Luxurious demands and meticulous frugality are the two attitudes with which the Swedish blacksmiths around Gabriel Brånby at Gränsfors Bruks produce their famous axes. The demands on the materials are luxurious, featuring a specially alloyed axe steel and the finest hickory handle wood. The time each blacksmith takes to forge, harden, temper, straighten, sharpen, and polish the handle is also generous. For better grip, the handle is fitted with rounded notches, shaped, and secured. The two letters on the head of each axe are the initials of the blacksmith. The result is axes that feel light and balanced in hand and are inexplicably more beautiful than their counterparts.