Project / Wood / Lighting

Custom Knives and Wooden Boxes

Two kitchen knives made for Alma and mama, carved by hand from flat-bar O2 steel and paired with handmade cedar boxes.

Both blades began as flat bars of O2 steel and were cut, filed, shaped, hardened, and finished entirely by hand. For me, they became a study in learning steel through making: how to find the shape inside the bar, how to harden it, and how to bring blade, handle, and box into one quiet family of use.

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Knife No. 1 and Knife for Mama

Knife Notes

A pair of working knives, made as gifts and used as such.

The first knife was made as my daughter's first kitchen knife. The second was made for her mother. They belong together, but not as matched display pieces. Each carries its own scale, handle, and everyday character, and both are used.

The boxes are handmade as well, with hand-cut joinery in old-growth Canadian red cedar. I return to that wood for its smell, its dense visual presence, and its connection to the Northwest Coast carving tradition, where red cedar carried totem poles, tools, and long memory.

Knife No. 1 / Knife for Alma

The first kitchen knife I made for Alma.

I gave this knife to my daughter when she was eight. The handle was shaped from Israeli oak, from a very old tree. It is dense, heavy wood, and it gave the knife a grounded, almost ceremonial feeling without losing its integrity.

The blade was carved from flat-bar O2 steel with hand saws and files, then hardened and finished by hand. The handle follows a Japanese friction-fit approach, allowing the blade to be released. It was my way into learning steel, but also into making a first useful object for someone I love.

Knife for Alma

First kitchen knife made for a young girl.

Knife for Mama / Knife Alone

Knife for Mama on its own.

Knife for Mama / In Hand

Knife for Mama in hand.

Knife for Mama

A knife made for mama

This knife followed the same steel process, beginning with flat-bar O2 steel and shaped entirely with hand tools before hardening. Its handle is ash, lighter and plainer than the oak, and better suited to an everyday working scale.

Both boxes were made by hand in Canadian red cedar, with hand-cut joinery and a close fit to each knife. Together, the two knives became a study in learning steel, handle-making, fit, and use. They were made as gifts, but never meant to remain symbolic. Both Alma and her mother use them.