It is only a 15-minute bicycle ride to get from the centre of Stockholm into the municipality of Solna, Sweden, where Sault-born Mike Prentice lives.
In Solna, he and his wife, Natalia, are raising their five-year-old daughter Lizzy.
It is also there he decided to start a new career in the traditional arts.
The couple bought a traditional forge that has been around since World War II and Prentice is now a blacksmith/silversmith.
“If you would have asked me, ‘would I ever become a blacksmith?’… I would have just laughed.”
But that is exactly what happened.
Prentice was born in Sault Ste. Marie.
His family moved to Detroit when he was four years old and returned to the Sault when Prentice was twelve.
Locally, he attended Anna McCrea Public School, Bawating Collegiate and Vocational School and then left town for the University of Ottawa for post-secondary studies.
But it was back in the Sault that Prentice made a name for himself. He was a well-liked figure and became known for his entrepreneurial endeavours and good humour equally.
But long before he was pounding steel and other metals on an anvil in Sweden, his time in our city was associated with a different sort of steel.
Prentice was a receiver and defensive end for the Sault Steelers, who were part of the Northern Football Conference, a semi-pro level football league based in Ontario.
He later coached the team.
“I did play for the Steelers for a very long time and still [still have] an amazing list of memories,” he laughs.
“It’s very sad that the COVID pandemic has taken their last season away. Hopefully, they will be able to carry on, and with Brandon [Lewis] at the helm, they will find success again.”
In 2009, Prentice met his future wife online just before Christmas.
“[We] met in person in New York City in June 2010,” he said, noting that although she is originally from Russia, had been working in Sweden.
“I went to Sweden for a visit for the first time November 2010. Then we made a pact that we would see each other every three to four months.”
They did that until Prentice moved there in late 2013.
The couple married two years later and welcomed their daughter Lizzy later that same year.
“It’s strange that I have been gone [from the Sault] for seven years,” he notes.
“Coming from the Sault, where everyone knows everyone, there certainly are differences from Solna. The language is a big thing. Thankfully Swedes speak excellent English.”
Prentice notes that despite its location, with Solna and Stockholm being on the 59th parallel, the climate is more moderate than the Sault.
“One would think it is super cold here, but because of the Gulf Stream, it’s actually much colder and there is more snow in the Sault. The summer here is also a little more moderate. Most people have a bit of trouble adjusting to the darkness in the winter and light in the summer. It is a little weird walking out of a local establishment at closing into bright sunlight,” he laughs.
As to how he wound up becoming a blacksmith with a historic forge, Prentice notes that it happened by chance.
“My wife is a scientist by career and is also a hobby silversmith. She was making some amazing stuff and I kept telling her she should sell it. One person commented on a pair of earrings that she had made and asked, ‘How much?’ So we sold her first pair of earrings and I guess she got the bug.”
One day she sent him a picture of a door.
“That’s all. A door,” he laughs.
“I was a little confused as to what it was. Then she sent the sales sheet and we talked about it. The next day, I went to talk to the person we ended up buying it from. I kept following up with him and approximately six weeks later we were the wide-eyed owners of a blacksmithing and silver business.”
The historic business was located nearby on a small island in the Stockholm Archipelago, which Prentice likens to a smaller version of Mackinaw Island.
“It is a popular destination for tourists,” he says. “During a regular season, it can see upwards of 400,000 people.”
He notes that it is one thing to own a blacksmithing business and an entirely different thing to know how to run it.
“Now was the time to learn how to be a blacksmith,” he laughs.
“Thankfully, my wife found Patric Falldien of Almunge Smide, who is a 35-year master blacksmith and bladesmith. I called him to take a knife course and he basically said, ‘You need to be here every day until you open in May.’”
Prentice began training with Falldien on New Year’s Day in 2019.
“I guess I can now say, ‘I am a Prentice’ he laughs, noting that he had to learn a lot about the trade very quickly.
Blacksmithing is extremely popular in Sweden.
“I joke that it’s not seven degrees of separation, but more like three degrees of separation,” he laughs.
“Everyone here knows someone that was or is a blacksmith.”
Prentice notes that the craft goes all the way back to the time of the Vikings.
“This is the style that Patric is teaching me. Swedish Blacksmithing and knife making are very well thought of in blacksmithing circles around the world. The first time I met Patric, he put me through a few tests. The minute I struck my first hot steel, I was hooked. I absolutely love it … It’s been a crazy run ever since.”
Rock the Forge at Smedjan – The Forge Fjaderholmarna opened for its first season in May 2019 with the retail season running through to September. It is gaining some traction for online sales as well.
“We have sold products to people from all over the world with some recent online sales going to Canada, Germany and Belgium,” he says.
“I have also had a few larger, local Blacksmithing projects and we get funky requests all the time.”
For Prentice, his creations often connect to stories about the individuals he is making them for.
Like the 6-year old who after receiving a knife he made held it close to her heart and said “I love it.”
Or the personalized engagement and wedding rings.
Prentice has also done some forging work with visiting Ambassadors from Canada and the United States.
Although the inspiration for blacksmithing and silversmithing began with his wife, Prentice was the one who had to quickly learn the trade.
He loves to make specialized food knives (such as oyster shuckers), but it is his wife who is his main resource for any questions regarding anything silver and for jewelry design.
“She was out every day during her summer holidays and it was amazing.”
His daughter Lizzy, who is five years old, loves going to the island and helping out where she can.
“She has swung the hammer and has helped to make some souvenirs. We certainly will show her more as she shows more interest. We are very lucky to be in this position to own this great little place.”
As it was for so many businesses around the world, COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact.
“Our second season was affected significantly,” he says.
“Everyone is feeling it … Having zero tourists hurts everyone. I don’t think we knew how many tourists we had until we didn’t. The saving grace is that we have a beautiful setting and had lots of Stockholmers come to the island, many of them for the first time in their lives.”
Although it has been four years since Prentice has been back to Sault Ste. Marie, he still keeps up with family and friends and hopes to come visit as soon as it is safe to do so.
“Facebook and Messenger is my lifeline,” he says, noting he also keeps up on community happenings through Sootoday.
“I think as far as people go, the Sault is hard to beat. We have a lot of ideas moving forward and, one never knows, you might just see a workshop in the Sault.”
In the short term, Prentice says there are two other people from the Sault in Stockholm that he knows of.
“One I know quite well and [the other just] moved here at the beginning of the pandemic, so we haven’t met in person yet. We will look forward to meeting once we can start up Canada Club of Sweden events again,” he laughs.
Find out more about Mike Prentice’s activities at Rock the Forge at Smedjan – The Forge Fjaderholmarna on Facebook and Instagram, as well as a website (which Prentice jokes is still a “work in progress”).