A New Chapter for Savernake Knives

What makes the perfect knife? It’s a question we have grappled with since our inception. In fact, it’s what drives us forward – forever testing, tweaking and honing new designs, materials and methods in search of this elusive goal. Although we continue to perfect our craft we have come to the realisation that there isn’t the perfect knife, only your perfect knife. And so we have worked every single one of our customers to give them their version of perfection, combining subjective form and objective function to meet their needs. 

Through this journey with our customers we have discovered the key elements of knife making: craft, geometry, weight, balance, excellent materials, passion and precision. These are our core tenets, the very essence of who we are. 

With these guiding principles, we set about creating a new range of knives for those who seek technical excellence without the time, effort and cost required to make a custom knife. 

Why DNA?

We thought a long time about what to call our new range. We wanted a name that reflects not only the stripped back design to those elements which we believe are fundamental to good knife making but also our British heritage, which is mirrored in the range. After a lot of deliberating we settled on the name DNA as we believe that it encapsulates both of these strands pretty perfectly. 

British Born & Bred

We wanted the DNA range to reflect our British engineering and industrial heritage that we so proudly draw upon and so we set about creating it exclusively from British materials from British suppliers which are designed and hand finished by us in our Sawmill.  

Blade:

We’ve collaborated with Granton to create blades to our own designs. Granton has roots in Sheffield going back to 1601 and is one of the city’s oldest and most storied knife makers.

The steel is a fresh batch of Sheffield’s Silver Fox, hardened, iced and tempered to our exact specifications to achieve a Rockwell hardness rating of 60C – which we consider to be the optimum (and hard-to-achieve) balance of toughness and sharpness for a knife blade.

The blades are refined and finished by our craftsmen in Wiltshire, before being sharpened and despatched to our customers.

Handle:

We have also spent much of 2021 experimenting with in-house handle construction, and have devised a special blend of polymers, additives and pigments that allows for an aesthetically striking handle, that is cool and comfortable to the hand, responds well to hard use and adds the balance and heft that we have been searching for. The DNA range is available in 8 different handle options, ranging from the traditional to the outlandish.

Rivets:

The rivets used to attach the handle to the tang of the blade come from long time partners of ours Barmond Special Steels in Sheffield. 

The Range

The full range consists of 8 knives. The knives are closely modelled on some of our custom blade shapes and we have chosen a range that covers every knife based culinary task. We have included both European and Japanese style blades of all sizes in order to cater for all cutting and chopping techniques. For carving and slicing based tasks the PC26 Carver is equally adept at filleting beef as it is slicing up a lovely crusty loaf of sourdough and will make light work of carving a succulent leg of lamb. We’ve also included the GT11, aka the barman’s best friend for slicing up lemons and limes.

Want to find out more about Savernake Knives? Visit our frequently asked questions.

Christmas is around the corner. Cue dry turkey, soggy sprouts and a new Michael Bublé album (in that order of preference). For us at Savernake Knives there is another festive certainty, which is answering the age old question: is it bad luck to give a knife as a gift? The short, correct and admittedly biased reply is no. But for those with a more superstitious bent we thought we’d delve a little deeper into whys and wherefores of this ancient myth.

THE SUPERSTITION OF KNIFE GIFTING

Knives have been around a long time; 2.5 million years in fact. So it’s no surprise that a lot of stories and legends have accumulated over the years. The notion that it’s bad luck to give someone a knife as a gift is a bad idea seems to be a particularly prevalent one, from China right through to here in Britain. One doesn’t need a degree in anthropology to understand why. If I give a sharp pointy thing to someone that then uses it to cause harm to others then I will feel bad, so best treat it as a transaction or create some other ceremony around it so that I can wash my hands of any prospective guilt. Below we set out the most popular ones.

THE CHINESE KNIFE SUPERSTITION

A knife is a severing tool and Chinese folklore would have you believe that if a knife is given as a gift it would be showing someone that you are slashing the bond of friendship. The proverb goes, “one slash, two parts”. We presume that this is why people are particularly hesitant to give knives as wedding gifts.

THE PENNY AND THE KNIFE

To get round this gift giving stumbling block, clever ancient knife marketeers decided that attaching a penny to the knife you are giving would avoid the metaphorical friend slashing, as the receiver would then immediately hand back the penny thus turning the act of gift giving into a transaction and removing any bad cosmic karma.

If you’d still rather not risk ruining a friendship or marriage and can’t find a penny anywhere in our increasingly cash free world we have the perfect antidote: simply buy a Savernake gift card for your loved one! This really is the belts and braces approach to superstitious knife giving since not only is it not a knife but it’s not even a representation of a knife in existence since you all well know we only make knives to order. So really a gift card is an invitation to create beautiful custom knives.

CLOSING A POCKET KNIFE

Pocket knife marketeers removed the need of pesky pennies by claiming that as long as a gifted pocket knife remained closed no harm would arise. This feels a slightly moot point for us at Savernake Knives since we don’t make pocket knives but if you have an adventurous outdoorsy type you are getting a present for we think keeping one of our outdoor knives in their sheaths will perform the same sorcery.

A STEEL KNIFE

Another get out of jail free card we discovered is that if your knife is made of steel, you are protected from curses and fairies. Admittedly this is not as well known and feels a bit too convenient since it absolves pretty much all knife makers so we suspect clever modern knife marketeers may have shoehorned this one into knife legend postscript.

A KNIFE IN A JAR OF WATER

Finally a positive myth surrounding knives. Nothing to do with gift giving but perhaps one could gift a knife in a jar of water (if you can avoid the inevitable double jeopardy) since it is meant to ward off evil spirits. Apparently it’s the reflection in the water and upon the knife scares them off. Just for god’s sake don’t use one of our knives!

OUR GIFT RECOMMENDATIONS

If you think all of the above is bunkum or you’re happy with any of the legalistic workarounds, here are a few suggestions for you from our online shop.

The Country Gentleman -A perfect sheathed pocket knife for gutting or skinning

The Chefs Carver – Any chef, professional or amateur needs a good carver, look no further.

Want to find out more about Savernake Knives? Visit our frequently asked questions.

At the most prosaic level, a custom knife is simply one where the maker has in some way tailored the knife to your request. This ranges from very slight additions, such as a line of engraving, through to the full monty of having a bespoke knife designed from scratch.

What’s so special about engraving?

If you’re of a slightly cynical bent, the interesting thing to note about engraving – and therefore possibly why so many people are starting to offer it – is that this simple addition makes your knife a ‘custom product’ and therefore one covered by a whole different set of consumer regulations. If you’re ordering an otherwise standard knife, but with a little bit of text, be sure it’s the one you want as you won’t be able to return it without very good reason.

Knife handle material customisation

Moving on to sunnier aspects – the next logical step in customisation is altering the handle material, or possibly even its shape. The latter is generally more difficult to achieve, not least because knife designers generally take a great deal of care in matching the handle geometry to the blade size and so it’s rarely warranted.

Changing the material can be done for a lot of different reasons – the most obvious being the look of the knife, but also for reasons of functionality, maintenance, grip, or the dreaded health and safety. Custom handles can be broadly divided into those which are natural wood and those which are not – and a good knife maker will always make it clear that while wood can be wonderful to look at, and very pleasing to the hand, it is not maintenance free; you will need to be acquainted with sandpaper and your oil of choice and not afraid to use them.

Bespoke knives

On the metal front, you can specify different angles for your bevel, and also the finish of the blade itself, and if you’re really into that sort of thing you could opt for a particular steel.

Beyond these relatively superficial offerings, you move into the world of the truly custom knife – one which is designed for you and by you and which takes a fair amount of work and time to get right.

A maker can approach these sorts of commissions in one of two ways – they can take your wish list and general outline and then make something that fits the criteria, but which is unmistakably their work. This is akin to deciding you’d like your portrait done and selecting the artist based on their previous work – with fingers firmly crossed you are happy with the final result in your case.

Alternatively, we would suggest that the whole process is broken down into iterative steps; initial drawings to cover dimensions and geometry, renders for the aesthetics, a mock-up for the crude geometry and then a prototype for final thoughts before the actual knife is made.

Is it worth it? That’s something we can’t answer – but if the continued existence and global fame of Savile Row over the centuries is anything to go by, truly bespoke craft must have something going for it.

Savernake offer custom knives, with 44,380 possible variations for you to choose from. Our Savernake Knife Configurator can help you choose and personalise your knife which is then handcrafted by us. Should you have any questions email us via hello@savernakeknives.co.uk or call 01672 870120. Alternatively, check out our FAQs.

Let’s assume, for the sake of not wanting to waste our time, that we have a half-decent knife. It doesn’t need to be super-duper, but hopefully a nicely hardened, good quality bit of steel that gets pleasingly thin just before it gets sharp. You can of course sharpen a softer, cheaper knife – but just not as well, by which we mean it will not be very sharp irrespective of your ministrations and what edge it does have will last only very slightly longer than a snowball in a furnace.

Until you’ve got your sharpening routine sorted out, it’s always worth having a few peppers or tomatoes lying about. Of course, it’s possible to get a knife shaving sharp, but what’s the point when we’re not about to trim our beard but instead wade our way through plenty of onions and the like?

Once you’ve got the knife sharp enough to cut through your chilis and carrots, we strongly suggest you stop as you will quickly move through the realm of diminishing returns and into the land of wasted effort. If you are able to slice effortlessly through the comestible of your choice, then any more effort you put in to sharpening and polishing the edge is frankly wasted. In order to achieve an increasingly fine edge, you must be more accurate with your abrasive and also considerably more careful – you can spend a lot of time with very little return on the cutting experience.

Moreover, since we don’t want to be sharpening our knives too frequently, the finer the edge, the more delicate it is and significantly less resistant to the considerable forces put on it when you’re frantically mincing away at the chopping board. Research also indicates strongly that the coarser the grade of abrasive that the edge is achieved on, the greater its durability – and so maybe an hour or so of effing and blinding over a whetstone will leave with an edge that is imperceptibly better (if at all), but which will start to roll and fold and decay a great deal quicker than if you’d stopped earlier and done something sensible like have a nice cup of tea and read the paper.

Once we’ve established an edge, then it needs to be looked after – and if you’ve managed to avoid an overly-brittle Japanese blade – then this can be done with frequent and gentle use of a honing steel. Eject, please, from your mind any notion of having at the blade like you see people doing on the telly – all you will do is likely cut yourself, but definitely ruin your knife. The trick to using a honing steel is threefold; use it as soon as you note any decay in cutting ability, do it gently and at the right angle (about 20º is great) and lastly always alternate between the two sides as you do it.

You will quickly notice how sound plays an important part in using a honing steel: after 4 or 5 strokes the sound of the steel on the blade will become smoother and uniform and if you have a good quality blade, you should be able to achieve a pleasing ‘tingggggg’ noise as you lift your knife at the end of each stroke.

Use a good old-fashioned steel, not one of the abrasive ones, and you’re set. For the sharpening device itself, we personally prefer the ‘two rods at an angle’ device sold by all the major brands (Lansky, Spyderco etc) but just be aware that they’re for topping up your edge, not putting a new one on – so use it monthly right from the beginning. At Savernake, we ae also fans of regular honing. Our knives respond well to honing, which is the act of realigning and polishing the edge to maintain sharpness – opposed to using an abrasive surface to sharpen and remove metal from the blade. Savernake Knives require sharpening once in a blue moon due to this, so if you require a premium knife which will last a very long time, check out our knives today via our online shop. Should you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us. Alternatively, check out our FAQs.

Let’s get a couple of things cleared up from the off here; we’re looking at function, not aesthetics. Furthermore, we’re comparing like for like; we’re not putting a boning knife up against a cleaver.

So, now we have before us a dozen chef’s knives. We’ve selected them for our preferred style of cutting and holding, and we’re about to meaningfully engage our ingredients in battle on the chopping board. What will set them apart?

Geometry, materials and comfort. And the secret sauce.

What characteristics make a comfortable chef’s knife?

We’ll start off with comfort, as that’s the easy one. If, after a good 30 minutes or an hour of having your way with a box full of leeks your hands hurt, then that’s not a very good sign.

The knife should feel balanced and light. It should go exactly where you want it to. Your knife shouldn’t rub, catch or slip from your grasp – and neither should you have to hold it too tightly.

As an aside, for this reason and because of the importance of hardness (as we’ve discussed before) we very strongly believe that knives can only be properly assessed after at least a full day’s work with them – so bear that in mind next time you’re scouring the interweb for reviews.

Does knife blade geometry affect quality?

And so on to geometry, a great deal of which manifests itself as comfort, so we’re covered on that aspect. For the blade itself, it’s about the line of the cutting edge – does it rock and slice and dice and cut smoothly and meet the chopping board consistently and comfortably? It does? Good.

While we’re at the business end, let’s have a look at the bottom couple of millimetres of the blade. The knife edge should be sharp and symmetrical, and we’d hope to see an angle of around 15º on the bevel, because our Savernake steel is good enough to take it.

But if we’re trying to force an inverted pyramid through our carrots, we’re not going to have a good time. We believe that one of the single biggest differences between a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ knife is the thickness of the blade immediately behind the cutting edge – something which is nearly .75mm thick will require twice the cutting force as something .3mm thick, while delivering a starkly poorer slice.

What’s the best knife material?

Now, all this geometry can be achieved with a cheap bit of steel and any old rubbish for the handle. But if you want it to last and to deliver chopping nirvana day-in, day-out, then you’ll need a knife made from premium materials. Good steel at the right hardness and a handle material that you find pleasing to the touch and functional will equate to the perfect chop.

Above and beyond all of this is the secret sauce; passion, skill and devotion.

On the one hand, you can have access to the finest cellars and food halls of Fortnum & Mason and Harrods to prepare your own supper. On the flipside, you can go and experience the mind-blowing wonders of somewhere like the French Laundry.

The difference is not the ingredients or the intent, or maybe even the recipe – the difference is in the maker and the making. As it is with dinner, so it is with knives.

Why don’t you create your own Savernake custom knife? You design it, we handcraft it. Alternatively, peruse the entire Savernake Knives range and don’t hesitate to get in touch if we can be of assistance. Alternatively, check out our FAQs.

As with most things in life, almost all aspects of knife-making are a trade-off, and the hardness of the blade is possibly the most fundamental.

Rockwell Hardness Test

We use the Rockwell C (HRC) scale to describe knife hardness, concentrating on the range of 53 to 63. 53 is considered soft – in relative terms – whereas 63 would be considered very hard.

At the softer end of the spectrum, and many knives are around 56 HRC, it’s possible to establish a cutting edge very quickly, and that edge will be resistant to chipping and cracking if you’re hammering away at a beef carcass. On the other hand, the edge itself will be of poor quality (and so not very sharp) and will roll and deform relatively easy (thereby requiring a great deal of maintenance). 

At the other end, you’ll have a blade that is a right pain to sharpen, but once you achieve it then it should be a splendid thing for extremely fine and precise cutting. Alas, it’ll also be delicate and brittle so will need to be used carefully and selectively or it will chip, and you’ll have your work cut out grinding the blade back to a new edge.

As a gross generalisation, most knives are towards the softer end of the spectrum, with the notable exception of the Japanese who have a predilection for 62+ HRC.

Of course, there’s always a third way, and that is to aim for 60 HRC. We would suggest this is the optimal hardness for a knife that can then be used in pretty much any fashion you’d care for. It is not hard to sharpen, but that edge will stay true and sharp for a good period. It’s not delicate or brittle and will respond very pleasingly to the gentle lick of a honing steel.

Understanding steel hardness

The obvious question is why are not all knives made like this, save the occasional specialist blade? The simple reason is that it’s neither cheap nor easy to achieve.

Commonly used knife steels simply won’t get much beyond 58 HRC whatever you do to them. In any event, for a large manufacturer to completely overhaul their manufacturing process in order to bump a few notches up the scale doesn’t really make much sense.

This doesn’t apply to most of the Japanese makers, as it would be relatively easy to soften their blades to 60 via tempering, but that’s not their style. Therefore, the marketing department have come out trumps and we have a whole generation of people in the west with overly brittle blades for their purposes and a slight dose of Stockholm Syndrome.

So, when you’re looking for a knife (and if you believe the details you’re being told) then we suggest you look for two things. Firstly, aim for as close to 60 HRC as you can get, and even one step down or up makes a big difference as the Rockwell scale is exponential, not linear.

And secondly, look for as tight a range as possible, or ideally just one value as the promised hardness. A knife that claims it is 55-58 HRC is like asking someone what the speed limit is, with the helpful reply being “somewhere between 10 and 70mph”.

Why don’t you create your own Savernake custom knife? Amateur chef and want a set of pro chef knife? You design it, we handcraft it. Alternatively, peruse the entire Savernake Knives range and don’t hesitate to get in touch if we can be of assistance. Alternatively, check out our FAQs.

All steel has carbon, otherwise it wouldn’t be steel – and the amount of carbon in the steel (amongst many other factors) determines its hardenability. All steel also contains manganese, but that is for reasons of initial forming rather than its working properties further down the line.

Furthermore, steels can be categorised in lots of different ways; by their carbon content or by the number of additions to the alloy – from nitrogen to vanadium via many points of esoterica in between.

What is carbon steel?

True “carbon steel” is where almost nothing has been added to the iron aside from carbon and manganese, with very often a pinch of silicon for knife steels. Beyond this we move into the realm of low-alloyed steel and then up into the peaks of the high-alloyed. The demarcation between the two isn’t entirely clear, but if we took going below 95% iron content as the line after which we’re high-alloyed then that will do for our purposes.

The point here is that stainless steel is just a subset of high-alloyed steel, with the addition of at least 10% chrome – but more often around 15%.

Without getting into the whole thing about what makes a good steel, it’s fair to say that badly made, cheap stainless steel makes a worse knife than its low-alloyed or carbon brethren.

But since we’re all discerning people who don’t want to bottom-feed, that doesn’t concern us. At the other end of the spectrum, at the high end, given that we control all the other factors that influence the quality of a knife to be the same, there is no real functional difference between a stainless and non-stainless steel.

Does stainless steel rust?

The one handy differentiator between stainless and non-stainless steels is that the former does not rust.

Ah-ha! The dreaded ‘rust’ word – more often called a ‘patina’ by those trying to turn a bug into a feature. Aside from making a hell of a mess of lettuce and needing to be kept an eye on, it’s not the end of the world for the most part and we can (if we squint) see the appeal of a knife that ages and matures as you use it. But as with so many things to do with knives, nothing really matters as much as the cutting edge, and it’s here that stainless gets a small lead.

The metal at your cutting edge is at its thinnest and most exposed, and if you don’t have a corrosion-resistant steel then you’d better keep that little bit very clean. Just leaving lemon juice on the edge of the blade for 30 minutes will see it degrade significantly in comparison to its stainless compatriot. This makes the material inappropriate for the likes of chef’s knives.

Carbon steel is used by makers for whom the material is most apt – generally those who forge by hand or are maintaining a tradition. The annoyance lies – from our perspective – with the perpetuation of the myth that stainless steel is somehow inferior, when one could very cogently argue that the opposite is true and that the whole discussion only rumbles on because of misinformation and the whole 5 Monkeys problem.

At Savernake we put extensive research and hours of testing into the steel we use for our blades. We now almost exclusively use Swedish Sandvik 14c28n, although on occasion we use RWL 34 powdered metallurgical steel and other exotics. In tests conducted by the Cutlery and Allied Trades Research Association, Savernake blades scored in the top 2.5% of knives tested and were rated ‘excellent’ for sharpness and durability. Browse all Savernake knives or create your own custom knife. The Savernake team are always on hand to answer any questions you have. Email hello@savernakeknives.co.uk or call +44 (0) 1672 870120. Alternatively, check out our FAQs.

Well over two thousand years ago, metalsmiths in southern India developed a steel known as Wootz. They used magnetite ores and readily available sources of carbon (and then a lot of skilled hard work) to make steel with prominent carbide patterns. This was elevated further if they then used an acid to etch the steel after finishing their blades.

The strength and toughness of their work, and the sharpness and durability of their edges meant that soon the technique spread around the known world. From the Romans to the Chinese, everyone was getting in on the act. As with so many things in the world of knife-making, there are theories aplenty as to why we came to know this as Damascus steel, but as good a one as any is that in European minds the blades became most strongly associated with the eponymous city of the Levant.

The key point here is that the pattern was a by-product of the quest to make a wonderful blade. For sure, the more skilled makers would have taken an interest in making their patterns as aesthetically pleasing as possible, but not at the expense of the quality of their function.

What we call Damascus today is a very different beast indeed, ranging from works of great beauty to charlatanry of the highest order.

How is Damascus steel made today?

Instead of continually working once piece of metal, today’s Damascus is in fact a forge-welding of two different steels. Both these steels will react to the final etching solution in different ways, leaving a pattern determined by the method used to forge the two metals together.

This is distinct from San Mai – or laminated steel – where the piece of metal that forms the cutting edge is sandwiched between other materials. Often this production is for added protection, ease of working, or just for the visual appeal.

Are you being sold a real Damascus steel knife?

Most knives being offered on the internet as Damascus are in fact laminated. If you come across a knife and can see a clear tide line above the cutting edge where the pattern stops, then it’s not a true Damascus knife. Given they’re fibbing about something so fundamental, it would be fair to say they’re probably not being entirely straight with anything else.

The most important thing to know about today’s Damascus (the real stuff) is that it offers absolutely no practical benefits over a single, high-quality knife steel. In fact, unless the welding has been undertaken with the very highest levels of attention to detail and patience, the possible presence of impurities and micro-fissures may in fact weaken the blade, and in particular the cutting edge.

Of course, there are makers who do indeed make their patterned steels to only the very highest quality – but this comes at a price. A piece of good, stainless patterned steel sufficient to make an 8” chef’s knife is going to cost in the region of £200. So, if you’re not paying well over £800 for your Damascus knife then you’re probably being sold a dupe.

Whilst we may not deal in Damascus knives, we offer customers the opportunity to create their own bespoke knife. Fully customisable, you can choose from 44,380 options to design your own knife via our online knife configurator and custom knife engraving is included as standard. It will then be handcrafted by us and delivered – included is our lifetime guarantee.

Alternatively, peruse the entire Savernake Knives range and don’t hesitate to get in touch if we can be of assistance. Alternatively, check out our FAQs.

As we have strived to create the best knifes for our customers, we have now expanded our range to include knives for the outdoors

From our workshop in the Savernake Forest, we have been making the finest kitchen knives for the last two years, based on over 6 years of learning what makes the best knives for our customers.

It is engrained in the brand to provide our customers with bespoke solutions and therefore, we started being asked to create unique pieces for the outdoors. We have never marketed this before, and we now want to encourage those interested to contact us, to come and see our workshop and work on your own bespoke outdoor knife.

Little known to many people, our knife-makers have been creating bespoke pieces for a number of clients who want knives for the outdoors for over a year now. We have taken inspiration from these commissions to create our own debut collection.