Damascus Carving Knife, 9 Inch Blade with Stag Antler Handle

A roast gives up a clean face on the first pass and a ragged one on the fourth. The fewer times steel travels the same slice, the better it looks on the plate. So this blade is 9 inches of Damascus over a high carbon core, narrow all the way, and the handle is stag antler, cool and uneven in the hand. One long draw, one slice off.

Specification

The blade

Pattern welded steel over a high carbon core, etched so the twist reads as bands leaning across the flat. The bar is heated and wound along its own length, which sends the layers spiralling instead of lying flat. Decoration, all of it. The core beneath holds the edge. The blade is long and narrow with a rounded point, and narrow is the part that counts, since a thin blade has less side pushing at the meat. Less drag, fewer strokes. Carbon steel darkens grey with use and spots if put away damp.

The handle

Stag antler is hard outside and soft in the core, so pieces get sorted before cutting. None of them are smooth and no two feel the same, which is the reason people ask for it. The tang is full, three brass pins going through antler and steel together. The handle is 5 inches, so your whole hand sits behind the blade at the moment carving asks you to pull rather than push. Grip low for a long draw over a big roast.

The leather blade cover

Vegetable tanned leather cut to this blade's outline and stitched by hand. A welt runs inside the seam, so the thread sits in its own channel and never under the edge. The face is carved rather than stamped, an oak leaf and acorn cut into damp hide with a swivel knife, then backgrounded until the leaf lifts. It goes over the blade and stops. The handle stays in the open, so the knife keeps in a drawer or a roll. Not for a belt.

Who it suits

Carving is a weekly job in some houses and a set piece in others.

• Anyone carving a bird at the table
• Cooks who slice a roast thin
• Buyers who want antler and carved leather together
• People buying for a holiday cook

What comes in the box

• The Damascus carving knife on stag antler
• The hand carved oak leaf and acorn blade cover
• A care card
• An engraving proof if you order one

Every piece is different

Antler grows how it grows. Colour, pitting and the curve along the grip move handle to handle, and a crown end is never twice the same. A twist tightens where the bar ran hottest, so banding leans at its own angle on each blade. The leaf is drawn freehand into every cover.

Looking after it

Hand wash and dry at once, minding the seam where antler meets steel. A wipe of food safe mineral oil keeps the blade quiet between holidays, and a knife used a few times a year wants more oil, not less. Wood or plastic boards, never a plate you have already carved onto. Bring the edge back on a whetstone at roughly 20 degrees a side and finish on a strop. The care and sharpening page has the detail.

Put a name on it

Lettering runs 20 dollars per blade and gets added here before checkout. Roughly 30 characters fits, usually a family name and a year. There is plenty of flat on a blade this long. You approve a proof image before the laser runs. It adds 3 to 5 business days, and it is free at 10 blades or more. See the engraving page.

Questions buyers ask

Why is it so narrow? Less steel touching the cut face. The blade slides rather than shoves, so the slice comes off whole.

Does the number of strokes really matter? Yes. Each extra pass reopens the face and roughs it up. A long blade finishes a slice in one run.

Why is the point rounded? A carving knife works along a joint, not into it. A rounded tip stays out of the way and snags less.

Will it rust? It can. Carbon steel sits under the pattern, so dry it, oil it, and never put it in a dishwasher.

Can antler go in water? A rinse does no harm. A soak does, so wash the blade and keep the handle out of standing water.

How long is delivery? Most US orders arrive in 5 to 7 business days.

A longer, narrower blade for cold cuts is the 11 inch Damascus slicing knife on olive wood, and the board work before the roast goes in belongs to the Damascus santoku on ram horn. Both live in kitchen knives, etched blades in Damascus steel, the full range in every knife we make.