One of a Kind Damascus Cleaver, Spalted Maple and Amber Resin

Only one of these was made and it is the one in the photograph, not a stand in. The blade is 7 inches of Damascus over a high carbon core. The handle is spalted maple set in amber resin, and the black lines through that wood were left by fungus working through the tree long before anybody cut it down. When this one sells the page comes down.

Specification

The blade

Damascus over a high carbon core in a ladder pattern. The billet is pressed across its width and then ground flat again, which drags the layers into rungs running from spine to edge. Etching brings them up dark against bright, and it carries down the bevel with no bare strip left. The pattern is decoration. The carbon core underneath takes the edge. Seven inches of cleaver is a lot of steel over a board, and the weight does most of the work if you let it. Carbon darkens as you use it and spots if it goes away wet.

The handle

Spalted maple began as wood on its way to rotting. Fungus ran through it and left those black lines, and caught at the right moment they are there while the wood is still sound. Left alone, that block would be soft in patches and would move around the pins in a damp kitchen. This one was stabilised, soaked in resin under vacuum until it filled, then set in amber resin so the pale areas glow behind the black. The pins are brass mosaic, built from smaller rods fused together, so the pattern shows the same at both ends.

The leather sheath

The cover is vegetable tanned leather, cut to this blade's outline rather than to a size that roughly fits. The face is carved by hand, cut in with a swivel knife and worked with punches, oak leaves running the length of it. That is several times the work of stamping. A welt is sewn into the edge so the thread sits inside the seam where the blade cannot saw at it, and it is stitched by hand.

Who it suits

This is for somebody who wants weight on the board and the only one of its kind.

• Cooks breaking down big cuts at home
• Anyone who likes figure in wood over a plain block
• Buyers who want the actual knife in the picture
• People who dry a knife instead of stacking it wet

What comes in the box

• This exact cleaver, sharpened by hand
• The hand carved oak leaf cover
• A care card
• Free sharpening for life

There is only one of these

The photograph is the piece itself. The spalting in that maple came from a fungus taking its own route through one tree, and nobody can order that again. The ladder rungs landed where the steel moved. The oak leaves were cut once, into leather that does not forgive a slip. When it sells the listing comes down and nothing replaces it.

Looking after it

Wash it by hand and dry it straight away. No dishwasher, ever, for the steel or the wood. Onions and citrus darken a carbon blade faster than anything else on the board, which is normal rather than a fault, and a wipe of oil before it goes in a drawer keeps spots off. Store it in the cover only when both are dry. More is on our knife care and sharpening page.

Put a name on it

Laser engraving is 20 dollars per blade and around 30 characters fits, which covers a name and a date. We send a proof image before the laser runs and it adds 3 to 5 business days. Since this is a one off, we will talk it through and agree the spot before anything is cut. The engraving page has the rest.

Questions buyers ask

Is this the actual knife in the photograph? Yes. That is this cleaver, and no second one exists.

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

Will it rust? It can. Carbon steel sits under the pattern, so dry it after washing and oil it.

Is spalted wood rotten? It was heading that way. Stabilising fills it with resin, which stops it there.

Will the handle mind a wet kitchen? No. Stabilised wood does not swell or shrink around the pins.

Can I have the same lines again? No. The fungus took one route through one tree and that block is used.

If you want a thinner blade for the same board, the Damascus chef knife in buffalo horn and brass is the other kitchen piece here, and the Damascus hunting knife in desert ironwood burl puts figured wood on a smaller blade. The rest sit in custom builds, pattern welded blades under Damascus steel, and every knife we make together.