- Joined
- Aug 30, 2019
- Messages
- 14
1) How many people are currently manufacturing Faroese knives on the Faroe Islands?
-There are several men making the “grindaknív” (whale knife) here in the Faroe Islands, but there are not many who forge the blade of the knife, they buy them abroad instead. However there are maybe about 3-4 men that forge the blade, myself included.
2) Do you have students whom you teach to make knives?
-No, I have no students making knives, but I was a teacher in evening classes for many years, where I educated in making the handle on knives and making sheaths.
3) How many knives do you make per year? (if it is not a commercial secret)
- It is very different from year to year, some years I make many (around 10-15) and other years less.
4) Do you sell Faroe knives to tourists? Or only Faroese?
- Yes, I sell to both tourists and to the Faroese people. I do not only make whale knives, I make ornamental knives for the national costume too, which are little knives who look like the whale knife, only smaller versions.
5) In what approximately historical period did the type of modern Faroese knives take shape? They usually have drawings of boats on their handles
- The whale knife has been made for many hundred years. Nobody knows when people started making the whale knife, but carving into the handle and sheath is pretty new, starting maybe late in 1800 or early 1900.
6) How did you learn to make Faroese knives?
- I have had the interest in whittling/wood carving and creating something with my hands since I was a little boy, and seeing my father making knives for whale hunters taught me how they were made, and that is where my knowledge is from.
Nigro Hermansen
Sergey Gromov
April 23, 2019
-There are several men making the “grindaknív” (whale knife) here in the Faroe Islands, but there are not many who forge the blade of the knife, they buy them abroad instead. However there are maybe about 3-4 men that forge the blade, myself included.
2) Do you have students whom you teach to make knives?
-No, I have no students making knives, but I was a teacher in evening classes for many years, where I educated in making the handle on knives and making sheaths.
3) How many knives do you make per year? (if it is not a commercial secret)
- It is very different from year to year, some years I make many (around 10-15) and other years less.
4) Do you sell Faroe knives to tourists? Or only Faroese?
- Yes, I sell to both tourists and to the Faroese people. I do not only make whale knives, I make ornamental knives for the national costume too, which are little knives who look like the whale knife, only smaller versions.
5) In what approximately historical period did the type of modern Faroese knives take shape? They usually have drawings of boats on their handles
- The whale knife has been made for many hundred years. Nobody knows when people started making the whale knife, but carving into the handle and sheath is pretty new, starting maybe late in 1800 or early 1900.
6) How did you learn to make Faroese knives?
- I have had the interest in whittling/wood carving and creating something with my hands since I was a little boy, and seeing my father making knives for whale hunters taught me how they were made, and that is where my knowledge is from.
Nigro Hermansen
Sergey Gromov
April 23, 2019
for them....i know.
