
Big Metal Pot
That is an old sauna cauldron. From times when there was no plumbing in saunas, and people just filled the cauldron and had a fire under it to warm it. Cold water was separate, and then you mixed the two in a bucket and washed yourself. Some people still do, like me, we don´t have plumbing at the cottage.Here's a picture of the pot I saw...
The most likely place would be hardware store. But it might be difficult. How many saunas nowadays are built without plumbing? I think you should put an ad to http://www.huuto.net or maybe local supermarket´s notice board.
The brick creation might be easier.
I had no idea what it was! I thought a metal pot might be easy to find but I guess not. What is the name for a sauna cauldron in Finnish? It's not a "tynnyri" I bet since that is more like a barrell. Is it a "kattila" or is that just smaller pots?EP wrote:That is an old sauna cauldron. From times when there was no plumbing in saunas, and people just filled the cauldron and had a fire under it to warm it. Cold water was separate, and then you mixed the two in a bucket and washed yourself. Some people still do, like me, we don´t have plumbing at the cottage.Here's a picture of the pot I saw...
The most likely place would be hardware store. But it might be difficult. How many saunas nowadays are built without plumbing? I think you should put an ad to http://www.huuto.net or maybe local supermarket´s notice board.
The brick creation might be easier.
The kids had fun doing "tikkupulla" so I thought it might be fun to have a fire pit of some kind. Something easy since I'm a bit diy challenged. But I suppose I could try to use the bricks we have even though I'm not particularly good at building things. It might not be pretty

And thanks to everyone for the helpful suggestions and links.
- Hank W.
- The Motorhead
- Posts: 29973
- Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2002 10:00 pm
- Location: Mushroom Mountain
- Contact:
I had this"kiinalainen katukeittiö" they do the job, and can serve then as flower pots 
The problem with your cauldron idea is that it won't burn properly, because it gets no air.

The problem with your cauldron idea is that it won't burn properly, because it gets no air.
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.
Thanks, I've never seen that kind before. Can you use wood with a "kiinalainen katukeittiö"?Hank W. wrote:I had this"kiinalainen katukeittiö" they do the job, and can serve then as flower pots![]()
Last edited by raumagal on Wed May 23, 2007 12:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The modern sauna cauldrons / water heaters look like this (click on the image for more information):raumagal wrote:What is the name for a sauna cauldron in Finnish? It's not a "tynnyri" I bet since that is more like a barrell. Is it a "kattila" or is that just smaller pots?EP wrote:That is an old sauna cauldron. From times when there was no plumbing in saunas, and people just filled the cauldron and had a fire under it to warm it. Cold water was separate, and then you mixed the two in a bucket and washed yourself. Some people still do, like me, we don´t have plumbing at the cottage.Here's a picture of the pot I saw...
Big Pot

I don’t think saunas without running water (or saunas without hot running water) are nearly as “bygone era” as EP makes it sound, but I’ve never seen that kind of old cauldron as in your sample picture myself – only these newer ones which have an integrated, “closed” fireplace behind a hatch.
Sometimes the water heater is a part of the sauna stove/heater/kiuas. (Note the tap.)
The picture you posted reminds me more of a really bygone concept – “pyykkipata”. I.e., a cauldron for heating water for the purpose of washing clothes (by the lake). I think lye was involved in this process.
You could try the following keywords: pyykkipata, rautapata, valurautapata.
(As for sauna related products: sauna+pata and muuripata.)
znark
Thanks for all the information and Finnish words. I was able to find some links with pictures of similar pots. It's quite interesting to read about those pots & what they were used for because I obviously don't know very much!Jukka Aho wrote:I don’t think saunas without running water (or saunas without hot running water) are nearly as “bygone era” as EP makes it sound, but I’ve never seen that kind of old cauldron as in your sample picture myself – only these newer ones which have an integrated, “closed” fireplace behind a hatch.raumagal wrote: What is the name for a sauna cauldron in Finnish? It's not a "tynnyri" I bet since that is more like a barrell. Is it a "kattila" or is that just smaller pots?
The picture you posted reminds me more of a really bygone concept – “pyykkipata”. I.e., a cauldron for heating water for the purpose of washing clothes (by the lake). I think lye was involved in this process.
You could try the following keywords: pyykkipata, rautapata, valurautapata.

I saw the sauna cauldron in the picture when we went to a "Wahan ajan leikkipäivä". They had all kinds of fun old fashioned games and activities for the kids (walking on stilts, button on a string game, pillow fights on a log, clothes pin toss, potato stamps etc.). I guess the one in the picture is quite old fashioned.
Hank W. wrote:The problem with your cauldron idea is that it won't burn properly, because it gets no air.
I'm sure you guys are right - I probably can find something better and that cauldron type thing I had seen wouldn't burn properly. I should have a look in some stores around here and see what they have. Or I could perhaps try to do something simple with the bricks.EP wrote:I did a little search and found one, but it costs 120 €. So all those Chinese street kitchens and others would be way cheaper. And like Hank says, they would burn better.
I am always so amazed at how Finns can build and make everything themselves. Most of our neighbors here have built their homes themselves for example.
That’s called “hartiapankkirakentaminen” (building by the aid of one’s own “shoulder bank”.) People are too cheap (or poor) to pay for all the required manhours to outsiders, so they’d rather do as much work on the building site as they can themselves – i.e., take a loan from their “shoulder bank”.raumagal wrote:I am always so amazed at how Finns can build and make everything themselves. Most of our neighbors here have built their homes themselves for example.
The more physical effort you can sacrifice for your new home on your free time (bear on your shoulders when lifting planks, carrying bricks from one place to the other, building the drywalls, plastering ceramic tiles, painting, etc.), the less the house will cost in the end. (Not to mention the Lutheran work ethic ideals and those sort of things...) There are, of course, some things that you have to leave for the professionals – if not for any other reason, because the law says so! – but lots of the more mundane tasks don’t fall in that category.
You don’t have to born with that knowledge, of course. No-one does. There are several tv shows and magazines – and, these days, websites – that cater for the DIY homebuilders and remodelers. People (couples) planning to build a house will usually visit various “Asuntomessut” (house/building exhibitions) for getting a feel of the current trends regarding architecture, building materials, saunas, kitchens, fireplaces, staircases, terraces, gardens, balconies, technical things like insulation, heating, plumbing, air conditioning, lighting, wiring for computer networks, security, telecoms, tv, etc. etc. – and then it’s easier to start planning for you own home when you have some general idea of what is available and how things are usually done, these days.
My father built his house in large part by himself. (He even designed it by himself and drew all the electrical plans, etc. – only taking them to a certified architect and an electrical engineer so that they could sign the plans and suggest some minor corrections.) The trees that were used for the frame of the house and for the roof were cut from my grandpa’s forest, then taken to the local sawmill that made planks of them. Much of the work related to casting the concrete base for the house was done my father. Pretty much everything related to the drywalls, building the roof, etc. was done by my father. Hired workers (carpenters, a bricklayer, a plumber, an electrician, etc.) were used in various stages during building, where required, but most of it was really done by my father on his free time, with some occasional help from my grandpa and my uncle.
That said, these days many don’t want to go through all that trouble and will rather buy a prefab house, on which there’s only a limited amount of preparatory work and finishing touches you can do yourself.
znark