I only own a small Kogatana from Robin Dalman, as a demonstration of his heat treatment prowess, and am quite impressed with it... As a Swedish custom maker, he is most definitely one to be aware of. :doublethumbsup:
In terms of culinary knives, Frost/Mora knives and Eka are both Swedish-made, factory brands that I typically find quite good and are fairly affordable. I prefer them for Western knives since Victorinox increased their prices, and the steel is much better; Sandvik 12C27 is really quite nice for an entry-level steel, and fairly carbon-like for SS. Vast step up from anything sold by Wusthof, Victorinox, Messermeister, etc. I like the edge that Frost's/Mora's 12C27 takes; it gets very sharp at surprisingly low grits, and wickedly toothy. Doesn't hold it forever, but it is very easy to sharpen, and still holds a better edge than what most of the Germans are using.
There are many more Swedish knifemakers, but mostly for outdoor knives from what I am aware of... The Japanese also use some Swedish steels, as do custom bladesmiths and cutlers elsewhere. Beyond Sandvik, Bohler Uddeholm also has some production in Sweden, outside of their HQ in Austria. They make Elmax, Sleipner, AEB-L, and some other rather neat steels in Sweden; in terms of carbon, I believe they also produce UHB20C and 15N20 (Both very clean variants thereof.) there. These steels are used in various outdoor knives, custom kitchen cutlery, and in folders around the world.
Hope this helps.
- Steampunk