17cm Mid-Sized Santoku

The Mako

The Mako
The Mako
The Mako
The Mako
The Mako
The Mako
The Mako

17cm Mid-Sized Santoku

The Mako

The santoku is one of the most popular all-round knife designs in the world, and this is our take on it. Not too big, not too small. A knife you can genuinely use all day without reaching for another.

£295

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Why Choose This Knife

A proper drop-nose Santoku and one of the flattest blades we make – perfect for chopping and dicing: a reliable all-round blade for people who want depth and a usable point without the commitment of having to rock.

Highlights

Highlights

  • Style: Mid-Sized Santoku
  • Movement and edge: Up-and-down chop with a short forward push, flatter through the body than the Raven's Claw and closer to the Nakiri end of the Santoku spectrum. The drop nose gives a defined, practical tip for work a fully flat-edged blade cannot do cleanly.
  • Keep it sharp: A honing steel brings this edge back in seconds. Our steels.
  • Pairing: The Stout Yeoman makes a good compact pair.
The Story

The Mako took a long time to evolve into what it is. A proper classic Santoku profile with a drop nose is harder to get right than it looks, and we went through a number of iterations before the geometry settled. It has a quality of restraint to it that we find satisfying. The name felt right. It moves the way its selachian namesake does: smooth, deliberate, efficient.

Dimensions
Blade 17cm. Overall 29.5cm. Depth 4.5cm. Weight 162g.
Technical Information

The The Mako is made from Sandvik (Alleima) 14C28N, a modern Swedish stainless steel, hardened in-house to 60 HRC using a nitrogen atmosphere process. The heat treatment takes the steel from 1080°C to -75°C in a controlled cycle that maximises carbide formation, edge stability, and corrosion resistance.

The blade is concave ground to 0.3mm thickness at 1mm from the edge. This geometry reduces drag through dense produce and improves slicing performance without sacrificing rigidity. Every Savernake knife is sharpened to 15° per side.

CATRA, the global authority on cutlery performance, rank our blades in the top 2.5% of all blades ever assessed for initial sharpness and edge retention, tested to ISO 8442.5.

Care & Sharpening

Washing
Wash by hand and dry immediately. The steel handles dishwashers, but the handle materials don’t, and the blade will dull faster regardless. Ten seconds at the sink is the right habit.

Day-to-day maintenance
A honing steel realigns the edge between sharpenings. Two or three passes per side before heavy use is enough. You don’t need to do this every time – just when the blade starts to feel less certain.

Sharpening
We offer complimentary workshop sharpening once a year for the first three years. After that we sharpen at cost. If you prefer to sharpen at home, our blades are ground to a 15-degree bevel – specify this if you use a third-party service, as most sharpen to 20 or 22 degrees as a default.

Storage
A magnetic strip or knife roll is ideal. Loose in a drawer accelerates dulling and risks chipping the edge. If a drawer is the only option, a blade guard solves both problems.

Handle care
Timber handles benefit from a light application of food-safe cutting board oil once or twice a year. Composite handles need nothing beyond normal washing.

Yourself
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

– George Bernard Shaw

Delivery

UK and Channel Island Delivery is Free

Each knife has a default handle that is held in stock and available for next working day despatch.

If you’d prefer another of our standard handles, we’ll despatch within 7 working days.

If you design your own knife through the Configurator, we aim for 4 weeks or less to make it from scratch.

All orders are delivered by Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed in specially-designed tubular Savernake packaging.

A signature and age verification will be required on delivery.

We charge a £40 flat rate for delivery worldwide and use UPS.

Lifetime Guarantee

With proper care, our knives are guaranteed for a lifetime of use

Unique Concave Geometry

Our signature blade profile. A cutting edge with only the thinnest sliver of near-parallel steel to follow through.

CATRA Top 2.5% Worldwide

Independently ranked in the top 2.5% of all knives ever assessed for sharpness and edge retention

60 HRC Hardness

Hardened in-house to 60 HRC using a nitrogen atmosphere and cryogenic treatment to -75°C

Individually Crafted

Every knife is made by hand in our Wiltshire workshop, from steel selection through to final edge

Like some more options?

Our configurator lets you choose from 18 blade designs, with full control over handle material, shape, spine pattern and accent colour.Â