I'm back home now, for about 36 hours.

I woke up at six 'o clock un thursday to make it for the first ferry to the Swedish main island (Never tell the Swedish they are part of the "Continent" ... same reaction as the British ... hehe)

Since I was going back to civilisation I decided shower, shave and put on some relatively clean clothes. I had kinda forgotten how cold the "hot showers" were on Vässarö.

I also had breakfast in the dininghall. It was the first decent breakfast in more then a week. I had already figured out that I had packed way too few food, especially breakfast and bannock. I think twice the amount I packed this time would be more or less sufficient next time.

On the way back I made a stopover in Stockholm City. There I bought some stuff I needed for my next trips. First, I had to replace the knife the English scout had bought from me. I had asked him 500 Swedish krones for it. I had decided to buy a carbon blade knife of Sami design (political correct word for in inhabitant of Lapland) this time.

If you want to make fire with a flint you need a carbon steel knife. You can also get your knife sharper when it's carbon.

I got hold of a really nice knife at a Naturkompaniet store. Naturkompaniet is a chain of probably the best outdoor stores in Sweden. You will find at least one in every big city. (naturkompaniet.se). The knife is made in Sweden, by a compagny called Karesuando. The model is called Spiggen ("Stickleback"). It was razorsharp, literally! As a test a shaved some hair of my right leg and it went really smooth.

I also got the Axe Book from Gränfors (gransfors.com) for free from a friendly shopkeeper. He only had it in Swedish though. I’m fluent in Swedish but still would have preferred it English though. I checked on the internet and apparantly you can order it for free from their website. It’s a really good book on how to handle and take care of axes!

To keep my knife razorsharp I bought the Fällkniven DC3 diamond/ceramic whetstone. A Swedish scout lend me his D3 diamond whetstone now and then ... and God how I loved it!!! The Swedish sure now how to make good stuff. I bought the whetstone at shop close-by called Terräng. This used to be a military shop but changed their name in order to change their image. (terrang.se)

They also sold the thin version of the Swedish military "Tröja 90". This is similar to the so called Norgie or Norwegion Coldweather shirt. It is not a cotton shirt like the Norgie but made out of Ullfrotté Original. It is produced by the Swedish compagnie Ullfrotté AB. It's 60% wol, 25% Polyamid and 15% Polyester. It's flame resistant and transports the sweat easier than for instance cotton or synthetic fiber thermic underwear. It was quite expensive at Terräng though. I paid 595 Swedish krones for it. I can get it way cheaper at militart.se. There they sell it for 130 krones new and 75 second-hand. Then I would have paid for the shipping however, which tends to be very expensive in Sweden.

I also bought a book on carving. It’s called “Slöjda I färskt trä” by Anders Lindberg (ISBN 91-534-2030-6). Gunilla from the Camp Office at Vässarö, who was quite an expert on carving, told me it was probably one of the best books on the Swedish market on the subject. You can order it from bokus.com. The author apparently has his own website too where he recommends a whole list of good books on the subject. (anderslindberg.com)