a swedish forest moved to denmark
DESCRIPTION
Some phtos to illustrate the fact, that a part of a Swedish pine forest was imported to Denmark 1900-1970 as material for splint baskets.TRANSCRIPT
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We had a factory in DenmarkWe had a factory in Denmark at which we producedsplint baskets, or you could call them chip basket.Through the years we brought with us from Swedenthe forest of which we made 100.000’s of splint bas-kets from 1900 to 1970. Together with us workedmany other Swedes from the same municipallyÖrkened in Sweden as we came from. Some stayedsome returned.We stayed and are now Danes.
But the era of the splint basket has ended.Since it is almost forgotten how well known and ex-tensive this everyday product was, I have collectedmany items from small ones to big ones, and writtena book on the subject.The summary can be read in English on Internet herehttp://per-olof.dk/cdt/splint.htm .
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This is the factory around 1950. The pine logs were storedin a little pond, because they had to be wet when used.This were the common baskets which every ordinaryfamily used. Big ones and small ones.
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The pine logs came from places like this Ålshult, Ryd in Swe-den
Before loading on the train at Ålshult Station, Ryd it lookedlike this.
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We expected that every pine log was without knotsat any time.
In old times a railway station was in function at Ålshult, thebuilding is still there.
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In 1931 my grandfather made a deal with his nephew,who took care of the economy. He had found so muchgood wood to buy. When the train arrived to Lillerød inDenmark it was not with 9 wagons, as Karl the nephewhad expected – but 20! Our own little pond could notcontain all this, so we had to loan many ponds around.[Photo: Jyväskylä, Finland 1979]
This is the pond – we call it water hole – and the factoryaround 1914.
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This is my grandfather Per Martin Johansson at thepond 1931. He was not an expert in making the basketsbut an expert in choosing the logs to use. So he went toSweden and had seen all the trees in the forest himself -so I guess he looks very satisfied with this part of thework - even since he was misunderstood by hisnephew.
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The boy to the right is my cousin Ernest, born 1922 inCanada, went to school in Denmark, became navy sol-dier in Sweden under Second World War and thenstayed in Sweden. With a friend Willy Sandner. Weguess it is at another pond in Lillerød 1931.
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This is my father with the axe and three other basketmakers at the pond. Maybe 1933.
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Playground forbig kids 1962.
Splint baskets frommy collection