In the restaurant the Executive chef is the top dog and so it is with the Executive chef line of chef knives. By adding bolsters and perimeter pins this is where art meets function. Ferrari, Bugatti and Executive chef series, they all handle excelent while looking drop dead gorgeous!
Series Overview
When Steve Watkins designed the Executive chef series he did so through the eyes of an artist. Steve wants you to choose from copper, nickel and stainless steel for the bolsters and pins to marry with beautiful stabilized maple handles.
Like a great meal a great knife needs a great recipe. Steve Watkins starts with O1 carbon tool steel. This steel makes excellent knives! O1 is a through hardening steel with has a long heat treat window. What does that mean? It is easy to harden…really hard. The finished hardness is 61-62 rockwell. This rockwell (measure of steel hardness) will get scalpel sharp and retain the edge for a long time. Next Steve fabricates and fastens stainless steel bolsters (the piece of steel between the blade and wood). This adds a little weight for balance and a lot of sexy! Next Steve attaches stabilized maple handles. Stabilization keeps the wood from shrinking and expanding which prevents cracking. After the wood is finished small perimeter pins are hand fitted adding strength and visual appeal. Lastly he blast finishes the blade. A process that removes all machine marks. It’s a small thing that adds beautiful satin finish to the blade. No retailers are doing hand finishing. Finally Steve wraps these chef knives in a beautiful wood sheath, this pulls it all togather and adds protection to the sharp edge.
Want Custom?
If you’re interesting in collaborating with Steve Watkins on a fully personalized, custom knife check out Steve’s Collaborative work or call 704-207-9559 or email Steve at steve@ironmanknives.com.
Other Knives
Checkout the online store for other Steve Watkins kitchen knife series. Whether you’re an aspiring home chef or a career executive chef you’re sure to find a great knife. Visit the Store…
