Axe Tour of Norway and Sweden: Part 2

The day after I landed in Oslo I took a 3-1/2 hour train trip north to the Hjerleid Craft School in the town of Dovre. I spent the next 10 days there teaching a class on forging Viking age axes. There were 12 students in the 1-year class, which is run by Benjamin Kjellman-Chapin – head of the blacksmithing department. The enthusiasm of Benjamin and the students was awesome and each student finished an axe. Although I’d had some second thoughts just before I left about my commitment to teach a relatively difficult subject to so many students so far away, the class was a great success and a huge amount of fun as well! I miss them all and hope to return.
- Leaving Oslo
- Headed up the Gudbrandsdal
- Into the mountains
- The town of Dovre
- A walk around the school
- Farm in the valley
- View from the smithy
- Hjerleid Craft School
- Class begins
- I demonstrate…
- …and the students follow
- They’re a great bunch!
Tags: axe, blacksmithing, Dovre, Hjerleid, Norway, Oppland, Scandinavia, Sweden, tool making
Hi Jim (nephew):
Looks like you had a great time in Norway. Did everyone make a good axe? Looks like the smithy had a lot of good tools to work with. Thanks for the update. You had a really interesting trip.
Larry Austin