Norwegian wood for spacer material? Also glass spacer?

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gandalf23
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Norwegian wood for spacer material? Also glass spacer?

Post by gandalf23 »

My best friend's 10th wedding anniversary is coming up in October, and I thought I'd make him a knife.

It's a hidden tang with leather washers with wood and metal and paper spacers, much like what I made for my brother in laws when I got married. I wanted it to be chock full of meaning and such, so since they met on the internet one spacer is made from a piece of circuit board. She was born in Guatemala and raised in Canada, so it's got a Guatemalan cocobolo spacer and one of Canadian Maple. He's from Texas, so one spacer is mesquite. His family is from Norway originally, and I thought to balance it out I'd get a piece of wood from Norway, too, but I can't seem to find anything anywhere.

Anyone know where to get some wood from Norway?

It really doesn't matter what it is, although a darker wood would be better since the maple and mesquite are light and the cocobolo is dark, to help balance it out. Needs to be about 1/8 or 1/4 of an inch thick and 1.5 by 1.5 inches. Or larger and I can cut/sand it down.

I went by Rockler and Woodcraft here in town and they were not much help with Norwegian woods, although they did have the rest.

I googled "Norwegian Wood" and all I got was Beatles references and some book called that.

Also, while I'm thinking about it, would it be possible to use a piece of glass as a spacer? To represent the big honking diamond he just got her for their anniversary. I imagine the glass would shatter when I went to sand on it, but has anyone done anything like that? Or seen or heard about it being done? I may stop by the glass blowing place this week and see what they say.
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Aglifter
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Re: Norwegian wood for spacer material? Also glass spacer?

Post by Aglifter »

Perhaps acrylic in lieu of glass
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Catbird
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Re: Norwegian wood for spacer material? Also glass spacer?

Post by Catbird »

My first thought was to simply buy a cheap bookshelf or such from IKEA, but it seems that little to none of their wood products are sourced in Norway:
Where we get our wood
Top 5 sourcing countries

Poland 23.3%

Germany 8.0%

Russia 7.2%

Sweden 6.7%

China 6.7%
It's not actually from Norway, but you could use norway maple.

I found some Norwegian souviners made of wood on etsy. (1) (2) There's no way to be sure if the wood actually came from Norway though.

Finally, you could research some craftsmen specializing in Norwegian style products, explain your situation to them, and ask for a scrap or two.
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Erik
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Re: Norwegian wood for spacer material? Also glass spacer?

Post by Erik »

I'd second birch as a choice.

If you cant find anything else, perhaps this guy can help you, he makes custom grips: http://imageseek.com/hakan/
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Cybrludite
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Re: Norwegian wood for spacer material? Also glass spacer?

Post by Cybrludite »

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gandalf23
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Re: Norwegian wood for spacer material? Also glass spacer?

Post by gandalf23 »

Good ideas! Thanks!

I have some baltic plywood pieces left over from an Ikea chest of drawers. Although I kinda remember the tag saying it came from Russia or Poland, I may use it if I can;t find anything else. Didn't even think of looking on Etsy for stuff, that's a real good idea!

And I'm kicking myself for not thinking of Hakan Pek, I own a pair of his grips already, should've thought of him.
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blackeagle603
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Re: Norwegian wood for spacer material? Also glass spacer?

Post by blackeagle603 »

I immediately thought of this rendition/medley with Loch Lomond... If you like brass you'll love this.

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Jered
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Re: Norwegian wood for spacer material? Also glass spacer?

Post by Jered »

The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote.
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Re: Norwegian wood for spacer material? Also glass spacer?

Post by SeekHer »

There is a certain type of mentality that thinks if you make certain inanimate objects illegal their criminal misuse will disappear!

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gandalf23
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Re: Norwegian wood for spacer material? Also glass spacer?

Post by gandalf23 »

Seekher: thanks for the links, I ended up getting some norwegian reindeer antler and using that.

Image

Their anniversary was in October, but they just had a baby shower this past weekend and I gave it to them there. His mom was a bit annoyed, thinking it was for the baby :) Aside from his mom everyone liked it, it was a big hit. Thanks for all the help!

From the back side, Jessika's family is from Guatemala, so the dark wood at the back is Guatemalan Cocobolo. She was raised in Canada, so the light wood is Canadian Birch. Skipping to the front, the Flaa's are from Norway, so the light piece next to the black spacer is Norwegian Reindeer antler. He was raised in Texas, so the next piece of wood is Texan Mesquite (from around Uvalde). Since this knife is celebrating their 10th anniversary, they obviously have passion for each other, symbolized by the red spacers. Jessika is a fiery Latina, so she gets twice as much symbolic passion :) They met on the internet, so the green layer is circuit board from modems. The brass and the faux diamonds and the faux perl spacer they are mounted in represent the wedding rings.
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