Damascus Cheese Knife Set of 4 with Leather Roll, Burl Wood

Laid out on a bench, three of these four look like something went wrong at the grinder. One has holes in it. One ends in prongs. One has no edge at all. Put a board of cheese in front of them and they make sense together. Four pieces, Damascus over a high carbon core, with stabilised burl wood handles, in a leather roll that ties shut.

Specification

What is in the set

The steel

Damascus is layers of steel welded into one bar. Raindrop comes from pressing dimples into the stacked billet and forging it flat again, so the layers cut through ring out around each mark. Acid brings the rings up. The pattern is decoration and the high carbon core under it does the cutting. On short blades like these the rings sit close together, which is the argument for a raindrop on a small piece. Carbon steel darkens to a grey patina in use and it will spot if it is left wet.

The handles

Burl is the part of a tree that grew in a knot, so the grain turns back on itself and comes out as swirl rather than lines. Left alone it is too soft to trust, so it is stabilised, meaning resin is drawn all the way through it and set hard. Four handles cut together keep the figure in the same family. Each one is full tang, with brass pins through the slabs, and nothing is glued on to lift after a few winters.

The knife roll

Vegetable tanned leather, hand stitched, four pockets, so no piece ends up resting on another. Its face carries a basket weave, punched into damp hide square by square. The strap winds round twice and ties off. Four short odd shapes are exactly what a drawer swallows, and a block has no slot for a spreader. The roll keeps the four together, stores flat, and the leather firms up and darkens as it is handled.

Who it suits

A board looks better with four proper tools on it than with one knife doing everything badly.

• Anyone who puts a board out for guests
• Buyers who want a present that gets used
• People who already own the cheese and not the tools
• Anyone tired of a free spreader from somewhere else

What comes in the box

• The four pieces
• The stamped basket weave knife roll
• A care card
• Free sharpening for life

Every set is different

All four are forged and etched here in small runs. The dimples land where the press put them, so the rings crowd on one piece and open on the next. Burl does what burl does, and no two handles carry the same swirl. What arrives will not be a copy of the photograph.

Looking after it

Hand wash them and dry them straight away, and take a moment over the holes, since water sits in them. A little food safe mineral oil before they return to the roll stops rust getting started. Use wood or plastic boards rather than stone or glass. Sharpen on a stone and strop after, and the spreader wants nothing beyond a wipe. Everything else lives on our care and sharpening page.

Put a name on it

Laser engraving comes to 35 dollars for the set, a single flat price for all four pieces, and you add it here before checkout. Around 30 characters go on each piece. On blades this short a name on its own sits better than a name with a date. Before the laser runs we send a proof image, and that puts 3 to 5 business days on the order. See the engraving page.

Questions buyers ask

Why are there holes in one of the blades? They break up the flat, so soft cheese has less to cling to and comes away instead of riding along with the blade.

Why does one have prongs on the end? So the piece you just cut can be lifted onto a plate without a second tool or your fingers.

Will they rust? They can. Carbon steel lies beneath the pattern. Dry them after use, holes included, and keep them oiled.

How much extra is engraving? 35 dollars flat for the set, and that price takes in all four pieces. It is never on an order unless you put it there.

How long does shipping take? Most US orders arrive in 5 to 7 business days.

Is the spreader meant to be blunt? Yes. A rounded edge pushes soft cheese along instead of cutting into it.

For the table after the board there is the Damascus steak set of five in rosewood, and for a roast the Damascus carving set on stag antler holds the joint still. Every roll sits in gift sets, the board knives in kitchen knife sets, and there is every knife we make in one place.