knife

Since we are on the subject of bunads and national costumes, I have another little something to share: my new knife. Traditionally men wore knives with their outfits (bunads) and in the past 30 years or so women also have started to do the same thing. The female version is of course smaller, probably a more feminine feature. The blade is then only about 5 cm, and the knife becomes much more a decorative element than an actual practical tool. So when I commissioned my knife, I asked for a male knife, which is much more practical and not so cute.

It may look very simple, but this is more of a treasure than you might think. The piece of wood I got about a decade ago, when a neighbor was digging up a marshland and found remains of some old oaks. The oaks had marinated in the marsh for no less than 6000 years! He had it carbon-tested, so it´s really true. A big oak that grew about 400 meters from where I´ve grown up six thousand years ago. Now that is more than just your average awesome. The cool thing is that we know that there were people here, and had been for a png time already. Bømlo has, as I´ve probably told before, Europe´s longest running industrial site. In Espevær, a little island just outside the southern part of the island, people excavated a hard green stone to use for tools. They were at it continuously for 6 000 years. Starting about 10 000 years ago, and finally moving on to other equipment 4 000 years ago. Cool huh?!

Anyway. It´s the knife I wanted to show you. Originally I wanted to make it myself, it´s not a witchcraft, so in theory I could have done it. But the time… I decided to have someone else make it for me. A retired knife-smith made the steel-blade and worked with the wood. The shiny metal you see, is sterling silver. It is, after all, an heirloom.

The sheath is made with leather and stained black. The oak is it´s original, marinated dark color, only given a buff of bees-wax. A fine piece of craftsmanship! So bring on the national-day, I´m ready!!