A few days ago, we featured William Henry, a knife-maker that incorporates Damascus steel in its design. And now, comes the competitor that also includes that same material used to make swords from about 300 BC to 1700 AD: Gustafsson & Sjögren (GoS). The latter, a partnership between the bladesmith Johan Gustafsson and watchmaker Patrik Sjögren from Sweden has just launched a limited edition set called VILE & ODEN.

Named after gods and brothers on Nordic mythology, the limited edition set (five pieces only) consists of a watch (Vile) and a standard folding-blade knife (Oden) with distinctive Damascus steel pattern on them. The patterns are characterized by the banding and mottling, reminiscent of flowing water. They are on the dial, 8-mm-crown and lug screws of the watch as well as on the blade and handle of the knife. As a result of hand-forging technique, the patterns are unique, different from each other.

Animated by manual-wound Swiss ETA Unitas 6498-1 movement by Soprod SA – a company specialize in the production of key components used in the manufacture of watch movement, the GoS VILE WATCH features stainless steel case: 42mm in diameter, 10 mm thickness, polished in high-gloss. It has Gustafsson & Sjögren logo on its side. The timepiece also includes flat sapphire glass with anti-reflective treatment and black reindeer leather which is handcracfted with traditional Sámi tin-thread decorations (living in Sápmi, far northern Sweden, Sami people is best known for their semi-nomadic reindeer herding). The index ring/rehat is hand-shaped and polished with grade-5 titanium while the hands are polished with silver finish.

The GoS ODEN KNIFE has length of 250 mm (9.75 inches). Its blade sizes 150 mm (4.49 inches) of length and 3 mm (0.12 inches) of thickness. This folding-knife features different style of mosaic Damascus steel on its parts. The blade bears flower Damascus and explosion; Nordic fossilized coral on the handle; and flower Damascus on the bolsters. The liners include file-worked grade-5 titanium.

The LIMITED EDITION VILE AND ODEN SET comes with exclusive presentation box crafted by Sture Nyberg in a “Svep” technique. This involves moisturizing the material, thin birch wood, in order to increase the humidity of it, before being bended over a round template. Birch root locks the shape with a seam. The hand-made wooden box is colored with natural pigments mized in linseed oil and covered with high grade natural wax; then polished to a deep finish.

The price is US $20,000 each.

There is not much Swedish watchmaker I believe. This Gustafsson & Sjögren Handelsbolag is one among the few. Established by two Swedish young men in Norsholm – a place soaked in the lore of the Vikings, the partnership has produced watches simply characterized by the use of mosaic Damascus steel.  While Johan Gustafsson works on the metallurgy – hand forging the steel;  Patrik Sjögren takes care the finishing for the movement - providing a unity in style between it and the casing.

Johan has always been fascinating by steel crafting. He has began making knives in 1993. Using Swedish tool steels, he always experiment with different materials and steels, trying to improve all the time. As for Patrick, he graduated from the Swedish watchmaker in 2007. He has Swedish and Swiss Wostep watchmaker certificates and was also granted a scholarship resulting in a Breitling certificate.

Damascus steel is simply a pattern welded steel comes from a historical technique in metallurgy used by the sword-smith more than thousand years ago. Some say, it comes from Asia, some say from the Middel East (Damascus), others say it comes from Scandinavia and the Vikings. No one knows for sure. However, its reputation is legendary such as the ability to cut through a rifle barrel, or cut hair faling across the blade. Not only tough and resistant to shattering, the appearance of Damascus steel is also beautiful.

Mosaic Damascus Steel as developed by Gustafsson is more complicated and time-consuming than the conventional one. The technique employs a square tube, 2×2 inches high and 4 inches long, filled with steel rods of varying dimension and nickel sheet. This is to create an image that will be visible when the steel is finished. This procedure takes a very long time. The “package” is weld together and cut slices when it has cooled down. Then it is welded together again, carefully shaping the steel to fit the desired blade or bolster.

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