“IT IS NOT A MAN WHO BUILDS A CHURCH ACCORDING TO DRAWINGS, BUT HE WHO WITHOUT ANY DRAWINGS MAKES A BACKBACK OUT OF BIRCH BARK”

The men had to make sleighs, tubs, buckets, and other wooden tools by Christmas. Old men cut shakes, made traps and baskets with handles. The men also needed to chop firewood for the barn warming of the following autumn.

“You needed two kinds of shakes for a chip basket: warps and woofs. When you needed a small basket, twelve woofs would do. First you would build the basket rim. It was only three shakes high. Then, to stop the end shake from springing out, the maker put a jamming stick on top of it. The stick also marked the spot if you needed to repair or rebuild the basket. Finally, the brim of the basket was fortified by two thinner, tougher shakes.” (Rytkönen 1931, Savupirttien kansaa.)

“Whenever our old friend Pekka Rissanen starts to make a birch-bark pouch, he always takes a long shake out of a ball of shakes. This shake he evens out and carves out any holes or rough spots. Out of those shakes, he makes small loops and lets them dry for a couple of days. Then he opens the loops and spreads the shakes on the floor to use them for warps and woofs.” (Rytkönen 1933, Tuohitorven mailta.)