I was about 5 years old when I got my first personal knife, which I treasured more than anything else, and I carried it with me on all my childhood adventures. Even at that young age I was a keen hobbyist, making stuff with my hands, and at age 9 I made my first crude (very!) knife out of an old saw blade. It was nothing fancy to look at – handle was made of a piece of cord wrapped around the tang and then gaffataped. Sharpness was questionable, but it still was a great chopper, and I was one proud maker. Today I still use gaffatape for some applications, but definitely not for knife handles…instead I prefer to find and use all sorts of beautiful woods to use in my knives. I just love the beauty of wood and other natural materials.

I was 17 or 18 years old when I bought my first book on knifemaking in a bookstore in Johannesburg, South Africa. However, it was not before I turned 22 that I made my first “proper” knife. A beauty at the time, but today I am embarrassed every time I accidentally find it in the drawer. However, from then on, I was hooked, and as I made more and more knives, their quality improved drastically from that very first one. I sold my first knife in 1990, and today I have been making knives for more than half of my life.

Making knives is very much a Norwegian tradition, and the characteristic Scandinavian knives are well known for their simple but effective design. I like these knives a lot for bushcraft and woodcarving, and many of my knives are made with a base within the Scandinavian tradition, but I am also greatly inspired by the more international knife designs. Above all, my primary aim is to make knives of high quality of both design, materials and workmanship. 

During my childhood, I developed a great love for the outdoors. In particular, the African bush, mountains and rivers, with all the wildlife that abounds there, formed an integral part of my life – even the academic part, with studies in Nature Conservation in South Africa, and in Norway a two-year study in outdoor activities, culture and nature use.
I mostly make knives that are designed to be use for bushcraft, outdoor life in general and for hunting. Being interested in crafts from so-called primitive cultures, and our own historic past, I sometimes take time to make "stone age knives" with knapped blades of flint, obsidian or even slate. These knives are made in the same way as our ancestors did it in the old days.

My great affection and love for the African bush, and African cultures, have also led me to work as a freelance guide and bushcraft instructor on several tours, trails and expeditions to the bush in Southern Africa – particular in eSwatini (Swaziland), South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Obviously, I carry and use my own “bushknives” on these trips.