Building wooden boats in Stockholm

During my last trip to Stockholm I had the occasion to meet Jon, a very passionate and talented wooden boats construction professor at Skeppsholmens folk high school in Stockholm.
When I say wooden boats construction professor you would probably picture Jon in your head as an old man, maybe aged between 65 and 80 years old, who spent all his life sealing around the world - or at least the Baltic sea - and, just to characterize him a bit more, neither friendly or social... Well, you're completely off! Jon is a young man, very enthusiastic and friendly, who managed to make a living out of his passion and loves to share it with his students or people that are interested in what he does.

I must admit I really didn't expect to get so fascinated by the wooden boats he builds together with his students - honestly I barely knew anything about him and his profession before meeting up - so I wasn't really prepared for a photo reportage or an interview... but luckily I had my camera with me and now, with a bit of fantasy, I'll try to simulate an interview that actually didn't take place using the information I grasped while having coffee at the Modern art museum and visiting his school... the whole thing together with the picture I took, of course!

LF1881: Hi Jon, thank you for inviting us here at Skeppsholmens folk high school and offering to show the boats that are under construction and the school/workshop.
Jon: It's my pleasure, it's always nice to share things you are passionate for.
This part was completely fictional, even more than what follows, but I thought it helped introducing the whole fake interview.

LF1881: When did you build your first wooden boat?
Jon: Well, I actually didn't build a wooden boat from scratch until I started working here as a teacher. Until then I repaired and restored a countless number of traditional wooden boats. If I'm not mistaken I started working on a wooden boat for the first time when I was 16, but I mastered the technique when I was in Gotland (island in the Baltic sea few kilometres off the cost of Sweden where Visby University is located, ndr) for my university studies.

LF1881: What's the typical student you've at your classes?
Jon: It's difficult to generalise. There are students of all ages and with different learning objectives. Some might be retired workers, some other young guys and girls who just finished school. Certain might want just to learn something new for their personal interest, some other are here to learn how to build their own boat and then sail the seas.

LF1881: We are on Skeppsholmens island, like the Modern Art museum, just in the very centre of Stockholm city, and from the boat yard you can see the Nordiska Museet and Vasamuseet. How does it feel to be in the real centre of a capitol city building traditional/historical wooden boats and sailing off in the see whenever you feel/need?
Jon: It feels exactly as you can imagine, it's just incredible and amazing! And I love it!

LF1881: Building a wooden boat isn't something that takes just an hour or two. How long does it take on average?
Jon: As you can imagine it really depends on the boat size, how many people are working on it and for how many hours per day. Very very in general, we could say that one of these small ones will take roughly one year for two students to build. But if you look at the big project we are building outside because it doesn't fit in the workshop, that won't for sure be completed before summer 2016. And I'm only talking about the boat shell.

 

LF1881: That really sounds like a lot of work! Let's imagine I want to start building my own wooden boat, where do I start from?
Jon: The first step is definately chosing the tipy of boat. We have a huge historical documentation on traditional fishing boats here at the school. Then, once you've the drownings, we replicate all the sections in a 1 to 1 scale before cutting and carving wood. From there on it's a lot of manual work!

LF1881: Ok, now a very pragmatical question, do wooden boats have a market?
Jon: It depends on what you consider as a market. Here in Sweden we have way too many boats, especially old wooden boats that nobody is really willing to take care for. So you probably think twice before buying - or building yourself - a brand new wooden boat. On the other hand you can buy one of those old ones for a very reasonable price, restore it and then either use it for your own pleasure or export it around in Europe where they really seem to be appreciated. So yes, there is a market for historical wooden boats, but for sure it is a niche one.

LF1881: Well Jon, thank you very much for showing the boats and sharing all these interesting details about wooden boats.
Jon: It was a pleasure!

Well, that's it! I hope I managed to not mix up too much what XXX told me, and I thought that the fake interview style was going to be more enjoyable to read!