Anders Hogstrom
Anders Hogstrom is one of the best Scandinavian knifemaker. The quality of his knives is awesome, the fit and finish is perfect and his specific crafting methods result in outstanding masterpieces. These are very well detailed with fine Hamon blades and excellent fittings. Only the best materials find their place on the handles. Anders is a great maker with a very fine taste of highest quality and design.
My story in making knives
– Anders Högström –
I live and work in Sweden, in the greater Stockholm area – our capitol. I’m married and have two sons. The beginning of 2008 marks my tenth year in knife making, for this occasion I have a new signature that will be on all my knives from now on. Can’t believe it’s been ten years – time flies when you’re having fun at work!
I tend to make mostly daggers, fighters and shorter, guardless belt knives which I label Kwaikens. I make swords and folders as well, a couple every year usually. I primarily use 1050 carbon steel and damascus of various compositions and on occasion, stainless steel for the blades. For the 1050 I employ a clay tempering technique that gives the blade a beautiful temper line (hamon) as well as a hard edge. This is the climax in knife making for me, to clay temper a blade, finish-grind it and then seeing the clay temper line (hamon) appear stronger and stronger the finer the sand paper you go thru when hand sanding it – this never gets boring! These blades are rough ground and then finished off by hand before the final stage of edging the blade to fully bring out the temper line.
When it comes to damascus, I tend to lean towards a simpler random or a twist pattern that goes with the overall simplistic scheme of my knives. I forge my own as well as use other’s damascus, for ex. Damasteel for it’s stainless qualities. The appearence and the pattern of the steel is important, not necessarily who forged it. These blades are worked and finished in a similar fashion as the carbon steel ones. I use stainless steel very seldom, sometimes for kitchen cutlery and short knives.
For the handles and wooden sheaths I use rare exotic hardwoods and ancient ivories from all over the world. A couple of wood favorites are Masur birch, Snakewood and Eucalyptus burl. I have more wood and fossil ivory in stock than I know what to do with but I am always hunting for new, unusual pieces to add to my collection. I always want to have the “right” piece on hand when a project comes along.
I carve all my fittings in wax; everything is carved individually for each knife - I don’t use any molds. I then cast them using the lost wax casting method. That means the wax carving is placed in a flask, plaster is then poured in and allowed to harden. Later, the wax is melted out of the flask leaving an imprint in the hardened plaster. After baking the plaster in a high heat oven for several hours, the flask is ready to receive the melted metal pour. When the metal has cooled down a little, I quench the flask in water, thus desolving the plaster “mold” and leaving me with the end result, the fitting for a knife. This process is exciting and nerve racking at the same time, as there is little or no room for error. I always feel very relieved when the casting is a success! The metals I cast are copper, yellow & white bronze and sterling silver—these can be antiqued, blackened or left in their natural state.
Aside from the casting equipment, I have a belt grinder, drill press, band saw, buffer, disc sander and an array of various hand tools. I believe in doing as much as possible by hand.
I accept orders for knives and try to complete those projcets in a timely fashion, at about 6-8 months at the moment.
I attend E.C.C.K.S in N.Y, the Blade show in Atlanta and S.I.C.A.C in Paris every year, as well as the Scandinavian Knife Makers Guild show in Stockholm – which I’m involved in producing. We aim for this event to be a true international custom knife show and already have makers coming from all over Europe. Now in our 4th year, the next show will be held on the 23rd of August, from 10.00 – 18.00 (one day event) at the SAS Radisson Hotel in the middle of Stockholm, Sweden.
Thank you for your interest in my work!
Please send us a note whenever you need any further details on Anders Hogstrom’s work.
If you would like to order a knife from Anders Hogstrom please send us an email to info@arscultri.com.
Anders Hogstrom is a member of SCANDINAVIAN KNIFE MAKERS GUILD.
