Hearthfold Hand Forged Damascus Chef Knife Set of Five with Rosewood Handles | Vegvisir Etched Blades | Full Tang Build and Leather Knife Roll | Kitchen Wedding Gift | RK-1763

The Hearthfold is a five piece kitchen set forged from 1095 and 15N20 Damascus: a kiritsuke tipped chef knife, a santoku, a utility knife, a paring knife and a slicer. Every blade carries the same ladder and raindrop layer pattern brought up by acid etch, a polished bolster, and a Vegvisir etched into the flat above the handle. The handles are rosewood scales pinned to a full tang with polished steel pins, and the set rolls into a tan leather knife roll that ties shut.

The reason a Damascus kitchen knife is worth having is not the pattern. It is that a laminated billet lets you put a hard steel where the edge is and a tougher steel behind it, which is the same problem every kitchen knife has to solve. Too soft and it goes dull by Thursday. Too hard and it chips on a chicken bone. Every Hearthfold set is forged, folded, ground, heat treated, etched and handled in our shop in Memphis, Tennessee.

Specifications

What each of the five knives is actually for

The eight inch chef knife with the kiritsuke tip is the one that does seventy per cent of the work. The flat angled tip gives you a clean point for scoring and detail work while the long belly still rocks for herbs. The santoku at seven inches has a flatter profile and a sheepsfoot nose, and it is built for the push cut, straight down and slightly forward, which is how most vegetables actually want to be cut.

The five inch utility knife is the one people underestimate. It is the right size for a tomato, a lemon, a block of cheese and a chicken thigh, and it lives on the board more than anything except the chef knife. The paring knife is for work in the hand rather than on a board: peeling, hulling, coring, taking the eyes out of a potato. The narrow eight inch slicer is for one job done properly, which is taking long clean slices off a roast or a side of fish without sawing. A wide blade drags on a long cut and a narrow one does not.

Five is a deliberate number. It covers everything a home kitchen does without the four or five knives in a fourteen piece block that never come out of the block.

The steel, the pattern and the honest warning

The billet is 1095 and 15N20, welded and folded until the layers run in the hundreds, then drawn out and ground. 1095 etches dark, 15N20 carries nickel and stays bright, and cutting the bevel through those layers is what produces the flowing pattern rather than a flat repeat. The pattern is structural. It goes through the steel and it cannot wear off, and a light re etch after years of use brings the contrast straight back.

Here is the honest warning. Neither of these steels is stainless. There is no chromium in either one. This is a set for someone who will wash and dry a knife by hand after using it, and it is the wrong set for someone who wants to drop knives in a sink and come back later. Left wet, a Damascus kitchen blade will spot within hours. Cared for properly it will hold an edge longer and cut better than any stainless knife at this price, and it will develop a patina on the flats that most owners come to prefer. If you know that you will not dry your knives, buy stainless and be happy.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel, the leather or the wood. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us where it goes. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On the Hearthfold your design takes the place of the Vegvisir on the flats, and we can also stamp a name or a date into the leather roll instead, which is the usual choice for a wedding set because it marks the gift without touching the blades. See the engraving page.

Handling, edge angle and the board you use

These are ground to a roughly fifteen degree edge per side, which is finer than a European kitchen knife and closer to a Japanese one. That is what makes them feel frighteningly sharp out of the roll, and it is also why you should keep them off bone and off frozen food. A fine edge on hard steel cuts beautifully and chips if you abuse it.

Use a wooden or a soft plastic board. Glass, ceramic, stone and steel boards destroy a fine edge faster than anything else in a kitchen, and no amount of steel quality survives being chopped onto glass. Hone with a ceramic rod or a leather strop rather than a ribbed steel, which is too aggressive for a blade at this hardness. When the edge does finally need resetting, a thousand grit waterstone followed by a six thousand will do it, and we will resharpen any Hearthfold knife free of charge if you would rather send it back to us.

Care

Hand wash only, in warm water with a little dish soap, and dry immediately with a towel. Never a dishwasher: the heat, the salt and the long soak will rust the blades and lift the rosewood scales away from the tang. Do not leave the knives sitting in a wet sink or on a wet board. Wipe the blade after cutting anything acidic, because lemon, tomato and onion will mark plain carbon steel in minutes. A very light film of food safe mineral oil on the blades before long storage is worth doing. Oil the rosewood scales two or three times a year with mineral oil to keep them from drying. Roll the knives back into the leather when they are fully dry, never damp. There is more on our steel care page.

Forged in Memphis

Billets welded and folded here, blades ground and heat treated here, etched and polished here, scales fitted and pinned here, leather roll cut and stitched here. All of it in our shop in Memphis, Tennessee, and none of it out of an importer catalogue with a Vegvisir added afterwards. A five knife Damascus set is the longest single job we do, because every billet has to be welded before any blade is shaped and all five have to match. Allow one to two weeks of processing, a few days more for engraving. Shipping in the United States is free, and the lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings runs with no end date and no receipt needed.

A note on handmade variation

These are made by hand and not machine produced in bulk, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Every Damascus pattern is the fingerprint of one billet and cannot be repeated, so the five knives in your set will share a family resemblance rather than being identical, and none of them will match the picture exactly. Rosewood varies from a deep red brown to nearly purple and the grain runs differently on every scale. Etch depth and contrast vary a little. The sizes, the steels, the hardness and the build are the same every time. The pattern is not.

Frequently asked questions

Are these dishwasher safe

No, definitely not. Hand wash and dry immediately. A dishwasher will rust the blades and lift the rosewood scales, and it is the single fastest way to ruin this set.

Will they rust

They will if they are left wet. There is no chromium in either steel. Washed and dried after use they stay clean, and they will develop a soft grey patina on the flats over the years, which is normal and protective rather than damage.

How sharp are they out of the roll

Shaving sharp, ground at about fifteen degrees per side. Keep them off bone, frozen food and glass boards and that edge will last a long time before it needs anything more than a strop.

Is the leather roll included

Yes. The tan leather roll shown in the photograph holds all five knives in separate pockets and ties shut. It is a better home for them than a magnetic bar in a steamy kitchen.

Can I get this engraved for a wedding

Yes, and it is what most people do with this set. A name and a date stamped into the leather roll marks the gift without touching the blades, or we can cut a rune line into the flats in place of the Vegvisir.

How long does it take to ship

One to two weeks of processing, which is at the longer end of our range because five matched Damascus blades have to be made together. Engraving adds a few days. Shipping in the United States is free and returns are accepted within seven days.

What is in the box

• 8 inch kiritsuke tipped chef knife in 1095 and 15N20 Damascus
• 7 inch santoku, 5 inch utility knife, 3.5 inch paring knife and 8 inch slicer
• Rosewood scales on full tangs with polished steel pins on every knife
• Tan leather knife roll with five pockets and a tie closure
• Care sheet with washing, honing and oiling instructions
• Lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings
• Forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

See the rest of the chef knives, our Viking knives, the wedding and groomsmen gifts, and the guides.