We lost one of the great blacksmiths and knife makers of recent times last month with the passing of Håvard Bergland - I made this knife as a small ode - with him in mind - after many years of inspiriation from studying his book ‘Norwegian knifemaking’.

The Norwegian type blade has a traditional three layer forge welded construction hammer forged into a wedge cross section. This keeps the blade stiff with a thick spine while the working bevels are narrow, nimble and fast. Antique highly refined wrought iron cheeks make an ideal sharpening base for the clean and very thin Uddeholm 26c3 (1.2002) core. Waterstone users will especially experience the super sharpening qualities of this combination which quickly produces a katsumi finish with a very precise edge.

In Håvard’s books he visits remote smiths around rural Norway who speak about the humble time honored materials of beauty and special durability valued by the old farming communities. home made half tanned leather and hard searched for root and terestrial burls from birch - tough to work, tough to find or both. I worked to find my own humble but rare root burl material here in New Hampshires rocky woods, hard work but producing a few pieces of really special, world class material. This has been long cured and worked by axe and knife with a scraped and sanded finish to show the detail in the burl. finish is a utility spirit varnish finish.

Sheath in thick German half tanned orthopedic leather which has a rawhide streak that hardens the sheath leather into a super tough and cut proof material. Swen with a true Norwegian bevel seam and tailored fit with a click and firm lock. Sheath has hardtwined calfskin grain dangler and is proofed with lanolin balm.

Blade 96mm x 3mm x 16mm (with distal taper) Drawfiled satin finish with 22 degree bevel angle sharpened on natural water stones. Handle 110mm long in flat cigar profile. Sheath 185mm long with 150mm dangler.