Hello,
The axe itself is not even that old, less than 100 years. The company that made it, Billnas, out of Helsinki, existed in one form or another from 1641 to 1984 though I doubt large scale production of this axe went beyond early in the last century, certainly by the 1930's I don't see it in the catalog, but they are still being made of high quality by interested blacksmiths on an individual basis.
Better to think of this as a specialty axe existing along side a range of axes rather than in linear terms as a precursor to more advanced ones. To be clear it is used in Finland in log construction, and what is interesting is that from the outset the decorative effect has been valued along side of the functional use of flattening two sides of the logs. So it's maybe interesting to see what kind of effect can be had on the wood surface. I believe there is plenty of space for experimentation and refinement and wonder if anyone knows of any efforts to embellish timbers used in construction along these lines beyond efforts at historical reproductions.
Greetings,
Don Wagstaff
Last edited by D Wagstaff; 01/10/13 12:04 PM. Reason: special charachter not accepted