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As you may be aware from my last blog, I recently collaborated with Brød & Taylor to design a bread knife, and on October 5, we released two different versions of the same knife: a standard version, manufactured overseas to our specifications; and a Limited-Edition version, crafted entirely by hand in my workshop in upstate New York.
Though the two versions differ in their materials, level of precision, finish, and price point, both are built upon the same overall design, which the Brød & Taylor team and I refined over the course of three years. We designed the knife around the cut, breaking down the requirements for the knife systematically into the three stages of cutting through a loaf: The top crust, the crumb, and the bottom crust. Then, we sculpted it into an attractive object, bound to draw attention in any kitchen. I am going to share with you some of our observations and decisions that led us to the final design.
The Top Crust
I used to think that serrations were just a device to make a dull knife cut for longer, and that a sharp chef knife could do the job just as well with fewer crumbs…until I started baking my own sourdough bread. My razor-sharp chef knives that would easily slice through a ripe tomato would simply glide over the top of the crispy crust of a fresh oven loaf, and so I learned first-hand why every bread knife on the market has a serrated edge. But not all serrations are the same. After testing out dozens of different bread knives, we found that the best performers were the blades with classic scalloped serrations, spaced around 1/4 inch apart and deep enough to grab the top of the loaf and start the cut, but not so deep as to tear it. The Crumb Once the blade has penetrated the top crust, it hits the delicate interior of the bread, and the challenge is to preserve the structure of the crumb and keep it from tearing or collapsing. Slicing through the crumb successfully has everything to do with the sharpness of the edge. For the standard model, the team at Brød & Taylor worked closely with the factory to conduct quantitative sharpness tests to ensure the bread knives would slice as cleanly as possible. For the Limited-Edition Bread Knives, I sharpened each one by hand with the same attention I would devote to one of my custom knives. Additionally, because the Limited-Edition knives are entirely handmade, I was able to grind the edges at least 50% thinner than the factory-made version to further reduce friction in the cut and improve their performance. The Bottom Crust If you enjoy bread that has been baked in a wood-fired oven, or on a pizza stone, or in a Dutch oven, you know that the bottom crust is the toughest part of the loaf. Good serrations and a sharp edge are undoubtedly important, but that final pull through the bottom crust can be made even smoother by improving your leverage. There are three features of this knife design that we added specifically to improve leverage: the blade height, the edge curvature, and the handle geometry. Blade Height: Most bread knives on the market today are relatively narrow, meaning that when you cut all the way to the bottom of the loaf, your knuckles hit the cutting board, forcing you to reposition and bring the whole operation closer to the edge of the countertop. The JL x B&T Bread Knives are nearly two inches tall at the heel, allowing you to maintain a firm grip on the handle even as the blade hits the board. Edge Curvature: Most bread knives on the market today are also straight, so the entire length of the edge hits the board at the same time, dispersing the force of the cut over the entire length of the knife. By adding a slight curve to the edge of our bread knives, we ensure that as you cut through the bottom crust, the force you apply is concentrated in a small section of the blade, making the cut more powerful with less effort. Handle Geometry: Handle geometry is an important consideration for any hand-held tool, and in the case of a bread knife, the handle must allow for a secure grip for both the push and pull strokes. Our handle design features a palm swell, which seats comfortably in the center of your hand helping to index the knife, along with a flare at the back of the handle, which helps to keep your hand from sliding off the end. 
Aesthetics
Once the functional aspects of the knife are established, it is time to consider the overall aesthetic of the knife, to craft an object that is as pleasing to look at as it is to hold and use. I designed an organic profile with complimentary curves and a unique, decorative wave-like gesture at the front of the bolster, and then tried out different proportions and placements of the curves until the entire shape was coherent and balanced. When it came to materials, we decided to use wood for the handles of both versions of our bread knife design — a warm, inviting material that evokes the hospitality of serving freshly sliced bread. The standard model features a spalted maple handle whereas the Limited-Edition features the more exotic afzelia xylay, but in both cases, the wood is flanked on either end with a black bolster and a metal spacer. The bolsters help to protect the ends of the handle from wear and moisture, and they also add a pleasant symmetry to the handle design, further improving its visual appeal.
Test Results
One of the reasons I make knives is that I am particular about the tools I use, and by making them myself, I can craft them exactly the way I think they ought to be. So I will freely admit my bias when I say that these bread knives are good. They’re exactly the way I want them to be. However, throughout the course of the design process, I built and tested numerous knives from other manufacturers and several of my own prototypes, and after all of that research, I can confidently say that I believe the JL x B&T Limited-Edition bread knife performs the best of all the knives I have used. The standard model Brød & Taylor bread knife is also an excellent performer, and it is easily my favorite of all the factory-made knives I tried. I hope you have a chance to test one of these out yourself — whichever best fits your budget and your attention to detail.
Be sure to sign up for my newsletter at the bottom of my home page so you don’t miss them. Remember that there will only be 24 of these handcrafted pieces. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
Additionally, if you would like to let me know what you think or even commission your own culinary knife, you can start the process by filling out my contact form and sending me a description of what you are looking for. About The Author Jordan LaMothe is a Master Bladesmith, a Fulbright scholar, a member of the Art Knife Invitational Show, and a teacher of knife-making. His work has won numerous awards, has been published in magazines internationally, and earned him the title of Forged in Fire Champion. He makes collector's pieces, family heirlooms, and fine tools including culinary and outdoor knives for the kitchen and field.
I am excited to announce the upcoming reveal of a project that has been in the works for nearly three years. Near the end of 2023, Michael Taylor, founder of Brød & Taylor and long time friend and mentor to me, reached out to ask if I would help his team design a bread knife to add to their lineup of premium baking equipment. I jumped at the chance.
The Bread Knife Design Over the course of the next two and a half years, I worked with Michael and his director of product design, Warren, to hone in on a knife that we believe is best in class. I made sketches and built several prototypes, slowly refining the design as we tested and critiqued it. Warren took my prototypes and made digital models to aid in the manufacturing process, then we examined numerous factory samples to settle on the right manufacturer and helped them dial in the details of the final product. On October 5, we will be releasing two different models of our design: a mass-market model and a limited edition model. The mass-market model, made overseas to our specifications, will be available through the Brød & Taylor website and in numerous kitchen supply retailers around the country. The limited edition model, made 100% by hand, will be available exclusively through Jordan LaMothe Blades. 
The Limited Edition Bread Knife Collaboration
For the inaugural release of the Brød & Taylor bread knife, I am crafting 24 pieces by hand, each marked with my signature 'JL' touchmark as well as the Brød & Taylor logo. This limited edition Brød & Taylor x Jordan LaMothe bread knife is made for those of you who truly appreciate the precision and detail of hand craftsmanship. It features a MagnaCut stainless steel blade for unparalleled performance and a stunning Afzelia Xylay handle with black Richlite bolsters and stainless steel spacers. If you want to take a look behind the scenes, I have documented some parts of the process on my YouTube channel. 
Be sure to sign up for my newsletter at the bottom of my home page so you don’t miss them when they drop on October 5. Remember that there will only be 24 of these handcrafted pieces. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
If you would like to commission a one-of-a-kind culinary knife, you can start the process by filling out my contact form and sending me a description of what you are looking for. About The Author Jordan LaMothe is a Master Bladesmith, a Fulbright scholar, a member of the Art Knife Invitational Show, and a teacher of knife-making. His work has won numerous awards, has been published in magazines internationally, and earned him the title of Forged in Fire Champion. He makes collector's pieces, family heirlooms, and fine tools including culinary and outdoor knives for the kitchen and field.
When a James Beard Award-winning brewmaster makes a request, you listen closely and rise to the occasion. The journey of making this latest commission was full of unexpected challenges, but at long last, I prevailed, making a matched set of ten chef knives and a short sword to celebrate an important milestone in the life of a vibrant American company.
The Backstory In 1996, Brooklyn Brewery opened its first tasting room in Williamsburg, NYC, on a mission to bring brewing back to Brooklyn. The mastermind behind both the tasting room and the sensational beer was head brewmaster Garret Oliver. In the years since, Brooklyn Brewery has continued to grow, and now with a prestigious James Beard Award under his belt, Mr. Oliver is at it again, developing a brand new tasting room to bring the Brooklyn Brewery to even new heights. Last year, Garrett Oliver came to me with a proposal: to incorporate metal and wood from the old tasting room into a limited edition of ten chef knives to commemorate the old brewhouse and to celebrate the opening of the new one, as well as a Wakizashi, or a Japanese short sword, to cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the new location. Never one to shy away from a challenge, I jumped at the chance to work with Mr. Oliver and add my personal design sensibilities to this historic occasion. A Commission for 10 Matching Chef Knives After making some sketches and settling upon a design for the knives, the crew at the Brooklyn Brewery sent me several big boxes of scrap material: large stainless steel stirring blades from the brewing vats, a chunk of timber, a roll of copper flashing, and a bundle of barrel hoops from their coveted ‘Black Ops Imperial Stout.” I got to work. My first step was to cut out blanks for the knife handles and send them out to be stabilized. Southern yellow pine, the timber that was provided, is fairly soft by itself, but once the pores of the wood have been impregnated with epoxy resin under extreme vacuum pressure, the wood becomes hard and durable and nearly waterproof; perfect for knife handles. Then I set to work on the blade steel. Brewing equipment is largely made from 304 stainless steel, the same kind of metal used in cooking pots and tableware. It has excellent corrosion resistance, but it’s impossible to harden it enough to make a knife blade, which must take and hold a sharp edge. In order to incorporate the recycled metal, my plan was to sandwich a piece of high-carbon steel (which will hold a keen edge) between two pieces of the 304 stainless in a construction known as ‘san mai,’ or 3-layer steel. The san mai construction would also provide an interesting visual contrast in the final piece between the dark, carbon steel core and the bright, stainless jacket steel. Not everything always goes as planned however, and figuring out how to marry the two dissimilar steels produced over thirty scrapped attempts before I had ten satisfactory blades. The first batch of ten welded up nicely, but once I started grinding into them, I realized that some of the carbon from the high-carbon steel had migrated out into the stainless jacket, leaving the edges soft in places. I put those ten aside, and in my next batch, added thin pieces of pure nickel between the jacket and core steel to slow down the movement of the carbon. I also experimented with different thicknesses of jacket and core steel to see if a thicker core would help the problem. However, once I solved the problem of carbon migration, I found that the edges of the blades were cracking during the heat treating process as the core steel hardened and the jacket stayed soft. After a dozen or so more failed attempts, I consulted Burt Foster, a fellow Master Smith who specializes in these kinds of laminated steels, and he helped me troubleshoot my process. Ultimately, I needed to make sure that the blade did not cool too much between quenching and tempering, and that small fix prevented the core steel from cracking. Once the steel was welded together and all ten blades were forged to shape and hardened, the rest of the process went fairly smoothly. I ground the blades to their final geometry, leaving some of the forge texture on the upper part of the blade for a rustic quality that evokes the warm environment of the Brooklyn Brewery tasting room. For the knife handles, Mr. Oliver and I settled on a Westernized version of the Japanese Wa handle: a gently tapered octagon of stabilized yellow pine with a spacer made from the copper flashing material that he provided. To complete the transition from handle to blade, I added a bolster of phenolic composite material for increased water resistance and durability. 
The Wakizashi Sword Commission
Once all ten chef knives were finished and fully sharpened, it was time to embark on the wakizashi for the ribbon cutting ceremony. Like many bladesmiths, I have long been fascinated with the Japanese sword making tradition and its surrounding mythos, but even thirteen years into my knifemaking career, I had still only ever attempted one traditionally-inspired Japanese blade: a tanto that I made as a commission in 2018. The opportunity to make a wakizashi for Brooklyn Brewery meant the chance to revisit my research into Japanese swordmaking, combing through photos in online museum collections, and rereading The Craft of the Japanese Sword by Yoshindo Yoshihara and Leon and Hiroko Kapp, which is a treasure trove of information on the traditional processes used by swordsmiths and related craftspeople. As I approached the Brooklyn Brewery project, I wanted the sword I made to preserve the traditional Japanese construction methods as closely as possible, while incorporating the decidedly non-traditional materials recycled from the old brewhouse. Having worked out the challenges of using 304 stainless steel on the chef knives, welding and forging the wakizashi blade went without a hitch. I used the same blend of materials as I did on the chef knives, however I opted for a more polished look on the wakizashi and instead of leaving a forge texture on the spine, I hand polished the entire blade to a near-mirror finish. Then it was time to move onto the fittings and handle components. An important feature on any Japanese sword is the habaki, or the copper collar at the base of the blade. The habaki helps to stabilize the transition from blade to handle, and it also allows for a snug fit in the scabbard that will not scratch the polished steel of the blade. Habaki are traditionally made of copper, which was convenient because that was one of the recycled materials I had on hand. However, the copper flashing I was provided was not thick enough, so I re-melted some of it into a small ingot and hammered it out to a piece of appropriate thickness, which I then formed into the habaki. 
For the tsuba (guard), the fuchi (front handle ferrule) and kashira (back handle ferrule), I wanted to add some visual interest to the materials I was given, so I decided to layer the copper together with barrel hoop iron and fuse it together to create mokume gane, a laminate material that would display a pattern much the same way as the pattern-welded steel that I make for so many of my blades. Copper behaves quite differently than steel, so after overheating my first billet of layered material and flooding the bottom of my forge with molten copper that leaked out from between the iron layers, I was much more careful with my heat on the second billet. Fortunately, the second one fused readily and yielded plenty of material for the three fittings I needed to make.
After grinding, drilling, and filing the tsuba, fuchi, and kashira to shape and after etching and blackening them to reveal the pattern, I began work on the wooden portions of the sword. The handle and scabbard are both made in a similar manner: a piece of wood is sawn lengthwise into two slabs, and the inside faces are carefully hollowed out with chisels, rasps, and scrapers until they fit the unique tapered geometry of the sword as closely as possible. Then the two halves are glued back together. The handle is shaped to fit snugly around the tang, so that the friction between the wood and the steel holds it firmly in place. The scabbard, however, is hollowed out such that it only contacts the blade on the spine and the habaki, to ensure that the blade can be withdrawn smoothly and easily without scratching it. After gluing the scabbard and handle together, I rasped and sanded the outside of each one into its final shape and carefully filled the ends of the handle to fit the fuchi and kashira. Then I drilled a tapered hole in the handle for the mekugi, or the bamboo peg that keeps the blade in place. 
Japanese sword grips are most often wrapped with stingray skin followed by a leather or silk cord. Because I was using recycled materials and I wanted to show the handle wood in the final piece, I decided to omit the stingray skin for this particular sword and simply wrap the silk cord, or ito, over the polished wooden core. I followed a tutorial by Cottontail Customs to make sure I formed all the knots correctly.
Satisfied with my work, I decided to test the finished wakizashi sword, and to my dismay, the kashira popped off the end of the handle and the entire silk wrap unravelled on the very first swing. It appears that the stingray skin traditionally used underneath the silk wrap actually serves an important purpose: to provide a coarse texture to hold the cord in place. Not wanting to compromise on my initial vision for the handle, I wrapped the grip a second time, including a little dab of glue under each turn of the cord. When the glue was dry, I took the sword outside once more to test it on a couple of tatami mats—the type used in sword cutting competitions. The sword sailed through the tatami, and the handle wrap stayed tight. I felt victorious.
A Scabbard to Complete the Package A completed sword is a beautiful and powerful object to behold, and the plain wood scabbard seemed to beg for a more elaborate finish to match the rest of the piece, so I decided to try my hand at one more embellishment technique: painting. I consulted my friend Matt Venier, who has adapted his experience as a custom motorcycle painter to imitate the look of traditional Japanese lacquer work using automotive paints. Using his techniques, I layered different colors of paint on the surface of the scabbard to create a lively pattern, and once it was dry, I sanded the surface to a high polish. 
After polishing the blade one final time to remove a couple little scratches from cutting the tatami mats, I could finally unite the finished sword and scabbard. The scabbard slipped easily over the blade, the habaki creating just the right amount of friction to hold it fast and keep it from falling out. To draw it, a firm push on the guard with your thumb loosens it in the scabbard, and the blade glides out easily, ready to face your next opponent, or cut the ribbon for the grand opening of a brand new brewhouse.
Relevant Links
Brooklyn Brewery: https://brooklynbrewery.com/ Cottontail Customs: https://cottontailcustoms.com/tsukamaki/ Venier Forge: http://venierforge.com/Venier_Design_Inc./Gallery.html Burt Foster Knives: https://burtfoster.com/ If you would like to commission a culinary knife to your specifications, you can start the process by filling out my contact form and sending me a description of what you are looking for. About The Author Jordan LaMothe is a Master Bladesmith, a Fulbright scholar, a member of the Art Knife Invitational Show, and a teacher of knife-making. His work has won numerous awards, has been published in magazines internationally, and has made him a Forged in Fire Champion. At the end of the day, he makes collector's pieces, family heirlooms, and fine tools including culinary and outdoor knives for the kitchen and field.
Back in the Summer of 2025, I began working on a commission for a main gauche parrying dagger with a feather-pattern Damascus blade. Naturally, the first step in making the dagger was to forge a billet of feather-pattern Damascus, however my first attempt resulted in a billet that was too small to forge the blade for the dagger, so I set aside that first billet and forged another, which I then finished as the dagger. You can read all about that commission in February’s blog, but today I am going to tell the story of that first feather-pattern billet, the one that I set aside for just the right project, and how it became the chef knife called Osprey.
A few weeks before Christmas in 2025, I set out to create five chef knives, all from the same billet of pattern-welded steel, all with Western blade profiles and a variety of different handle materials. As I was forging out those five knives, I realized that the feather billet I had was just the right size to make a similar piece, so I forged it into a 9 inch long chef knife blade and added a sixth knife to the batch. I worked on the batch of six knives all together through the heat treating and rough grinding processes, but I wanted the feather chef knife to be a little bit fancier than the rest, so I set it aside once again while I finished the others. For a few months, the unfinished blade lay on my workbench, as I returned to commissioned work, but in March of 2026, I was finally ready to dedicate the time to finish the knife out properly. I chose a symmetrical S-grind for the blade, which provides a knife with improved food release, but is much more time-intensive to grind and polish, due to the need to maintain the crisp ridges running the length of the blade. Once I was satisfied with the cutting geometry and the surface polish, I etched the blade in acid to reveal the pattern and began constructing the handle. I fitted a stainless steel bolster, Richlite and stainless steel spacers, and a maple burl handle block to the tang, and assembled with internal alignment pins, which would allow me to take the handle apart and put it back together while I was shaping it. I then proceeded to shape the handle into one of my “flowing facets” designs. I began to play with these kinds of designs around seven years ago, inspired by the work of chef knife makers like Mareko Maumasi and Don Nguyen, and I enjoy the way that combining crisp facets and flowing curves can create visual tension and animate the form of a handle. After roughing in the shape on the belt grinder, I tuned all the facets by hand with files, scrapers, and sandpaper to make them flow smoothly into one another and to ensure that they were symmetrical from side to side. Once the blade was blackened and the handle buffed, the name Osprey was quick to follow. The feather-pattern blade and the dynamic handle, along with the contrasting black and white color palette brought to mind a bird of prey, and the osprey seemed a natural match, given its swiftness and gracefulness in the air along with its remarkable efficiency in the hunt. Osprey represents what a culinary knife can be: a kitchen tool elevated into an art piece while retaining the cutting performance and efficiency of form that make it a joy to use. 
If you like this piece and would like to see what I create next, make sure to sign up for my newsletter.
If you would like to commission a culinary knife to your specifications, you can start the process by filling out my contact form and sending me a description of what you are looking for. About The Author Jordan LaMothe is a Master Bladesmith, a Fulbright scholar, a member of the Art Knife Invitational Show, and a teacher of knife-making. His work has won numerous awards, has been published in magazines internationally, and has made him a Forged in Fire Champion. At the end of the day, he makes collector's pieces, family heirlooms, and fine tools including culinary and outdoor knives for the kitchen and field.
The first week of June, I began my annual ritual of burning the candle at both ends to prepare for Blade Show, arriving at the shop early in the morning and working late into the night to make sure I have as much to offer at the show as I can possibly muster. This kind of last-minute push to finish a project before a deadline brings me back to my college days, when I would spend all night finishing my drawings in the architecture studio, or typing out an essay in my dorm room, allowing the clarity of the early morning hours to keep me focused and in the flow.
The morning of Thursday, June 4, the epoxy had finally cured on the last piece I was making for the show, so I took a couple quick photos, wrapped it carefully, and left for the airport in the nick of time to catch my flight. The festive feeling of Blade Show kicked off as soon as I landed in Atlanta. My good friend and fellow knife maker, Bob Earhart and his family picked me up at the airport and we headed to the Cobb Galleria convention center to pick up our exhibitor badges, find our tables, and reconnect with friends from all around the world, whom we only ever see once or twice a year. Blade Show, which I previewed in my previous blog “Blade Preview 2026: 3 Custom Knives to Watch Out For”, is a three-day affair, where the hours standing on your feet talking to hundreds of people can drag on and on, but somehow the whole weekend passes by in an instant. It is inspiring to take a look at what other makers brought to the show, to share tips and tricks, and to talk with seasoned collectors about the past, present, and future of our industry. This year, I particularly enjoyed getting to handle and learn about a number of antique daggers in the collection of Arthur Green, and I look forward to incorporating some of what I learned into future pieces. My table at the show was quite lively this year, with many folks stopping by to see my work, having watched me make it on Instagram and YouTube. I brought three pieces to the show: 
The parrying dagger and Ranthambore were both sold by the end of the first day, and Ranthambore won the “Contender Award” for “Best Fighting Knife” at the custom knife awards ceremony. The chef knife, Twilight came home with me from the show, but it has since been sent off to be included in an exciting YouTube collaboration.
It is an incredible honor to receive an award for my work among so many exquisite entries, and I am proud to be able to add this latest award to my collection, including “Best in Show” of 2021 and “Best Kitchen Knife” of 2024.
After returning home to Hebron, the high of Blade Show lingered on, as I followed up with many of the folks I met and started preparing for the months of commissions ahead of me with renewed inspiration and motivation. I am grateful for the opportunity to connect with so many other knowledgeable and enthusiastic people in the industry, and I am already looking forward to Blade Show next year. It’s always in Atlanta on the first full weekend in June, so I hope you can join us as well. I am glad that you enjoyed my recap of this year's Blade Show. If you would like to commission a culinary knife to your specifications, you can start the process by filling out my contact form and sending me a description of what you are looking for. About The Author Jordan LaMothe is a Master Bladesmith, a Fulbright scholar, a member of the Art Knife Invitational Show, and a teacher of knife-making. His work has won numerous awards, has been published in magazines internationally, and has made him a Forged in Fire Champion. At the end of the day, he makes collector's pieces, family heirlooms, and fine tools including culinary and outdoor knives for the kitchen and field.
Spring is always an exciting time of year in the knife world, as a vast number of the makers, collectors, and knife enthusiasts all prepare for Blade Show, which takes place in Atlanta, Georgia every year on the first weekend of June. The Blade Show is the largest knife show in the world, drawing custom knife makers, knife manufacturers, tool and material suppliers, and attendees from all over the world, and if you want to see the most new and exciting knives, Blade Show is the place to go.
I attended my first Blade Show in 2018, when I tested for my Journeyman Smith stamp in the American Bladesmith Society, and I have attended every year since, save for 2022 when I was in India for the year. Like many makers, I always seek to bring examples of my finest work to sell at the show, and I also submit them in the competitions for custom knife awards. The competition for the custom knife awards is always stiff, but I have won a few in the past. Wish me luck for this year! So what am I bringing to the show this year? I have three pieces planned. One is completed, and the final two are still under construction. The First Piece: Rathambore This knife is an eye-catching piece, sure to upstage all the other knives on my table at first glance. Rathambore is named after the famous tiger preserve in Rajasthan, India, which is not far from where I was studying during my Fulbright grant. It draws inspiration from the formidable hunting knives, used historically in that region by regal hunting parties to process large game in preparation for the king’s feast. These knives also served as a last line of defense in the jungle against large predators like tigers and panthers. There are many names given to similar types of large knives, including “Khyber knife,” “pathan,” or “churra,” mostly from the region of Afghanistan, but this knife is more stylistically similar to the Indian variant, regionally called a “Chaku” which translates to “big knife.” Ranthambore is my interpretation of the Indian hunting knife or “Chaku,” and it includes a forged blade with a full tang and integral bolster made of pattern-welded steel. The blade has the geometry of a short saber, with a deep fuller running most of its length and a slightly rounded tip that is sharp all the way around. The handle scales are ebony, and they are fastened to the tang with solid 14K gold domed pins. Along the tang, I added 24K gold koftgari in a vine and flower pattern based on a motif that I observed in a private collection in India. 
Ranthambore will be available for a price of $10,000
The Second Piece: Quillon Dagger
Anyone who is familiar with the American Bladesmith Society will know that in order to achieve the rank of Master Smith, every applicant must submit a European-style quillon dagger among his or her five presentation knives. Quillon daggers are notoriously challenging to make, due to the 4-way symmetry of the blade and the complex construction of the guard and grip, and executing one well requires a high level of technical skill and precision. When I made my Master Smith test dagger back in 2020, I forged three different blades for it before I settled on the one that fit my design perfectly. I set the other two aside to finish at a later time. 
Now, 6 years after setting those blades aside, I am finally finishing one. I drew up a new design around the existing blade, and now I am finishing it up. So far, the blade is mostly finished and the guard is forged, and over the next week and a half, I will be filing the guard to shape, attach a wire-wrapped grip, turn a pommel, and polish all the components. I’ll be posting regular updates on my Instagram page and YouTube channel if you would like to follow along.
The Third Piece: MagnaCut Chef Knife
Several of my most recent commissions have involved a new super stainless steel called “MagnaCut.” MagnaCut was designed by metallurgist Larrin Thomas to give a better balance of toughness, hardness, and corrosion resistance than any previously made steel, and that balance makes it ideal for high-performance chef knives that need to take a thin edge and hold it for a long time. 
Stainless steels like MagnaCut are notoriously difficult to forge, due to the narrow temperature range in which they can be worked and their incredible hardness even at high temperatures. As a result, the vast majority of MagnaCut blades are “stock removal” blades, meaning they are cut out of a sheet of steel and ground to thickness. Stock removal can make an excellent blade, however, the process makes it difficult to incorporate one of my favorite features to have on a kitchen knife: and integral bolster. After a good deal of experimentation and after sourcing some thicker stock, I have successfully forged a number of MagnaCut blades with integral bolsters, which in my opinion combine all the best traits for a high-end, high-performance chef knife. Pictured is my most recent commission for a MagnaCut, integral-bolster chef knife, and I will be finishing up a similar blade to present at Blade Show.
Blade Show is June 5-7 at the Cobb Convention Center in Atlanta, Georgia. If you are planning to attend Blade Show, come find me at table 3S.
Tickets to the show are available at bladeshow.com/buy-tickets/ and if you would like a $5 discount on a three-day pass, let me know on my contact page, and I will send you a discount code. I hope to see you there! About The Author Jordan LaMothe is a Master Bladesmith, a Fulbright scholar, a member of the Art Knife Invitational Show, and a teacher of knife-making. His work has won numerous awards, has been published in magazines internationally, and has made him a Forged in Fire Champion. At the end of the day, he makes collector's pieces, family heirlooms, and fine tools including culinary and outdoor knives for the kitchen and field.
A few months ago, a previous client of mine came to me with a request for a chef knife, entitled Eve, to give to his good friend. The guidelines for the commission were rather freeform, but the request was for the piece to be visually stunning and ideally, be made of stainless steel.
Ever since I started making knives back in 2013, I have forged most of my blades out of carbon steels. Carbon steels are forgiving to forge and grind, easy to sharpen, and they forge-weld together readily when making Damascus or pattern-welded material. Over the years, I have received many requests for knives that stay shiny and require less maintenance, so last year I started to add more stainless steel knives to my repertoire. One of the main challenges with stainless steel however, is that it is considerably more difficult to weld together into pattern-welded steel: so difficult that only a few dozen knife makers in the world do it reliably. I decided to use the commission for Eve to dip my toe into the world of welding stainless steel. Steel choice When it comes to chef knives, there are dozens of different alloys of stainless steel to choose from, but for my first billet of stainless Damascus, I thought it would be easier to work with low-carbon varieties that are more malleable and readily available in thin sections, allowing me to weld many layers at once and save the time and risk of re-stacking multiple times. I settled on 304 and 410 for the two alloys to use. Those low carbon alloys however, cannot be properly hardened, so I had to choose a third alloy as well to use for the edge. For the edge steel, I chose Nitro-V, which I have used for my Farmstead series of chef knives and kitchen utility knives. 
Welding and Forging
After choosing the steels, the next step was to weld them into a bar. It took three attempts before I had a suitable billet for the blade, due to the difficult nature of the material. In the final attempt, I first sanded the surfaces of all the pieces to be welded (roughly 80 thin pieces of steel), and then I stacked them tightly together and fabricated an airtight steel canister around the billet. Then I put the canister in the forge, heated it, and forged-welded it together under the power hammer. Stainless steel is more sensitive to heat than carbon steel, so I had to work more slowly and re-heat it more often to keep it from getting too hot or too cold as I worked. Once the billet was fully fused, I cut off the steel canister around it and forged the blade. I also opted to grind shallow grooves across the billet during the blade forging process, which resulted in the undulating pattern you see in the layers of the finished blade, also called a “ladder pattern.” 
Grinding and Finishing
After the blade was forged and heat treated, the rest of the process of making the knife was the same as any other pattern-welded blade. For the handle, the client and I agreed to use a piece of stabilized box-elder burl with a lively, figured grain. I paired the burl with a polished stainless steel bolster and a black Richlite spacer. After a few more days of sanding, fitting, sculpting, and polishing, Eve was complete. 
The Display Stand
One unique feature of this commission was that the client requested a stand to accompany the knife and display it on the countertop when it was not in use. I wanted to create a stand that was both functional and sculptural, helping to elevate the piece and showcase the craftsmanship and handwork that went into it. I decided to incorporate a branching tree as a reference to the Garden of Eden. The branches would support a magnetic panel that was shaped to match the knife blade, and the magnetic panel would allow the blade to be retrieved and replaced easily and quickly. I forged the tree and the base out of low-carbon steel, leaving the hammered surface with a rich, dark patina. I chose curly acacia wood for the magnetic knife panel, embedded over a dozen magnets into the wood, and covered the front with bison calf leather to provide a soft contact surface for the knife. The finishing touch on the display stand was a sterling silver nameplate, which I hand-engraved with the knife’s name: Eve. 
If you would like to commission a culinary knife to your specifications, you can start the process by filling out my contact form and sending me a description of what you are looking for.
About The Author Jordan LaMothe is a Master Bladesmith, a Fulbright scholar, a member of the Art Knife Invitational Show, and a teacher of knife-making. His work has won numerous awards, has been published in magazines internationally, and has made him a Forged in Fire Champion. At the end of the day, he makes collector's pieces, family heirlooms, and fine tools including culinary and outdoor knives for the kitchen and field.
In December of last year, I began working on a batch of 5 chef knives intending to finish them in time for Christmas. The premise was to make a single billet of Damascus steel and turn it into 5 chef knives, each with a different combination of handle shape and blade grind. Due to the time constraints of the holiday season, I chose to leave one of the five knives unfinished and finish the other four. Now, two months later, I have finally been able to finish the last of the five knives from that batch. So what makes these chef knives unique? Let’s talk about some of those details.
Damascus Steel: The five knives in the video are all forged from the same bar of 256-layer, twist-pattern Damascus steel [link to Damascus blog], made from alternating layers of 80CRV2 and 15N20 carbon steel. I have worked with this combination of alloys for many years, and I chose it because the two steels are forgiving to weld, give a high contrast when finished and etched, and they hold a keen edge. I chose the twist pattern because of it’s visual appeal. When the layer count in a twist pattern is just right, the blade becomes shimmery exhibiting an effect called “chatoyance,” or “like a cat’s eye.” 
Blade Grinds:
I chose to use two different blade grinds for the five knives in the video. Three of the knives used my gold standard, full-convex grind. The full-convex grind allows for a thin but sturdy edge and reduced friction in the cut, and it is my go-to geometry for my chef knives. On the other two knives in the batch, I chose to use a more complex grind called a saber grind, or S-grind for short. These particular S-grinds divided the blades into three distinct sections: a convex section near the edge, a flat section near the spine, and a concave section in between the two. The concave section in the S-grind helps to keep food from sticking to the side of the knife when cutting, and it also adds a dramatic visual effect to the blade as it reflects light differently off its various sections. 
Handle Designs:
When it comes to handle design, I always try to balance visual appeal with ergonomics. I like to shape handles with dynamic, curving profiles and smooth contours that feel good in the hand. To add to the aesthetic appeal of these knives, I chose a variety of figured, stabilized woods for the handles including cherry burl, walnut burl, and curly koa. On one of the five knives in the batch, I decided to sculpt the handle in a style I call “flowing facets.” For this particular knife, which I titled Flow, I chose Indian Rosewood for the handle, whose dark grain helps to reveal the more dramatic contours of the handle shape. 
To see a visual explanation of what we just talked about, check out the YouTube video that I made that follows that batch of five knives from simple bars of steel through to completed chef knives, and the last of those five will finally be available for purchase on the website this Friday, March 20. I am also including a second knife in Friday’s drop, entitled “Osprey,” which includes many of the same techniques and design elements as the knives in the video, but with a stunning feather-pattern Damascus blade and a highly-sculpted handle.
If you would like to commission a culinary knife to your specifications, you can start the process by filling out my contact form and sending me a description of what you are looking for. Also during the winter, I spent the vast majority of my time in the shop filling commissions for pieces that I already had on the books for several months. But in and among the commissions, I like to release a few knives for people who don’t want to wait 6-12 months for a knife, or who like to see the knife in its completion before buying it. If you are looking for a limited edition culinary knife that has been hand forged and is ready to order, feel free to check out my shop. About The Author Jordan LaMothe is a Master Bladesmith, a Fulbright scholar, a member of the Art Knife Invitational Show, and a teacher of knife-making. His work has won numerous awards, has been published in magazines internationally, and has made him a Forged in Fire Champion. At the end of the day, he makes collector's pieces, family heirlooms, and fine tools including culinary and outdoor knives for the kitchen and field.
Many of the finest knives, daggers, and swords I have made have been on-commission. A client comes to me with an idea, and I work with them to design a piece that meets their needs and matches their vision, while staying true to my own style and artistic sensibilities. In 2025, I received a commission for a Main Gauche Parrying dagger from a client who wanted an exquisite custom piece with a number of symbolic elements to add to its personal significance.
This Main gauche parrying dagger, such as one that might be carried by the three musketeers, required elements were as follows:
To share a bit of historical background, a main gauche parrying dagger is a specific type of weapon from the European Renaissance. It was typically used in the left hand (“main gauche” is French for “left hand”) as an auxiliary weapon during rapier duels, to parry the opponent’s sword and allow for a counter attack. Whenever I make a blade in a historical style or incorporating historical inspiration, I like to start the design process by looking at original weapons from the period. I consulted the online collections of the Wallace Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago for images of this type of dagger that I could use to inform the scale, proportion, and construction of the dagger. I then sketched out the piece into a full-scale drawing and constructed a wooden model before embarking on the piece itself. I documented the whole process of making this parrying dagger on my YouTube channel, and you can watch it here:
The process of making this dagger was incredibly involved—it is one of the most complex pieces I have made to-date. The biggest challenge was the shell-shaped hand guard, which I raised and chased out of a piece of sheet steel. I then welded it to what I call “the basket” of curving members that support it. All told, the guard with the shell incorporated 7 different steel pieces, all carefully welded together, and each of the welds was subsequently filed to hide the seams and refine the shape of the guard.
Making the dagger involved over 170 working hours, and the gold koftgari designs required over 25 feet of 24K wire. As I write this, I just finished a matching scabbard for this dagger, which will be featured in an upcoming YouTube video as well. In the meantime, here is a closer look at the finished piece. 
If you would like to commission a culinary knife to your specifications, you can start the process by filling out my contact form and sending me a description of what you are looking for.
If you are looking for a limited edition culinary knife that has been hand forged and is ready to order, feel free to check out my shop. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jordan LaMothe is a Master Bladesmith, a Fulbright scholar, a member of the Art Knife Invitational Show, and a teacher of knife-making. His work has won numerous awards, has been published in magazines internationally, and has made him a Forged in Fire Champion. At the end of the day, he makes collector's pieces, family heirlooms, and fine tools including culinary and outdoor knives for the kitchen and field
With modern metallurgy continually advancing, and with the plethora of different steel options available today, it is easy for a prospective knife-buyer to get bogged down in the details of which steel to pick: should I buy a carbon steel blade or a stainless steel blade? What about a Damascus blade? What do the numbers and letters mean, like 1084 or 52100, or AEBL, or VG10? While there is much to say on this topic, and some folks will opt to dive more deeply into the metallurgical weeds, I am going to attempt to give a good foundation of the different categories of steel available for your knives.
Carbon: Carbon steel is the original knife steel, dating back to the early iron age, when smiths found out that iron treated in a certain way (to increase its carbon content) was harder and lasted longer than plain iron, and they started using that material to make blades. Up until the mid twentieth century, carbon steel was basically the only kind of steel used to make knives. It tends to be both hard and tough, can hold a fine edge for a long time, and it is typically easy to sharpen. A carbon steel knife is like a cast iron skillet: it is a classic tool that has stood the test of time, and it takes a little bit of special care to keep it in good condition. Carbon steel will develop a patina, or a dark surface finish, over time, as it reacts slightly with acids in the food. In order to keep it from rusting, it is important to dry it after use and store it in a dry location. With a little practice, the ritual of caring for a carbon steel knife becomes second nature. Carbon steels really shine when it comes to toughness. There are no other materials that are as well-suited for making impact tools such as cleavers, camp chopping knives, axes, or swords, and even when they are heat treated for high toughness, many carbon steels can still retain a substantial degree of hardness, leading to improved edge performance. Stainless: Stainless steel is a relatively new development, compared to the time-honored carbon steel, as it only came about around the middle of the twentieth century, and stainless steel that is hard enough to use for knife blades was developed even later. Stainless steels have the obvious advantage of being far more corrosion resistant than carbon steels, which makes them easier to care for. They can be used constantly in wet environments and left to air dry, and they will still stay shiny. The advantage of corrosion resistance comes with certain tradeoffs, however, first and foremost in the form of reduced toughness. The reduced toughness can manifest as micro-chipping on an edge that is ground too thin, or at its worst, it can manifest as a blade breaking when it is bent too far. Some kinds of stainless steel, such as Nitro-V, AEBL, and Magnacut, among others, are designed to be tougher than others, and lend themselves for knives with thin edge geometry, such as kitchen knives and fillet knives. In recent decades there has been an explosion in the prevalence of so-called “high performance” stainless steel alloys, which have taken the knife world by storm. These alloys are typically quite wear-resistant, meaning they will hold a sharp edge for an extraordinarily long time compared to carbon steel, however their wear resistance also makes them much more challenging to re-sharpen once they get dull. If you or someone you know is good at sharpening (and has a good set of diamond stones,) or if you can send your knife back to the maker for sharpening occasionally, the extra edge life of a high-performance stainless steel would certainly be worth considering. Damascus: The term “Damascus steel” can refer to two different types of steel (see last month’s blog) but the most common in today’s market is pattern-welded steel. The lion’s share of this type of steel is made with alternating layers of carbon steels, so Damascus blades will share the same working characteristics as carbon steels. In centuries past, these blades were considered to be superior to homogeneous steel blades, but the clean, well-made steel of the industrial age rendered that advantage obsolete. Today, the reason to buy a Damascus blade is for its dashing good looks. There are several makers and manufacturers who are now starting to produce stainless Damascus, which, logically, will share the same working properties as the stainless steels welded together to produce the material. In my research, I have noticed that several of the companies producing this are using a combination of hardenable and non-hardenable steel, which may affect the edge performance of the finished knife, as the softer steel portions will likely dull faster than the harder steel portions. If you are looking for a stainless Damascus knife, I recommend looking for a high-performance version, made from two different hardenable steels, and prepare to pay double what you would expect to pay for a carbon steel Damascus blade of the same style. Carbide: There are a few folks who advocate for the use of carbide knife blades for certain applications. “Carbide” typically refers to tungsten carbide, and it is an incredibly hard material often used for saw teeth and metal machining cutters. Tungsten carbide is too brittle to use for a knife on its own, but it can be electrically deposited on titanium or another tough material to use as a cutting edge. I am not an expert in this type of material combination, but my gut instinct is that such a knife would be great for warehouse work: opening boxes and cutting pallet strapping, and other high-wear operations. I do not think a carbidized titanium knife would be satisfactory in the kitchen. Ceramic: Some larger manufacturers are producing ceramic knife blades, which can in fact be made sharper than steel. Ceramic blades avoid the risk of corrosion entirely, which is perhaps their primary advantage. Unfortunately, ceramic is simply not tough enough to withstand regular use as a knife blade, and ceramic blades are incredibly prone to breaks and large chips, which typically means they need to be replaced. A recommendation is also to learn about key factors that make the best kitchen knife. I primarily work with Damascus. If you would like to commission a culinary knife to your specifications, you can start the process by filling out my contact form and sending me a description of what you are looking for. If you are looking for a limited edition culinary knife that has been hand forged and is ready to order, feel free to check out my shop. |
AuthorJordan LaMothe is a Master Bladesmith, a Fulbright scholar, a member of the Art Knife Invitational Show, and a teacher of knife-making. His work has won numerous awards and has been published in magazines internationally. Archives
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