Irish charcutier extraordinaire and long-time maker of high-performance chef’s knives, Fingal Ferguson, continues to evolve and elevate his craft with new blade steels, material combinations, and finishes. This striking, 242mm / 9.5″ chef is shaped from a formula that sees random-pattern carbon damascus steel cladding over a core of the premium blade steel ApexUltra, recently developed specifically for such uses by Austrian bladesmith and Eatingtools artist Tobias Hangler. Hard, thin, and sharp at the edge, Fingal delivers versatile and superbly shaped convex bevel geometry above, a setup which balances toughness and precision nicely. Positioned to be any chef’s daily workhorse, the blade’s full-size Western profile will chop efficiently using the flat stretch of edge that begins at the 61mm tall heel, before sweeping upward to a high, pointed tip for slicing work. Mostly rigid, the spine tapers only slightly until the final inches approaching the tip, yet a welcomed touch of lateral flexibility adds to the blade’s dynamic feel. Complementing the bevel’s beautiful polish and dark, high-contrast etch are a forge-finished ricaso and blade tang that show the hammer marks of the blade’s hand-hewn origins. To control the handsome blade is a handle just as striking, and comfortable to boot: Fingal selects black G10 for the primary material, shaping it into his well-loved and recognizable profile, finishing the G10’s surfaces with a tactile, bead-blasted, non-slip grip, and inlaying it with a ring of fossilized mammoth bone, and a single, uniquely detailed mosaic pin.