Inspired by a day observing birds of prey in flight, this particular knife captures the majestic beauty of two feathered friends: the red kite and the lanner falcon. Each bird is intricately detailed on white reindeer horn, with subtle coloring that highlights their unique plumage. This design showcases their grace and power while also bringing a touch of the wild into your hands.

Inspired by the beauty of the animal kingdom, I ventured into capturing the essence of humankind through scrimshaw. This new design marks a significant evolution, featuring a meticulously crafted knife that showcases scrimshaw based on a photograph of two Native Americans. The knife blade is designed with an integrated finger stop, ensuring both functionality and elegance. The warm background for the scrimshaw is created from a piece of discolored reindeer horn, adding a touch of natural warmth and depth to the design. Framing the overall design is a sliver of sterling silver with fine file work, complemented by an end cap that ties the look together.

Turkish walnut has an appealing color and is suitable for the checkered design that provides the basis for the excellent grip. Turkish walnut is very often used as the wooden part of a hunting gun where you have the same need for a reliable grip. The scrimshaw area consists of two small pieces of reindeer horn with just enough space for two small scorpions as dangerous as the knife is sharp. To protect the knife blade I made a new type of sheath with a better fit around the knife itself. As sheath decoration I added a delicate piece of lizard skin.

The task was to create a knife for all-round use, one that would be practical while also providing a sense of beauty. I placed slices of bronze and aluminum with some additional file-work between the pieces of horn. The scrimshaw designs feature two animals very different in size; an ant hiding in the leaves and a stag roaring toward the sky.

I selected classic materials for a Samic-inspired hunting knife; reindeer antler and hide matched with a large blade. I entered the knife in the Ludvika Show in 2019 and took home a second prize in the “Half Horn” class.

For a long time I had avoided trying my hand at making scrimshaw in color. But curiosity won me over: it was going to be now or never. The drawings were made. The proper materials found. And off I went.

For materials I chose white reindeer horn and placed it dead center while both ends were bordered by grey reindeer horn for file work. Masur birch was dyed red-brown on both sides of the reindeer horn. A piece of white reindeer horn finished off the top of the knife. The sheath was made from semi-tanned leather, stamped and dyed in a brownish color.

Narrowing down which animal to scrimshaw was tough, but the tiger and the wild boar made a great pair. The tiger faces its audience and the wild boar is in profile view. The result is a perfect set of tools for the hunt. And definitely not my last foray into scrimshaw in color.

North of my home town is an eagle and falcon nursery with rare birds, mostly Danish sea eagles and dark-feathered falcons. The beautiful location and the majestic birds inspired me to scrim the head of a white American sea eagle. 

I decided to place the sea eagle in full color on the front side of the knife and the ornate hawk eagle on the back. The challenge was to make the design without too many straight lines; the birds are better presented surrounded by curved materials. 

A thin piece of aluminum was chosen to frame the reindeer horn. A suitable forged damask pattern blade was combined with white reindeer horn and a curly piece of  masur birch. The sheath design is simple but adequately covers the knife.

Every single piece of material is carefully selected and combined to play a starring role in this knife. The big challenge, as always, was to create a design showcasing the curved lines while making sure the lines also fit beautifully.

I selected a plain medium-sized blade. The handle is made from masur birch, a thin layer of fiber and engraved reindeer horn in both ends of the handle. The engravings on both horn pieces is the same design pattern, but the combination of the pattern is different. The sheath is simple but shows the arrow-like decorations. The black parts of the sheath compliment the reddish leather color.

I was fortunate to be presented with the opportunity to buy a special forged blade made by Mattias Styrfors and Johnny Walker. The unique pattern, a spider in two sizes forged into two other patterns, became the inspiration for the knife titled the Spider. 

Since the blade is rather large the sheath had to be made from a high-quality piece of masur birch and reindeer horn. Locating suitable pieces of white reindeer horn that were also large enough to match the size of the blade–like the spider net that was made by a single piece of reindeer horn—proved quite challenging, simply because those dimensions are rare to find. 

Inside the handle through the spider holes you can see pieces of reindeer horn with engravings. On top of the sheath you see the belt shoving the initials, knife number and month/year of production.

The simple cream and brown color scheme complements the repeated engraving pattern and expresses a unique contrast to the exquisitely forged carbon steel knife blade. The untouched areas of the reindeer antler provide an almost startling contrast to the heavily engraved sections that are rich in detail.

The knife was selected to participate in the Swedish Ludvika Show hosted in 2018.