The “Osprey” High End Culinary Knife Case Study

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.

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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.