Preservation of value instead of mass production
Repair Instead of Discarding
Steel is one of the most recyclable materials in the world. Wood is a renewable resource. A knife is a durable good, not a consumable. Nevertheless, approximately 10 - 20 million knives are bought annually in Germany alone. Of these, 75-80% originate from China (Yangjiang), Pakistan (Sialkot), and India (Rajkot). Many of these products are disposed of in household waste after a short period of use.*
Due to industrialization, the knife has become a mass product and has thus lost its original purpose: reliability.
The culinary industry has also long replaced the knife as a tool with automated machines and cheap mass-produced goods. Increased labor costs and time pressure on chefs reinforce the phrase: "buy new, don't repair."
Craftsmanship
Craftsmanship has its origins even before the Neolithic Age. With the development of artisanal skills, society, technology, economy, and culture have been formed and maintained.
Neuroscientists have found that craftsmanship, particularly the development of fine motor skills, is closely linked to human intelligence.** Through concentrated work with one's hands, complex neural networks are created that activate the motor cortex, the cerebellum, the visual center, frontal lobes, spatial thinking, and memory.
Stress is reduced, education, creativity, and team spirit are promoted, and the nervous system is regulated.***
Traditionally, only a few things are needed to make a knife blade: a bloomery furnace, a block of wood, a hammer, pliers, a file, and grinding stones. The handle can be made from horn or wood with the help of a hand saw, file, and simple abrasives and fitted hot, so it also works without glue.
In modern knife manufacturing, we use machine capabilities that accelerate and generally facilitate processes, but do not automate them. In doing so, we distance ourselves from mass production, which allows all products to be manufactured by machine without any human intervention, and we create not only customized unique pieces but also products that, due to human precision and care, repeated quality checks, and individual decision-making processes, can last one, two, or three lifetimes.
*These are estimated values based on EU import data, market analyses, and typical replacement cycles.
**cf. Frank R. Wilson "The Hand"
***Study: Changes in Electroencephalography and Cardiac Autonomic Function During Craft Activities, Kyoto University Kyoto, Japan
Puddled Iron from Historical Finds
It can be found in and around old buildings. As beams, rings, casings or part of everyday objects: wrought iron.
The puddling process is considered the oldest commercially used method for producing soft structural steel. Pig iron from the blast furnace was decarburised under constant heat and stirring, thus preparing it for use in construction and industry.
The finished ingot was later forged into shape.
This steel has a low hardness of 10-25 HRC, which makes it unusable for cutting - but not as an outer layer for a 60-65 HRC hard, particularly carbon-rich knife. The harder the steel, the higher the probability that it will break under stress. However, if this particularly hard steel is embedded in two layers of flexible, soft steel, it is protected from breakage by these outer layers.
Producing structural steel of this quality and low hardness is not very complicated today. With the help of a special oxygen blowing process and modern alloying options, large and safe blast furnaces and strong rolling mills, structural steels with carbon contents often less than 1% total carbon content are produced.
This task was left to the puddler in the 19th century. The oxygen was introduced into the molten steel with the help of a simple iron rod while stirring. Under hot and often toxic fumes, without modern respiratory, hearing and eye protection, the often over 300 kg heavy, viscous substance had to be stirred constantly. Piecework, fast reaction times and a high degree of physical resilience were part of the puddler's often 12-14 hour working day. Accidents at work, chronic overexertion and the dark, stuffy working environment reduced the average life expectancy of this occupational group to 30-35 years.
Yet what they have left us is of such high value.
Because if we cut open the wrought iron today and hold the steel in acid, not only does the Damascus-like structure become visible, but also that each piece is unique with its very own special shapes and colour nuances.
These colour nuances and unique structures not only give our knives their exceptional appearance, but also honour the manufacturer of this very special steel, whose hard work and effort not only supported buildings for two centuries, but will also be used as cutting tools many decades later.
The Wood for Your Knife
natural
renewable
durable
Locust Burl
The black locust, also known as false acacia, is not native to German-speaking countries. Since the 18th century, it has increasingly displaced our native deciduous trees such as birch, hornbeam, linden, and (pedunculate) oak, and is listed by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation as an invasive alien species (neophyte).
While the black locust is combated by forestry, the wood that is harvested, but above all the burl that some specimens develop, serves as a starting material for our production of beautiful, iridescent knife handles that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also extremely durable, weather-resistant, and - regional.
Ash-Leaf Maple Burl
The Boxelder maple is also one of the invasive tree species. But just like the Black locust, some specimens of the Boxelder maple tend to form burl growths. The Boxelder red, typical for the species, is caused by a fungal infection and is – especially after stabilization with PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) – permanently lightfast.
Boxelder maple wood is light and naturally not very (weather)resistant. Therefore, to serve as handle wood for a high-quality knife, it must be stabilized.
We have two options for this:
1. stabilized in linseed oil varnish
Linseed oil varnish is made from cold-pressed linseed oil. The seeds of the flax plant serve as the raw material. By heating the oil above 130°C, it is purified and acquires its distinctive amber-like color. A special natural resin is added to the linseed oil varnish to stabilize the handle woods.
Therefore, the burr wood stabilized with linseed oil is a regional natural product.
2. stabilized in PMMA
Colorful knife handles are eye-catching and add special accents. They are available in solid colors, multicolored, or with color gradients. We stabilize our ash maple both colorfully and transparently (natural color).
The chemical plastic polymethyl methacrylate used for this purpose is also used, for example, in the automotive industry, medicine (medical technology), or as Plexiglas in greenhouses & Co. In solid form, it is harmless and biocompatible for the human body.
It is a chemically treated natural product.
