Choosing your knife

First things first...

If you have any questions at all, get in touch. We are all makers, we all use our knives every day, and we are genuinely happy to talk through whatever you need – whether that’s building a twelve-piece set or just finding the one knife that will change how you cook.

Second: a knife is a knife is a knife. Laurie’s mother cooked beautiful three-course lunches for sixteen people using nothing but a paring knife. Some of the young chefs we make for won’t touch anything under ten inches. Your instinct about what looks right for you is probably correct. If you’re replacing a knife you already like, find the one that looks most similar to it and go from there. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, that’s the right call.

Most knives will do most jobs. We deliberately avoid making highly specialised blades – the exceptions being things like boning knives and carvers, which have a specific job to do. So don’t overthink it.

The one question worth asking yourself

Are you a rocker or a chopper?

A chopper lifts the blade off the board and brings it straight down – dicing onions, breaking down vegetables, working through meat. A rocker keeps the tip of the knife on the board and pivots the blade, using the curve of the edge. Most people have a natural preference, often without realising it.

This is where we start with everyone who comes into the workshop, and it’s the most useful single question in knife selection.

Two starter sets

We think three knives will get you through 95% of everything you need to do in the kitchen: something small for precise work, a medium blade, and a larger knife for the heavier lifting. Here’s how we’d approach each set.

If you’re a chopper

The Savernake Knife as your main blade. This is our eponymous Nakiri – flat-edged, deep, and built for the straight up-and-down chop. It handles everything from gnarly clumps of beetroot to the finest dill, and it’s generally the first knife we put in someone’s hands when they visit.

The Classic as your medium knife. Despite being primarily a rocking knife, it earns its place in a chopper’s set as a lighter, more nimble blade for carving, detail work, and anything where the Savernake Knife is more than you need.

The Nimble Chopper as your small knife. Compact, quick, and very good at the precise work that neither of the above is really designed for.

If you’re a rocker

The Gyuto as your main blade. Long, relatively shallow, and designed with slicing and rocking uppermost in mind. Lightweight and fast, with a lovely arc to the edge.

The Good Chopper as your medium knife. Excellent for vegetables and fruit, and a very capable all-rounder despite its name suggesting something more one-dimensional.

The Agile Yeoman as your small knife. One of our most popular knives full stop – nimble, versatile, and the knife that earns its keep at the end of a roast when someone got the numbers wrong for lunch.

Where to start within those sets

If you’re in the chopper camp, start with the Savernake Knife. If you’re in the rocker camp, start with the Gyuto. Both are the knives most likely to make an immediate impression, and both will tell you clearly what you want to add next.

From there: if you want to go slightly smaller and more nimble, the Classic (choppers) or the Good Chopper (rockers) is your next move. If you want to go smaller still, then the Nimble Chopper or the Agile Yeoman respectively.

What Laurie uses at home

The Agile Yeoman, the Savernake Knife, the Gyuto, and the Astounding Cleaver.

Mostly the Astounding Cleaver. Well, almost always the Astounding Cleaver.

Still not sure?

Get in touch. We’d rather spend ten minutes helping you choose well than have you second-guess a decision for weeks.