About the service
I run a small forge bench dedicated to kitchen cutlery and take on a limited number of custom sets each season, so every commission gets full attention from bar stock to the final strop. A «set» in my shop is not five blades cut from one template — it is a chef's knife, a utility blade, a paring knife and, on request, a boning or bread knife, all drawn from the same billet of high-carbon or clad damascus steel so the grain, hardness and flex feel like one family in the hand rather than five separate purchases.
Work starts with a short interview about how you actually cook: rock-chop or push-cut, mostly vegetables or heavy on proteins, right- or left-handed, palm size, whether the set lives on a magnetic strip, in a drawer insert or travels to catering jobs. That decides blade geometry, spine thickness, choil shape and belly curve before any steel gets hot. Each blank is hand-forged and normalized in stages, not stock-removed from a pre-hardened bar, which is why the edge geometry can be thinned much closer to true zero without chipping.
Heat treatment is done in a controlled kiln with a quench schedule matched to the exact alloy, then triple-tempered and tested on a hardness file before any handle goes on. Handles are fitted rather than glued-and-hoped: full or hidden tang, stabilized wood, linen or carbon-fiber micarta, with a mosaic pin pattern chosen to tie the set together visually. Every edge leaves the bench shaving-sharp on a graduated stone progression, and the finished set ships in a fitted leather roll or a hand-built magnetic block, whichever suits your kitchen.
Portfolio includes chef sets delivered to restaurant kitchens and to home cooks who wanted one knife that actually fits their hand. Typical turnaround for a four-piece set is discussed at booking and depends on current queue length and steel choice — damascus billets take longer to forge-weld and finish than mono-steel. Sharpening instructions and a one-time free re-profile within the first year are included with every commission, along with photos at each build stage so you can see the set take shape before it reaches your kitchen.
Work starts with a short interview about how you actually cook: rock-chop or push-cut, mostly vegetables or heavy on proteins, right- or left-handed, palm size, whether the set lives on a magnetic strip, in a drawer insert or travels to catering jobs. That decides blade geometry, spine thickness, choil shape and belly curve before any steel gets hot. Each blank is hand-forged and normalized in stages, not stock-removed from a pre-hardened bar, which is why the edge geometry can be thinned much closer to true zero without chipping.
Heat treatment is done in a controlled kiln with a quench schedule matched to the exact alloy, then triple-tempered and tested on a hardness file before any handle goes on. Handles are fitted rather than glued-and-hoped: full or hidden tang, stabilized wood, linen or carbon-fiber micarta, with a mosaic pin pattern chosen to tie the set together visually. Every edge leaves the bench shaving-sharp on a graduated stone progression, and the finished set ships in a fitted leather roll or a hand-built magnetic block, whichever suits your kitchen.
Portfolio includes chef sets delivered to restaurant kitchens and to home cooks who wanted one knife that actually fits their hand. Typical turnaround for a four-piece set is discussed at booking and depends on current queue length and steel choice — damascus billets take longer to forge-weld and finish than mono-steel. Sharpening instructions and a one-time free re-profile within the first year are included with every commission, along with photos at each build stage so you can see the set take shape before it reaches your kitchen.
