It’s been quite some time since our last blog entry and the reason why is because we have been working on a new series of stainless steel knives. In collaboration with Master Chef Ryan Clift and Germany’s most traditional, and in our opinion finest, manufacturer of kitchen knives, we created a one-of-a-kind knife set.

Does a knife designed in Asia by two Austrians and an English chef, and hand-made in Germany sound crazy to you? Not to us!  When it comes to manufacturing such a product with as much soul as a hand-forged knife made by our master blacksmith, then there is only one company left in Solingen who can provide this craftsmanship.

Herder Windmühlen Messer is our collaborator on this project. Brought together by a mutual respect for each other’s work, we formed a partnership this past August.

The company, founded by Robert Herder in 1872, is now managed by fourth generation Herders, Giselheid Herder-Scholz and Frank-Daniel Herder.  It is such a pleasure to see them hand shaping the knives to perfection using machines that are 80 years and older. Rather than shipping these classic machines off to a museum or allowing them to gather dust, Herder uses them with pride.  While other brands from Solingen have outsourced their production to China or replaced workmanship with mass production, Herder maintains the craftsmanship tradition.

For our new series of knives, we chose to use the M390 super steel from Böhler.  The M390 is metallurgical powder steel originated from Kapfenberg, Austria (a city 20 minutes away from the birthplace of Arnold Schwarzenegger), and we can promise you it has some unbelievable strength!

The M390 knife steel is like Ryan’s cooking philosophy: In order to get the best, you must first break down everything to its smallest parts and then rebuild it to a higher form.

For all of you who are looking for some nice Christmas gifts, it’s better to be patient and save your money for the 2014 Tippling Club Series.