereas many handcraft professionals and knife makers speak about having been inspired to take up their craft in their preteens, Mäkelä is an exception. For a long time, he was not interested in handcrafts at all and preferred to form himself a career in the field of IT.

In the year 2014 Mäkelä moved to a place called Kauhava, famous for its puukko knife traditions, and ended up working for Laurin Metalli. Laurin Metalli is a sort of a concept in the knife business; a company focused on the products of the puukko knife industry that delivers blades to several Finnish knife manufacturers.

With his new job, Mäkelä started to get excited about puukko knives as well. Because the area is ripe with excellent craftsmen specialized in knife making, Mäkelä could easily absorb teachings from people with more experience. He learned a lot from one person in particular, Harri Merimaa of Woodsknife.

Mäkelä says that he doesn't have a specific favorite type of knife. Along with the more traditional puukko knives he likes to work with large hunting knives and leuku knives. He doesn't tie himself to any traditions when it comes to his materials, and therefore it's easy to see why the puukko knife scene has sometimes even dubbed him a rebel.

The most important thing for Mäkelä is that his knives serve their purpose. Make it usable, as his philosophy dictates