Knife maker puts the edge back on Sheffield’s dying art

“IT IS all or nothing with knife making, you can’t just be an alright knife maker, you’ve got to be best in the world or go home,” says Will Ferraby, knife maker and founder of Sheffield-based Ferraby Knives.

The 35-year old who forged his first knife when he was just nine years old, launched his brand of handmade kitchen knives eight years ago from his workshop in the heart of the Steel City itself, forging unique pieces from the last Sheffield steel being produced.

The blades – which are created from silver fox stainless steel – are made in entirety at Will’s Bramall Lane workshop, from the initial design to the sharpening of the knife’s edge.

Will said: “It takes me quite a while to sharpen a knife, but my ‘world class’ knives are as sharp as you can possibly get – there aren’t any sharper knives in the world basically. When I make a handle, what I’m trying to do is make a handle no one’s ever made before, so it’s a world’s first.

“I pride myself in almost inventing new types of material like setting stuff in resin – you can set almost anything in resin, it just needs to be able to absorb the resin and finish off nicely, and be fairly stable, like climbing rope.

“Sheffield has a very prominent climbing scene so I took some rope, layered it up, chopped it out, set it in clear resin, clamped it up and then I used that for the handles. But they’re getting more and more individual, I’m having a bit of a blossoming of experimentation with materials at the moment.”

Will has handcrafted knife handles from both traditional materials such as wood, yew scales and rosewood and more unusual ingredients like cow bone, bob oak, antler and fish bone.

But the wares themselves aren’t the only unique thing about the brand – anyone looking to purchase one of Will’s handcrafted knives must join the queue, at 12pm on a Friday, to be exact.

The knives – which are made weekly – are sold on a first come first serve basis with the idea that the online buyer who most desires the product will get it. His kitchen knives have proven particularly popular with professional chefs and amateur home chefs all over the world, with an influx of Americans and Australians queuing up for his steel wares.

Perhaps it is his perfectionist approach to forgery, or the fact that he is one of very few traditional knife makers left in the UK that makes his creations so attractive internationally.

He said: “It takes a lot of time, takes a lot of skill as well. I think the problem with something that’s an artistic thing like making a beautiful knife almost all artists aren’t business people – it’s very difficult to make a business out of art.

“When I first set up I decided it wold be a success and decided I would put in 110% and whatever happened it would work out and as a consequence I’ve done very little else for the past 8 years,” he said.

To continue the growth of Ferraby Knives, Will has recently taken on two apprentices with the intention of teaching them everything he once taught himself about the art of knife making.

“It’s very much a dying art in Sheffield, there’s very few people who do any teaching, it’s taken a long time to learn it, a lifetime really, and after me no one else will pick it up so I take pride in teaching people how to do it.”

With the help of his new apprentices, Will is set to release a few santoku and pairing knives along with more “affordable” options like wooden spreading knives and Viking knives.

Will also plans to one day be able to share his talents with his son and turn Ferraby Knives into a family-run business. He said: “My boy is three now and when we ask him what he wants to do when he’s older he says I’m going to be a knife maker! Chop! Chop!”