FISKARS 1649 – 365 Years of Finnish Industrial History (Pdf)

Fiskars 1649 365 years of Finnish Industrial History Contents Iron and Europe 5 The founder of the Fiskars ironworks arrives from Holland 10 The 18th century: wars and shortages with contrasting technological progress 21 Autonomy under Russia 1809–1917: Finland becomes a distinct nation 24 Johan Jacob Julin’s time: inventions, enlightenment, reform 27 Late 1800s: Fiskars becomes a joint stock company of worldwide renown 34 Independence: expansion and modernization 39 After the war: structural changes and new direction 43 Fiskars products 50 The ironworks and its surroundings 63 Julin’s Fiskars: the results of an enlightened owner’s willpower 77 An ironworks reborn – into Fiskars Village 83 Mineral deposits, as shown in Olaus Magnus’ work De Gentibus Septentrionalibus from 1555. FISKARS 1649 – 365 years of Finnish Industrial History © Fiskars Oyj Abp, Raasepori, 2014 Fourth revised edition ISBN 978-952-67229-0-0 Fiskars 1649 Iron and Europe ithout water power and blast furnaces to production was very regional The earliest flowing smelt iron ore, the industrial production furnaces were dug into the ground and had a natural Wof iron would be impossible Even in the ventilation system Gradually, small individual Middle Ages, blast furnaces were beginning to replace furnaces powered with hand-worked bellows small pig iron furnaces in the Nordic region Ore was became common In the course of the Middle Ages no longer lifted from lake beds; it was economical to this small-scale iron production gave way to more transport it over longer distances Finland was rich efficient ironworks, which used iron ore from not only in water power but also in woodlands, and domestic mines Water power and blast furnaces it had a number of suitable harbours were important technical advances of the time The Iron-making was discovered in Asia more than ore was smelted in a blast furnace to turn impurities 3,000 years ago From there it spread slowly into into slag However, the high carbon content of the Europe via the Caucasus For a long time, iron crude or pig iron produced this way made it brittle Mine elevator from 16th century. On the left: German craftsmen making cross-bows in 1568. 5 Fiskars 1649 Fiskars 1649 King Gustavus Vasa united the kingdom of Sweden and consolidated the monarchy, and also created the economic and political foundations for Sweden as a Great Power. Only after the excess carbon had been removed by the country’s lakes and bogs contained ore deposits, The festive opening parade of Åbo Academy in 1640, painting by A. Edelfelt. In the middle, the Governor General of Finland, heating the ore in an open hearth and forging it most abundantly in central and eastern Finland The Per Brahe, and his entourage. with a hammer did the iron turn into steel With ore was lifted from the lakebeds with long-stemmed the harnessing of water power, it was possible to use nets, onto a raft in summer or onto the ice in winter larger bellows, furnaces and hammers Iron-making The peasants produced iron by melting the ore in incorporation into the cultural heritage of Western into Finnish in 1548, thus creating the basis of the thus moved from forests to the river banks small flowing furnaces powered by hand-worked Europe As a result of growing trade, new ideas written language bellows Once ironworks proper got going, peasant and concepts increasingly spread to northernmost Gustavus Vasa also made every effort to develop Ironworks replace a cottage industry ore-refining gradually disappeared in Finland, Europe The development of Sweden-Finland trade and industry The history of the Finnish although more slowly than elsewhere in Europe gained momentum during the reign of King mining industry has its beginnings at this time In the early Middle Ages Finland was a sparsely Gustavus Vasa (1523–1560) One of the most far- Even before Gustavus Vasa, Sweden had been an populated country, far from the trading and cultural The mining industry reaches Finland in the 16th reaching reforms of the time was the supersession important exporter of iron ore to Europe It was a centres of Europe The main livelihoods were century of Catholicism by Lutheranism The ideas of the natural assumption that Finland, too, would have hunting, fishing and slash-and-burn cultivation Reformation brought Mikael Agricola, a bishop ore deposits The first Finnish iron mine was opened Iron was already being made in Finland from lake Finland’s annexation to the Swedish realm and of Turku who had studied in continental Europe, at Ojamo in Lohja by Erik Fleming in 1538–40 ore by the early Iron Age (c 600–800 BC) Most of the Catholic church in the 1100s also meant its to Finland He translated the New Testament Around 1560 the Swedish Crown also set up a 6 7 Fiskars 1649 Fiskars 1649 Stockholm in the 1690s. Sweden remained the most important producer of iron in Europe way into the 18th century. simple bar-iron shop at Mustio in Karjaa, which university in Turku in 1640 Sweden’s mercantilist used the ore from the Ojamo mine Mustio is thus policy restricted economic development, however, considered to be Finland’s first ironworks since all foreign trade was channelled through The term ironworks referred to industrial Stockholm But mercantilism also favoured mining Signing the peace treaty of Westphalia, which in 1648 ended the Thirty Years’ War. establishments that had received official permits and the metal industry, as these were expected to (privilegio), such as pig-iron works, blast furnaces increase the nation’s prosperity and other installations which concentrated mainly In the 17th century, Sweden was a major on refining iron ore and processing iron European iron producer Systematic ore prospecting also began in Finland in the 17th century, following Pohja becomes the cradle of the Finnish iron a visit by King Gustavus II Adolphus The first step he did not want to lay waste the Crown forests in the centre of the Finnish iron industry Ironworks industry was the reopening of the Ojamo mine in 1619 Until Bergslagen were founded in Antskog around 1630, in Billnäs in that point, all ironworks had been founded by the It was considered viable to found ironworks 1641 and in Fiskars in 1649 Another two ironworks Sweden-Finland became a great power during the Crown, but now private merchants also became in Finland, although a high price had to be paid were built close to the parish of Pohja: in Mustio in reign of Gustavus II Adolphus (1611–1623), but interested in the iron trade Mining the ore in for the Swedish ore There was an abundance of 1616 and in Fagervik in 1646 Sweden’s involvement in the Thirty Years’ War, Finland soon proved unprofitable, however, so iron unharnessed water power and above all vast forest which ended in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, ore began to be transported from Sweden, mainly resources for charcoal production The ironworks took heavy toll of the country’s resources Efforts from the Utö mine in the Stockholm archipelago had to be located close to a good harbour The area were made to raise living conditions in Finland Pig iron was also shipped from Sweden for forging around the parish of Pohja was densely forested and to the standard in the mother country, Sweden The King favoured the transportation of iron ore had rapids for water power as well as a suitable site Governor General Per Brahe founded Finland’s first and crude iron to Finland for processing because for a harbour at Pohjankuru Pohja thus became 8 9 Fiskars 1649 Fiskars 1649 The founder of the Fiskars ironworks arrives from Holland eter Thorwöste came to Turku via set up a blast furnace and bar hammer in Fiskars Stockholm in the 17th century as an agent The ironworks was also granted a 12-year tax Pfor an important merchant A shrewd exemption businessman, he soon became wealthy In order to expand his ironworks, Jakob Wolle, the then Ore for Fiskars was shipped from the Stockholm owner of the Antskog works, had borrowed money archipelago from Thorwöste As he proved unable to pay back the loan, the ironworks became Thorwöste’s To extract iron ore from the mines, wood was first property Thorwöste gained full proprietorship burnt against the rock face The heated stone was in 1647 and was given permission to mine iron then rapidly cooled using cold water, and the ore ore from the Ojamo mine In 1649, Thorwöste was extracted with bars and hooks The ore was was also given permission to manufacture cast raised from the shafts either manually or by an ox- iron and forged products, with the exception of drawn pulley and then transported to the ironworks cannons The same year, he gained a permit to in large chunks The signature of Peter Thorwöste, the founder of Fiskars. This is the first page of the document issued in 1649, when Peter Thorwöste was granted privileges permitting him to found the Fiskars blast furnace and bar-iron hammer mill. 10 11 Fiskars 1649 Fiskars 1649 Preparing kindling and fire wood at the rock face, stages in an early method of ore extraction. The Fiskars ironworks used mainly ore from The heavy crusher hammers on the eastern bank of the Utö mines in the outer Stockholm archipelago the lower rapids were powered by a water-wheel Utö was one of Sweden’s oldest iron ore mines and The chunks of ore were first crushed here, although is mentioned in King Gustavus Vasa’s land register in Fiskars the ore was sometimes crushed by hand of 1559 Finns, Södermanlanders and Norrlanders since the hammers could not be used during the had the right to extract ore from the Utö mines dry season The particular mine used by the Finns was called The crushed ore was then taken to the Fiskars Finngruva (Finns’ mine) From Utö, the ore was blast furnace, built on the western bank of the transported to Fiskars on ships or lighters owned lower rapids Before loading into the furnace, it or rented by the ironworks, first to the port of was roasted and ground It was then lifted onto the Pohjankuru and from there, on smaller barges, furnace ‘ring’, where the charging took place The charcoal used in the blast furnaces was made by burning wood in kilns.

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