Knife with “Restauration” and either “1825”, “1825-2025” or without on the sheath.
Handcrafted wooden handle, hand-forged blade, and handmade sheath by craftsman/knife maker Gunvald Olufsen in Farsund.
(** More info about how it’s made in the bottom of this page.)
The knife was an essential tool for sailors in the 1800s, which, combined with the sailor’s skill, helped ensure efficient operation and safety on board ships.
Handcrafted wooden handle in various types of wood and patterns.
Alternatively, it is possible to have a custom-made handle from wood if you can provide it from the place / family farm your family comes from, Tysvær where Cleng Peerson came from, ….
Possibility to engrave family names if desired. The picture shows both sheaths with 1825-2025 (at the bottom tip) and without.
Can also be obtained with just 1825 if desired.
Knives are usually available on board the “Restauration” at events, etc., where you can take a closer look at the beautiful craftsmanship.
The knives are numbered.
John Isaksen received knife number 2 as a gift from Albert Medhaug on September 18, 2023, aboard his pleasure boat in Fairhaven, MASS. The knife had been used by the Norwegian Fisheries and Ocean Minister to open Albert Medhaug’s photo exhibition on board the “Restauration” about the emigration from Karmøy to the USA. John’s parents emigrated from Skudeneshavn and Hidra, Flekkefjord. Born in 1936 in Brooklyn, NY, John grew up in Fairhaven, where he and his father were scallop fishermen. John’s wife, Ellen Risdal Isaksen, born in 1938 in Tarrytown, NY, also has ties to Fairhaven. Her father, Nils, born in 1905, emigrated from Risdal, Skudenes, in 1924. Ellen’s parents, including her father who was a scallop fisherman, moved from New York to Fairhaven.
If you’re interested in purchasing a unique handmade and numbered piece, contact Restauration Friends Association.
Price for the “standard” model is NOK 1,950 (+ eventually shipping costs).
** More details about the handmade knives – information from knife maker Gunvald Olufsen:
Similar knives as shown in the pictures can be ordered with or without the year on the sheath, featuring the motif Restauration.
Wood types in the knife handle:
The wood types I use mainly consist of burls from birch (burl), oak root, and 4000-year-old oak found in a bog. These wood types can also be mixed together, as shown in the top picture (birch burl and black bog oak). All these wood types are hard, and the drying process takes over 1 year.
Cracks may occur during drying, but usually, the part of the material without cracks is chosen. Alternatively, one can choose a handle material with cracks for decorative purposes, and the cracks are then filled with liquid epoxy in various colors. Bog oak (used in the handle in the top picture): Wood submerged in bog water usually does not rot due to lack of oxygen. Carbon dating (C – 14 method) is used to date organic material, conducted by NTNU in Trondheim. I have not found out why the oak logs found in the bog were black, but it may be related to the reaction between tannic acid in the oak and the iron ore in the bog over thousands of years.
Sheath:
Made of rawhide leather. This means that the leather is not fully tanned but has a raw core in the middle. Rawhide leather is mainly used for tooling, which involves moving/shifting the leather during the drying process to create a raised motif. (Tanning is the process of converting animal hides into leather.)
Knife blade:
Consists of three layers of steel, with carbon steel in the middle. To bond the steel layers, it is heated to about 1200 degrees Fahrenheit (just before melting) and gently hammered together. This is called forge welding and is done in the smithy. A raw-forged knife blade means that the blade is not polished/smoothed but retains the texture from the hammering in the smithy.
We have a few knives with us on board the “Restauration”. Other custom-made variants can be ordered by contacting the Restauration Friends Association.