If you live in the greater Stockholm area, please stop by Rubank Tools AB in Farsta this Saturday (July 8) to say hello and talk about woodworking or salty black licorice.
Rubank is our distributor in Sweden, and they invited me to stop by between 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Saturday to meet customers and see their facility.
Why am I going to Sweden? About 1,000 reasons. I’ve never been to Scandinavia, and so I’m going to travel around for a couple weeks with my friend Narayan. Hide your potatoes and other comestibles, because Narayan and I are coming for your calories.
And your Vasa, and Skolkoster and your Skansen.
But mostly your potatoes.
— Christopher Schwarz
I thought they shut down the whole town during the summer?
Lots of great folk design there. Hope you get to meet up with Jögge somewhere along the way!
Darn! On reading the headline I assumed you had won a Noble Prize!
The size of the Vasa will astound you. Think of all the stick chairs that could have been made.
Do you have any plans of going to the Döderhultar museum to see the wood carvings? It’s definitely on my bucket list.
Don’t miss the lutefisk!
Your a skinny lad, could use a few calories. Hope you have an excellent trip.
That sounds great. Have fun!
I only made it to Stockholm once during the year Mimi and I lived in Oslo so I don’t have suggestions of places to go, but I’m sure your hosts have that all sussed out. But I will say try reindeer steak. It’s really good.
I got very excited then realized I’ll be in Stockholm on Monday…. I was going to ask you to bring me a replacement of my Lost Art ball cap that blew into the most of Kronberg Castle yesterday…. Sigh.
It’s a strange world when Stockholm is closer to Portland, Oregon than is Covington, Kentucky.
Before you go, do you have some guarantee they’ll let you back in this country?
The risk of that is probably much less than that he will decide to pick up shop and move the whole works there.
My potatoes!
Have fun. Make sure to try a real Swedish kebabpizza if you make it outside of Stockholm. Any local pizza place that looks even slightly sketchy should have them. Kebab, garlic sauce and french fries on a pizza…
Yes! That is our national dish. Pickled herring could only be consumed while intoxicated with schnaps.
Cowboy in Sweden https://youtu.be/tmnSzMArJvw
I’ve traveled to Sweden several times over the years along with the rest of the Nordic countries. Beautiful scenery and plan to spend more time at the Vasa museum than you planned to. Then you can try and explain to everyone else just how large the ship is! Words don’t really work, and pictures fall short as well.
All your spud are belong to us!!
A friend brought back some salty black licorice and I like salt but boy oh boy I could not finish it. She acted like it was no big deal but she grew up on the stuff. She laughed hysterically at my reaction. Very very salty. Have fun!
If you find your way to Lillehammer, Norway you go to the Maihaugen open air museum and stop by the furniture shop in the village part of the museum. It’s to the left after you enter. I was there last month and spoke with the craftsman in the shop who said he and another woodworker friend of his were expecting a visit from Peter Follansbe to do some work/research/project (?) or something. Follansbe said he knew nothing of it though. Anyway, the guy had an interest in American hand tool woodworkers. Sorry, never got his name.
If you can make it over to Lillehammer, Norway you must go to the Maihaugen open air museum and stop by the furniture shop in “the village”. It’s to the left after you enter. I was there last month and spoke with the craftsman there who is familiar with American hand tool woodworkers. In fact, he said he and any craftsman friend of his were due to work on a project (?) of some kind with Peter Follansbe. Although Peter said he knew nothing of it. Interesting place, none the less.
They call beer öl in Sweden. Thought this might be useful information.
Bira or bärs works to. Öl is the same Word as Ale. The hardest thingh is that no one will understand I P A in Sweden. We say iiiiipa in one Word.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B6dra_R%C3%A5da_Old_Church The reconstruction of this medival timber Church might be interresting. The work have been as a project to gain understanding of some lost art and craft
I vote for eating boiled pork knuckle (with 5 kinds of mustard!)and mashed rutabaga at the Pelikan. I was there in May and highly recommend eating at this historic dining hall in Södermalm, Stockholm. Its just off the subway line. Easy to get too.
Pelikan is also one of my favourite addresses in Stockholm for traditional Swedish cooking. They do a very good Biff Rydberg, but the Fläsklägg med rotmos is also top notch.
Another good spot for that kind of cooking is Tennstopet at the corner of Dalagatan and Odengatan.
And a link to Tennstopet that works!
If you’re here for potatoes, the kroppkakor at Pelikan are highly recommended. Tunnbrödsrulle is a classic street food which is about 90% mashed potato, in a bread wrap, with sausages, then maybe prawn cocktail, ketchup and mustard on top. Yes, it does sound like a car crash of a food, but it’s also amazing.
At the… I think it was the historic museum? There’s the famous Mästermyr viking toolchest, dragged out by a farmer with a heavy iron chain.
Stockholm is nice, but currently quite hot (friends tell me).
Some simple suggestions.
– Look for the book ”Folklig möbelkultur i svenska bygder” by Erixon. Expensive but there are several facsimile.
– HI-group. Collective group of furniture maker masters and designers. A reaction to mass produced furniture. 1950-60. Think there is a exhibition at ArkDes.
If you only would have announced that a bit earlier. It is only 12 hours away – not much more than munich. Skansen ist great, but If you want to see a working line shaft in a living snikeri , you got to travle to the south of sweden. If you go to skokloster, please take better pictures of the faces on the sawhandles. Take Care, Pedder
Be sure to pick up a copy of Castor Snickrar (it is very cheap as well) when at Rubank. It is probably one of the best childrens picture books about woodworking out there. It is about a beaver making a tool tote with hand tools. My small son loves it.