Gransfors and Wetterlings

[robin wood]

On Monday I visited the Wetterlings axe forge in Sweden, a very interesting though all too short tour of the factory as we had a plane to catch.

Here is the big interesting news. I knew that a few years ago Wetterlings were bought by Gabriel Branby, the man that bought Gransfors as a small failing axe company and turned it into what it is today, what I didn't know is that Lars Enander is now working at Wetterlings too. He is a fifth generation blacksmith who was for many years the master smith at Gransfors. Seems like we have the dream team at Wetterlings now and it will be interesting to see how things develop there. They have a very dynamic and bright 23 year old female CEO who trained as a blacksmith and can wield and axe pretty well too.

 

[Albus Culter]

I met Julia at the bushcraft show and a nicer individual you could not hope to meet.

 

[Passer]

I forged a axe under the guidance of Julia and her blacksmith Richard at the Bushcraft Show. To watch her wielding the sledge hammer, (in exactly the same way Robin did later at Spoonfest, whilst assisting Nic Westerman), was a revelation. She obviously did her stint on the shopfloor before taking the reins.Look forward to the results of the new team.

 

[Stew]

Great to hear. Hope they go from strength to strength.

 

[woof]

So, can you just turn up at the factory & get a tour ?, & do they have a shop on site ?

Rob

 

[Jjessup]

I also did the axe making at the show, and totally agree with the above. Julia and Richard were really great, my highlights (other than the axe itself of course) were Julia shouting at everyone to hit harder with the sledge (although quite proud she didn't shout at us, might be I was just a hopeless case) and Richard's impressive ginger locks that suddenly appeared when he took his hat off, nearly made me hit my thumb by mistake!

Great time and great people.

 

[robin wood]

So, can you just turn up at the factory & get a tour ?, & do they have a shop on site ?

Rob

No shop and I don't know about just turning up. We had just spent the weekend with Julia at Taljfest then found we had an hour spare so called and she showed us round. I am sure soon enough they will have museum, shop, courses and the full visitor experience. There are a couple of things I liked about it you don't get at Gransfors, first it is not far from Stockholm rather than a days drive North, then they have their own woodshop on site where they make all their own handles rather than buying them in and the most impressive thing for me.....they are water powered with a bit of solar thrown in. It's the oldest axe forge in Sweden and was originally water powered and they recently got the turbine working again and hitched it up to a huge new generator. Last year they made more electricity than they used and considering they are heating the steel by induction that must be quite a bit.

 

[woof]

Thanks for the information Robin.

Rob

 

[British Red]

they have their own woodshop on site where they make all their own handles rather than buying them in and the most impressive thing for me.....they are water powered with a bit of solar thrown in. It's the oldest axe forge in Sweden and was originally water powered and they recently got the turbine working again and hitched it up to a huge new generator. Last year they made more electricity than they used and considering they are heating the steel by induction that must be quite a bit.

Now that does sound good - I like the sound of that. Always had a soft spot for Wetterlings, hope Julia sorts out the grind problems they were having for a while - they were great axes for such a long time.

 

[mountainm]

Wonder if the prices will go up accordingly.