Hackberry Damascus Gyuto 258mm

A chef’s knife by Connecticut bladesmith Andy Billipp seems, in that intangible way in which only a handcrafted object created by a dedicated craftsperson can, to embody the spirit of thousands of years of humans’ toolmaking and ingenuity aimed squarely at the improvement of the society we all share. That is, after all, what drives Andy to create pieces of functional art like this damascus-clad, 258mm / 10.2″ workhorse of a kitchen knife. In the modern era the average person no longer builds the tools they need to live; they do not craft and maintain the objects used in daily life as our ancestors did for millennia; we do, however, continue to make one thing on a regular basis: we make the food that sustains and nourishes us and our loved ones, and so Andy pours his soul into the knives, the most ancient of tools, that make that endeavor more enjoyable, rewarding, and efficient. Forged by hand from a house-made carbon steel formula, with sub-integral bolster showing the hammer marks of its hand-hewn origins, the blade is large and versatile, standing 65mm tall at the heel and tapering steadily along the rounded spine to a fine, needle-like tip. Freehand convex bevel geometry and a hair-popping sharp edge guarantee performance on the cutting board. For comfort and control, spalted hackberry has been sculpted into Andy’s beautiful Eastern-Western hybrid form, capped with a solid brass and secured with a flush, polished brass pin.