Damascus Slicing Knife, 11 Inch Blade with Olive Wood Handle

A brisket wants one stroke, not four. Set the heel on, pull the blade all the way through, and the face of the slice comes off flat. This is 11 inches of Damascus over a high carbon core, ground very narrow, with a rounded tip. The handle is olive wood. It is the longest blade in the kitchen range and it does one thing well.

Specification

The blade

Damascus over a high carbon core, etched so the ladder rungs stand out across the flat. Grooves go into the billet, the bar is forged level again, and the rungs follow. Decoration only. The core beneath is what holds an edge. Narrow matters more than long here, since a slim blade has less steel dragging on the wet face of a cut, so it keeps moving instead of binding. The tip is rounded because a slicer gets pulled, never pushed. Carbon steel goes grey with use and spots if put away wet.

The handle

Olive wood is dense, streaked light and dark in one board, and it carries a little oil of its own, which helps when your hand is greasy off a roast. The tang is full, running under both scales to the butt, three brass pins holding it. The handle is 5 inches long. On a blade this long that ratio matters a lot, because you draw the knife toward yourself over a long stroke and the weight wants to run out ahead.

The leather blade cover

Vegetable tanned leather cut to the outline of an 11 inch blade, which is a long seam to stitch by hand. A welt sits in that seam, a leather strip putting the thread in a channel clear of the edge. The face is stamped in basket weave with a stamped border framing it. The cover takes the blade and stops there, handle standing outside, so it comes out of a drawer or a knife roll by the wood.

Who it suits

Most kitchens never need eleven inches. The ones carving for a table on a Sunday do.

• Anyone slicing roasts and hams for a crowd
• Cooks who portion whole fish
• Buyers who already carve and want more length
• People who want the etch on a working blade

What comes in the box

• The 11 inch Damascus slicing knife
• The stamped leather blade cover with its border
• A care card
• Free sharpening for life

Every piece is different

Olive wood is never twice the same. One set of scales runs pale gold, the next a dark seam down the middle. The ladder lands where the steel moved under the hammer and the acid opens it at its own pace. Borders are stamped one at a time, and the corners never quite match.

Looking after it

Hot fat and meat juice both sit on steel, so wash the blade by hand as soon as the carving is done and dry it there and then. Food safe mineral oil over both sides before it is put away, more if it will sit a while. Wood or plastic boards. A whetstone at roughly 20 degrees per side takes patience down this much length, then strop it. The care and sharpening page goes into it.

Put a name on it

Laser engraving runs 20 dollars per blade and is chosen here. Around 30 characters fits, and this blade has more flat than most, so a longer line sits well. Nothing is cut until a proof image has gone out and come back approved. It puts 3 to 5 business days on the order. Free at 10 blades and up. Details sit on the engraving page.

Questions buyers ask

Why not use a chef knife for this? A curved edge meets a roast in one small place at a time, so you saw at it and the face comes off ragged.

What does very narrow do? Less steel touching the wet cut means less friction, so the blade runs instead of sticking halfway down.

Why is the tip rounded? Nothing here wants piercing. A round tip will not dig into the board at the end of a stroke.

Is eleven inches awkward? On a board with a roast on it, no. In a shallow drawer, possibly.

Will it rust? It can. There is carbon steel under the pattern, so dry it after washing and oil it. A dishwasher is out of the question.

How fast does it ship? Most US orders arrive in 5 to 7 business days.

Shorter, with an antler handle, the 9 inch Damascus carving knife does the same work on a bird, and the 10 inch Damascus chef knife on black micarta handles everything before the roast reaches the table. Find it among kitchen knives, pattern welded blades in Damascus steel, board shapes in chef knives.