Artist Joseph Schrum translates the allure and undeniable beauty of ball-bearings damascus into a 179mm / 7″ chef knife shaped to conquer the kitchen in style. Dynamic and versatile, the blade has been meticulously shaped at Joseph’s studio outside of St. Louis for toughness and rigidity in the rear where the primary bevels, and their most pronounced convexity, start low, and slims downward to a thin, razor-sharp edge; moving forward, the width of the material both above the edge, and at the rounded spine, tapers steadily, until a glass-thin, needle-like tip is reached. With a touch of lateral flexibility in the final inches, the blade truly offers it all, from precision and finesse in the front, to strength and steadiness in the rear for the toughest chopping tasks. To help paint the picture, out of the handle, the blade tang is 5.5mm wide; above the choil it is 3.8mm, then 1.7mm at the midpoint, just under 1mm an inch from the tip, and approximately 0.6mm one centimeter from the tip. And throughout each of these points the incredible pattern of the canister damascus, forged by hand from a combination of 52100 high-carbon ball bearings and 4800kc powdered steel, is on full display thanks to Joseph’s deep, dark etch. A simple, comfortable grip meant to suit every hand and cutting style is sculpted from Ukrainian Bog Oak in an oval profile that tapers slightly from back to front.