Nilsson, Jonny Walker

Jonny resides in the small town of Arvidsjaur, close to the Arctic Circle in Swedish Lapland. He is a full time knife maker. Jonny started making knives in 1988 and has successfully competed in this art form since 1993. He has won 40 contests in Scandinavia, most notably the Swedish Championship and the Nordic (five Nordic countries) Championship. As of 2003, an annual award in Jonny?s name is given to the maker of the most beautiful knife of the Nordic Championship show. Collectors in Europe have long been familiar with his work and numerous TV-programs and articles have featured Jonny. The Swedish Royal Family owns some of his pieces. The requests for his collector pieces have created long waiting lists. His knife handles and sheaths feature decorative spacers of thin bark, bone, and pewter plates, and his engravings are prized for their excellent artistic value. To maintain mastery of his craft, Jonny engraves a minimum of 4 hours a day. The tremendous precision carving is done freehand with a sharp tool. Each cut is made twice to form a ""v,"" into which bark powder from birch, alder, or pine mixed with a binding agent is rubbed. Openings in the bone are filed with a needle file. Elaborate knives feature three-dimensional inlaid and engraved bone plates and design innovations like bent bone pieces.