Smoker Boxes, Sauna Stoves and Moonshine
Distillers – Finnish Factory “Homers” 1950 – 1990

 A “homer” is an object made for one´s own benefit by a worker using his
or her factory’s equipment and materials. This article examines homers made by
Finnish workshop and paper mill maintenance workers between 1950 – 1990. After
the first part of the 20^th century, a period marked by a shortage of
goods caused by the economic depression and wartime rationing, the typical
homers changed from utensils, tools and home supplies to leisure time supplies
and ornaments.  This change, caused by
the increased significance of leisure time and prosperity of workers, depicts
how Finland´s society transformed from agrarian into a modern consumption
society.

According to oral history sources, the most popular forms of homers were smoker boxes, sauna stoves and moonshine distillers. Smoker boxes, which became fashionable in the 1960’s, depict the increase of leisure time and modern needs. Smoking fish is a relatively new cooking method comparing to smoking meat, which is a preservation method of prehistoric tradition. Sauna stoves were the second most popular homers. Sauna culture had become urbanized and adapted to more dense dwelling conditions. The industrial production of stoves started in the 1920's and was at its highest in the 1960's, simultaneously with the production of the homer stoves. Moonshine distillers were the third most popular homers. Illegal moonshining, originally part of the rural tradition, urbanized with the rest of society. Making moonshine distillers was especially common in the 1970’s. Noteworthy in the moonshine discourse is how openly the informants narrate of a subject which emphasizes the informants’ self-will in a dualistic way: Firstly, against society’s laws, and secondly against the employers' authority. Homers were also made as gifts to children and other loved ones.  In addition, homers were made as a corporation gifts presented to other corporations and merited employees.
The expansion of the supply selection of markets, the discount of prices, and the automatization of the industrial production process has decreased the making of homers.  Thus homer making has contracted merely into a method of expressing oneself by making handicrafts.