Category: Sloyd in Wood

Many of you have asked how the crowdfunding campaign to save Wille Sundqvist’s tools turned out, which we first wrote about here. With a goal of $4,000, the campaign raised $19,183 in just a couple days. Here’s what happened.

When Jögge Sundqvist’s father Wille Sundqvist died in 2018, Jögge and his two brothers assumed that many of Wille’s tools, sculptures and items from his shop would go to them, particularly to Jögge, who has been instrumental in keeping his father’s legacy alive by teaching traditional carving methods via books, videos and classes around the world. Wille lived his last years in Högland, a small village in the Bjurholm Municipality.

And although Jögge and his brothers have been in agreement throughout the entire process of dealing with their father’s estate, there have been others who have not; as so often happens with families, wills and second marriages, things got complicated.

For the first 10 years of Jögge’s life, he and his family lived in an apartment where his dad had his little workshop in the boys’ bedroom. Jögge and his brothers slept on stacked beds next to their father’s workbench, chopping block, axes and saws, and a beautiful tool chest with a precise interior with parts that flipped in and folded out so that every tool had its special place. It’s a long and private story, but even after offering to spend what translates to nearly $1,800 USD months prior to this most recent auction, Jögge and his brothers were unable to gain ownership of their father’s tool chest.

Eventually Wille’s house was sold and all its contents were put up for auction. If Jögge or either of his brothers wanted anything that was still available, they were going to have to buy it. When a Facebook announcement came up about the auction Jögge instinctively posted something along the lines of hoping that the people who buy his father’s remaining tools and things take care of his father’s heritage and share his stories.

In less than 20 minutes Jögge received a message from Ty Thornock.

Jögge first met Ty several years ago. Jögge was teaching up north and Ty, who lived close by, sent Jögge a message and said he wanted to say hi and have a fika (coffee).

“So we did,” Jögge says. “We had a coffee. And that was right after my father’s death. And then all of a sudden he shows me a spoon he made with some kolrosing in it. And it was a picture of my father, in the spoon blade. And I was totally – it was so nice of him. It was so gentle and so warm and he did it in such a beautiful way. And I was so happy to have that spoon. So this is one of the treasures now in my home. He actually gave it to me. He was such a nice guy.”

Ty and Jögge have kept in touch, and Jögge says that Ty has also generously helped him write about kolrosing techniques for his new forthcoming book about Scandinavian chip carving.

So Ty’s a great guy. And he messages Jögge to ask, “Do you want me to set up a GoFundMe?”

Now Jögge had never heard of GoFundMe.

Ty asked how much Jögge thought he needed to cover the tools. Thinking of only the tools and nothing else, Jögge suggested $4,000 USD and sent Ty a picture of Wille. At 6 p.m., Ty posted the campaign on the GoFundMe website. And Jögge? Well, he was invited to dinner at woodworker Beth Moen’s place.

“We had a wonderful evening, good food and we had such a good time together,” Jögge says. “I mean, we’ve known each other since the early ’80s and we’re deep friends.”

Once home that evening, at about 11 p.m., Jögge finally looked at his phone again. “What?” was all he could say.

The campaign had already raised $15,000 USD.

“That was so amazing,” he says. “I couldn’t believe my eyes. I said, there must be something wrong with this. Because I know the slöjd world. I’ve been teaching in Europe, England, United States, Japan, all over. And I know many people in the slöjd world aren’t very rich people. So I was totally blown away. I called my brothers and said, ‘Wow. This is amazing. The slöjd community did it. Now we can buy tools and items from this auction as we want.’”

A few months after Wille died, Jögge had reached out to the municipality of Bjurholm to talk about creating some sort of installation, a memory room if you will. The problem? It’s one of the smallest municipalities in Sweden, just 2,500 people, and not a lot of money is available for such endeavors. And when all the problems with obtaining the items began, the conversations halted. But now? Jögge entered the auction with a new vision.

“I had this in my mind that maybe we could buy things that could represent my father in the room with some text, some videos, some items and some tools,” he says. “So during the auction I tried to buy stuff that would represent his workshop. So I got the chopping block, I got some axes, I got some sketches, I got his apron, I got his signs from the workshop – I think I have a pretty decent collection now, which is special in showing who he was. So I’m very happy about getting all these things.”

Jögge says he also felt a sense of relief knowing these items weren’t purchased using his money or his brothers’ money.

“This is the slöjd community in the world that stood up and said, Fight for it! Go for it!,” he says. “And without that I don’t know if I would have been able to actually have the power to do that because it takes – when you lose a father, which you had taken a responsibility for the cultural heritage that he tried to pass on, it’s so tough. And it was so emotional to go there in the workshop and see all the people in the workshop, looking at the things and wanting to buy them and all that stuff. I couldn’t stand it. So I was just sitting outside waiting for the auction to begin. But then knowing that people around the world were in my back, so to say, was just kind of, I was so happy, you know. When I came home, feeling that, OK, well we solved this, we finally kept a private collection and managed to spread the word about my father, with a little help from my friends.”

And the funding truly was worldwide. Jögge laughs and says only a few Swedes contributed money to the campaign, simply because they couldn’t understand it.

“This way of financing things in Sweden is way beyond,” Jögge says. “It’s not happening at all. We have no tradition of private people giving money to others. Because we have a social democratic society you apply for grants or official funding.”

Some of the Swedes who were following this on social media even sent Jögge private messages. “Oh, something is going on?” Jögge says, reciting a typical message. “‘Do you actually need money?’ They couldn’t realize it was happening! It was so special. For a Swede, seeing this, it was blowing my mind in a way.”

Jögge and his brothers still don’t have the tool chest, some meaningful sculptures and some items that are personally important to them. There’s still a lot of hurt.

“For us, it’s not the money,” he says. “I have to be clear about that. It’s not the money. Even though I’m not a rich man. For me it’s the memory and the stories about father and what he actually achieved with his work that I want to preserve.”

But because of the grand generosity of the worldwide slöjd and woodworking community, Jögge was able to save many of his father’s personal effects. The remaining money will be used to support the Wille Sundqvist and Bill Coperthwaite Slöjd Fellowship, a grant that is awarded every year to craftspeople around the world who are dedicated to sharing their crafts with other people. Jögge says recipients have included Beth Moen, JoJo Wood, Jarrod Dahl, Peter Follansbee, Robin Wood and Masashi Kutsuwa.

“That feels like a really good thing, that this money can come back to people in that way,” he says.

Jögge is also reserving some money to resume talks with Bjurholm Municipality, with hopes of creating a space to honor his father’s legacy.

“So that’s the plan!” Jögge says. “And I hope it’s going to work out.”

— Kara Gebhart Uhl

“Slöjd in Wood” is the first English translation of Jögge Sundqvist’s classic Swedish book. It’s a gorgeous peek into a work that is dominated by saturated colors, crisp bevels and handmade work. In addition to introducing you to the pieces you can make for your home, Jögge shows you how to grip the knife to produce the cuts shown in the book safely and efficiently. And shows you how to replicate the deep colors on your pieces that are positively mesmerizing.

“Skureut” is an older, colloquial word for a pattern carved in wooden surfaces. The word skureut was used in dialects in Härjedalen, Hälsingland and Jämtland. When the more strictly geometrical patterns of the Renaissance became popularized as handicraft, this carved ornamentation was named chip carving. Skureut fits nicely with slöjd objects with its free-form folk-art style.

Make your slöjd unique and personal by mixing wise sayings, commentaries on life’s complexities, signatures, names, dates and years with patterns made using chip carving, nail-cut patterns and shallow relief carving. There is great inspiration to be gained from slöjd artifacts at open-air museums and museum collections. Forgotten treasures that glitter in the dark.

Tools: Chip carving knife, straight gouge No. 9, 5mm and No. 3, 14mm, center punch.

Material: Use deciduous softwoods such as lime, alder, sallow and aspen, but soft birch also works. Avoid knots, which are hard and difficult to cut.

PATTERNS ARE PART OF THE WHOLE
When I work with slöjd, I make quick, rough sketches in green wood to get a three-dimensional feeling for how the shape will be. I make many prototypes before I decide on a basic functional form. The decorations should be part of the overall design and communicate something personal, adding a heightened feeling. A pattern shouldn’t overtake or compete with the basic form. For that reason, I sketch a lot and try out different varieties of decorations before I decide. A useful strategy is to arrange pieces of paper with your drawings on the work before you carve it.

FOUR BASIC RULES
Apart from practice, these ingredients allow me to produce my best work:

1. A really sharp chip carving knife. Hone and strop carefully. Feel for nicks by running the edge along your nail. If it grabs without slipping, it is really sharp.
2. Raking light. Use a strong lamp or spotlight shining from the side opposite your knife hand onto the carving surface. The shadow helps you see the width of the line of the second cut.
3. A good, essential grip. The thumb and the knuckle create fixed angles for the knife, 45º to the wood and 45º slanted backward toward you. They rest on the work and support the cut.
4. A peaceful setting so as to concentrate.

CUTTING LINES
In general, cut along the fiber direction. It is possible to cut across the grain in short-fibered woods such as alder, linden and sallow, but the wood can tear out when you cut round forms. If you angle the knife 45º toward yourself, it slices the wood surface first, preventing tear-out. It is sometimes necessary to turn the knife and push with the other hand’s thumb. When you cut round shapes such as circles and S-curves, both the blank and the knife turn throughout the cut. Make large arcs with your elbows during the cut. As this rotation transfers to your knife and to your work, the movement is smooth and without nicks.

Make each cut deep enough so the cuts overlap at the bottom of the V-shaped groove. If done right, the waste pops out cleanly. It is difficult to clean-cut afterward. If you cut parallel lines, the partition walls are fragile so use less power. Think through the pattern you have drawn and the order of cuts to prevent tear-out and other flaws.

TRIANGLE CHIP
Triangle chips, together with cut lines, are the most traditional ways of carving decorations in wood. These patterns are triangular. The basic one is made with two 90º cuts and one 35º cut. I call this the single-sided triangle chip. The 90º side cuts appear as deep shadows. The other one, the three-sided triangle chip, has the deepest recess in the center. This is done with three 90º and three 45º cuts.

The triangle can also have sides of different lengths or even be curved. If you place these three-sided triangle chips in a circle, they become a sun circle or can be a component of a rosette.

Three-sided triangle chip. Start by cutting the fibers at a 90º angle from the center. Press the tip of the knife into the wood so the edge stops at the point of the triangle. The cut is deepest at the center and becomes shallower until it stops at the tip of the triangle. Now cut away the material between the 90º cuts using a 45º angle. Cut toward the center to the same depth and angle. The chips come out easily if the 90º cuts are slightly deeper. The surface will be nice and clean.

FINGERNAIL CUT

This pattern is simple and quick to make. Fingernail cuts can be found on objects dating to the 9th century Oseberg archaeological collections in Norway. The length of each cut is approximately 12mm (1/2″). Leave a narrow border between the individual nail cuts.

Use a straight gouge Pfeil No. 9, 5mm. It is reground with rounded corners to be able to cut deep enough in the first 90º cut.

The first phase is to make a cut at a 90º angle and repeat in a row with an interval of 10mm to 12mm (3/8″ to 1/2″) between cuts. Hollow out the fingernails on your way back to the start. For the hollowing phase, hold the gouge near the edge and support the thumb and index finger knuckle on the blank. Start cutting at a 90º angle then carefully scoop and level out as you cut toward the next 90º cut.

SHALLOW RELIEF CARVING
A shallow relief is a form or motif surrounded by a lower layer carved a few millimeters into the surface. This makes the carving dynamic with nice shadow effects.

First cut the borders of the shallow relief to a 45º angle with a chip carving knife. Then cut the motif at a 45º angle away from the motif into the background. Use extra power to cut as deep as you can.

Then use a straight gouge No. 3, 14mm to cut the lower layer flat to the depth of the first cut. With a split blank, you get straight fibers; that makes it possible to cut from two directions into the background. Use the thumb of your non-gouge hand to press on the gouge’s bevel, increasing friction so it doesn’t slip as you cut toward the border.

To emphasize the motif, make markings in the background. For example, small nicks with a knife tip. Punches or stamps also make interesting marks.

LETTERS AND NUMBERS
Signatures, names, years, dates, sayings or poems make slöjd articles personal and unique. The letters are cut with the same technique as the lines and the triangle chips, depending on how wide and deep you want them. Study your favorite fonts to understand how to transform the letters into lines that can be carved.

The beginning and ending of lines that make up letters and numbers can be finished in three different ways. Pointed is two cuts coming together at a point. Sans serif letters such as block letters need a stop cut. Serif letters get triangle chips at the beginning and end.

The legend that is Jogge Sundqvist precedes him. I’d heard of him (and of his father, Wille) through Drew Langsner and Peter Follansbee, as had Chris Schwarz and John Hoffman. They’ve had the great good fortune to meet him. I, alas, have not. Yet.

Chris was teaching at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking at the same time as Jogge a few years back, and John was helping out in the class. “I was absolutely blown away by the guy. I didn’t know what to expect,” says Chris. “He’s almost magical when you meet him; he gives off an aura like he’s from another dimension. I got to see his work, and I finally got the whole sloyd thing.”

Chris says he and John would sneak off from their class at every opportunity to hang out in Jogge’s room, to listen to him and watch him teach. “He’s mesmerizing and charming,” says Chris. Jogge says he gets his magic powers from his apron; it transforms him into “surolle,” his artist alter ego. “He’s like a Swedish wood spirit,” says Chris.

After both their classes were over, Jogge asked Chris and John if Lost Art Press would be interested in translating and publishing “Slöjda I Trä.” They didn’t even blink before saying yes.

It took a while to get the contract negotiated with Jogge’s Swedish publisher, but when they did, Chris sent Jogge a note with the good news that “Sloyd in Wood” would be published in the United States. “I’m so happy that if my wife offers me a glass of wine tonight, I will not say no!” Jogge responded.

The following is excerpted from “Slöjd in Wood,” by Jögge Sundqvist.

Peg Board

In my county, chair rail mouldings are common in older, traditional houses. Local people would make peg boards from leftover moulding material. A peg board is a piece of moulding with several pegs. The peg’s tenon must be seated very tightly in the moulding.

If the pegs are very dry, 4 to 5 percent moisture content, and the moulding is 10-12 percent moisture content, the hole shrinks and strengthens the joint. To control the moisture there are pin-activated moisture meters that are handy and time-saving. This construction method, together with the wedge and the shoulder, creates a very strong joint if it is done accurately.

Tools
Axe or froe, drawknife, gouge, knife, chip carving knife, V-tool, brace and bit, and smoothing plane

Material
Dry, straight-grained birch (Betula) for pegs. Hard, deciduous wood for wedges. Green, straight-grain birch for moulding.

The moulding
Split out the peg board from the green blank. Shave it flat with a drawknife in the shaving horse or use a scrub plane and a jack plane at a workbench.

The moulding’s profile should be roughly hollowed out with a gouge in green condition because the wood is easier to work. When it has dried to 12 percent, plane and carve the moulding again to remove any raised fibers or distortion. Decorative carving can be added at this point, for example, a V-shaped notch made with chip carving knife or V-gouge. (See page 47 for more on moisture content.)

Use a rubber band for spacing the peg holes. Mark lines on the rubber band with a ballpoint pen at intervals of approximately 1cm (3/8″). Stretch the rubber band so the markings are evenly distributed across the moulding. Mark holes for the nails or the screws, preferably between the two outermost pegs on each end.

Drilling the holes
Bore from the front of the board, using a brace and bit or a twist drill. In order to bore straight you can tape a line level, which is a small spirit level, on the bit and fasten the moulding horizontally in the workbench. Position your body to align the bit at a 90° angle to the moulding. Bore, checking for level now and then. Stop when the tip of the bit goes through to the back. Turn over the blank and bore from the other side. That way, you avoid ugly tear-out.

Pegs
The peg design can vary. It is a good idea if they are bent up at the tip to prevent the bag or jacket from sliding off. There should be a shoulder on the tenon to make it stronger. If you want, place the shoulder at the lower edge only. If you choose this option, you need a rectangular blank.

You can read more about carving methods and knife grips in the previous chapter. Decorate the moulding before you fasten the pegs. (See Chip Carving, page 96.)

Wedging
Cut out the wedge material from a piece of hard deciduous wood (see page 43 for the properties of woods). The wedge angle should be between 3° and 4° with a secondary bevel at the tip. The wedge mustn’t be concave or convex.

Saw off the tenon, flush with the backside of the moulding. Make a scoring mark on the tenon with the knife at a 90° angle to the fiber direction of the moulding. Make sure it “responds,” that is, that the tip of the peg supports itself on a firm foundation. Add a small dab of wood glue near the tip of the wedge and drive it in firmly until it doesn’t go any farther. With the tip of the knife, scribe a line on each side of the wedge and break it off.

If the tenon is too small, there is a risk of splitting in both the moulding and the peg. Cut the tenons flush to the moulding with a knife or a flat gouge. Carefully choose colors and take the time to paint your peg board using a thin coat of artist’s oil paint.