About Me
About Me - who I am, what woodworking I do, how I got started!
As a Norwegian borned and raised in Norway, my handicraft and woodworking have in many ways its roots in the traditional "husflid" and "sløyd" work of Norway.
Not so much that I follow these traditional patterns or techniques, it is more about the spirit in which I do the work and how I do it. I am not into furniture or cabinetmaking, though I at times make a bookcase or continue improving and modifying my toolcabinets. What I enjoy is making smaller items using handtools, or turning on a lathe.
In general, I don't like to make something from a detailed drawing. I might have a rough sketch, but no precise, fixed measurements. Design evolves during the process whether I make a box or turning a bowl. When the day comes where I am ready to build my collection of Craftsman style furniture, then I will have to use drawings. That will certainly be a learning experience... For the smaller items I enjoy making, I don't want to be limited to a fixed design. I think this is why I enjoy turning the most - turning can be such a flowing process. And sometimes you do a mistake and cut too deep - and you have to "re-design" the item you are working on on the fly.
How I got started...
A few items I have made.
I always enjoyed the crafts classes at school, whether it included sowing, basket weaving, painting/drawing, working with leather, metal or woodworking. I have always been fond of using my hands to make things.
Growing up, I had a small workshop at home with a woodworker's workbench, a few chisels and a mallet, a back saw, coping saw, carpenters saw, scraper, gimlets, marking gauge, square, woodworkers rule, hammer, a Stanley No 3 plane and a few files and rasps. Though fun to work, I had most joy of turning.
I got my first wood turning lathe at age 12 - it was a small lathe made by Bosch using a drill for rotating the stock. I had this lathe for several years, and made a lot of Christmas gifts and other items. At age 15 I traded the small lathe for a large, heavy duty wood lathe. It had a 12" capacity over the bed (max diameter 24") and 3½' between the spindles. With a fitting motor, you could probably turn barrels on this lathe. But it was not as fun to work with as the smaller Bosch, and I did not use it that much and sold it when my interest changed into HiFi equipment and photography.
My first lathe was just like this one... Image courtesy of eBay member kyarra150©, Hampshire, UK.
Growing up on a farm, I had easy access to dry birch, pine and spruce as we used these materials on the farm. Mountain Ash, Alder and other varieties could be found in the fire wood pile. And when we trimmed fruit trees or cut other trees, I usually took a few pieces, dried them and used the pieces for turnings.
The life on the farm also introduced me to house building - we built one large barn and one extension for another barn, as well as did house restoration and other repair work. One summer, me and my oldest brother built a cabin (+1100 sq ft) during a few months using only hand tools since there was no electricity there, and we did not have access to a generator. With our uncle as a supervisor (he was a professional carpenter), we learned a lot about building a wood cabin using basic tools.
Spring time at the cabin
Later - with the help from some of my uncles - my dad built another cabin next to my brother's cabin (see the picture). This cabin is built using the traditional "lafte"-technique (log-cabin) with pine flooring inside. Its tan brown color is from the pine tar used to cover and preserve the wood. It also has a boat house and a 14' boat for fishing during those long summer nigths when you can't sleep beacuse the sun does not set...
The cabin is located in the Northern part of Norway, on the island Senja. My parents grew up in this area, and as children, we spent a few weeks almost every summer here, staying with my dad's mom.
My late uncle Harald was my favorite uncle. He always had time to spend with me and his two daugthers. He had a workshop with a woodworker's workbench and tools. I was the only kid allowed to use his shop and tools - even if he was not at home. The reason: I was the only kid who cleaned up after work and put the tools back where I found them. Much of my love for woodworking I will attribute to him. He was a very skilled craftsman. He could build boats and houses - and pretty much everything in between. Give him a knife and a block of wood, and you would be amazed of what would come out of it...