Icelandicknives

e he established his workshop and a gun store in downtown Reykjavik. His company was later bought by the Iceland Oil Ltd. and combined with the Ellingsen Outdoors Store. Johann now works as a gunsmith for the Ellingsen company. Knivemaking has been Johann’s special interest and hobby for many years. He has designed “The Icelandic Hunting Knive” a specialized tool for hunters. The shaft is made from Icelandic reindeer antlers. Johann designs and makes his knives from scratch. He first makes the blades and hardens the steel in a special oven. The knive shafts are made from esquisit kinds of wood, animal bones, antlers and metals. Some of the knives are engraved, often with traditional Icelandic patterns some of them from the era of the Vikings. Johann is a member of The Belgian Knivemakers Society (BKS). He has participated in many of their joint exhibitions and won the Silver File Reward in the competition for the Gold File Awards (Lime d’Or) in 1998. Johann received the award for a Sicilian dagger type of knive.