Why Damascus Patterns Never Look the Same Twice
Two billets, same steel, same fold count, and the patterns still come out completely different. Here is what actually decides where the layers land, and why mirrored sets cost more.
01
How we price
One price list, no haggling, no surprise invoices
We charge for the work a knife actually takes, not for the name on the handle. A Damascus blade takes forty to sixty hours of bench time between the forging and the finish, and that is why it costs what it costs. A powder steel knife skips the folding but still runs a full heat treatment cycle, so it lands close to the same money. Anyone quoting you NZ$300 for a hand-forged blade is either using stock-removal only or has never sat with a 6000-grit stone for three hours.
Every number below is the real number. If a commission needs something unusual, like a 300mm custom gyuto or a matched set with mirrored pattern, we quote it before any deposit changes hands. You never get an invoice with a line item you did not agree to.
02 — Blades
The two main lines and what they cost
Damascus gyuto 210mm
NZ$690
Folded 1084 / 15N20, 240 layers, standard timber handle
The most common order in the workshop. Around 60 HRC at the core, 15° per side, macrocarpa or rimu scales stabilised for New Zealand humidity. Includes the mock-up session, the batch card and a free re-sharpen inside twelve months.
Damascus Steel Chef Knife
Powder steel gyuto 210mm
NZ$840
R2 powder metal at 63 HRC, satin finish, standard timber handle
Chosen by cooks who work through a full shift on one board. The fine carbide structure keeps the edge from rolling, and the sharpening response is quicker than the hardness number suggests. Includes the same batch card and re-sharpen deal.
Powder Steel Chef Knife
Blade size surcharge
+ NZ$60 – 180
Anything over 240mm, or anything narrower than 40mm at the heel
A 270mm sujihiki needs more billet, more grinding and more stone time than a 210mm gyuto. A 130mm petty needs less, and we knock NZ$40 off the base price for it.
03 — Buying as a set
Sets are cheaper because the billets get shared
Paired knives
NZ$1,180
210mm gyuto plus 130mm petty, matched pattern and timber
Same fold, same handle wood, same finish. Saves NZ$210 against ordering the two separately, and the pair arrives in a single numbered case.
Home kitchen set
NZ$1,450
Gyuto, petty and a magnetic walnut strip
The usual order for people cooking every night. Includes the wall strip, so nothing ends up rattling around in a drawer with a chipped edge on it.
Professional three-piece
NZ$2,680
Gyuto, sujihiki and petty, built to your grip and station height
For chefs on the line. Comes with a hard roll, three years of free sharpening, and a note of the exact hardness each blade ran at.
04 — Full custom
When the standard list does not fit what you cook
Somebody who breaks down whole fish all day wants a very different blade to somebody who dices onions and nothing else. Full custom work starts at NZ$1,900 and is quoted after we sit down with your measurements and the profiles you already use.
The price depends on steel choice, blade length, whether the handle is a hidden tang or a full tang, and whether you want mirrored pattern across more than one knife. We give you the number in writing before we cut anything.
Single full custom
from NZ$1,900
Your profile, your grip, your steel
Two-blade matched pair
from NZ$3,100
Shared billet, mirrored pattern required
Full restaurant fit-out
quoted per line
Six knives or more, matched pattern across the whole set
05 — Workshop services
Sharpening, repairs and handle work on any knife
Standard chef knife, under 240mm
NZ$45
Knife over 240mm, or a sujihiki
NZ$70
Thinning behind the edge, per knife
NZ$90
Chip removal and reprofiling from
NZ$110
Rehandle in stabilised hardwood
NZ$180 plus materials
Full handle and blade restoration
from NZ$420
Send a photo before you bring anything in. If a blade is too far gone to be worth the money, we will say so rather than take the job and hand back a knife you could have bought new for less.
06 — What moves the number
Five things that change what we quote
- Steel Damascus billets are hand-folded here, so higher layer counts add bench hours. Powder steel is bought in and cut, so the labour sits in the finish.
- Length A 300mm blade uses nearly double the billet and stone time of a 210mm one, which is why the surcharge is not flat.
- Handle Standard macrocarpa or rimu is included. Black maire, stabilised burl or a full spacer stack runs NZ$120 to NZ$400 extra.
- Pattern work Mirrored pattern across multiple knives means folding a larger billet and cutting it into sections, which adds NZ$180 to NZ$340 per knife.
- Rush orders We do not do them in general, but for a wedding or a leaving gift we can sometimes fit one in for NZ$150 more.
07 — Payment and delivery
The paperwork side, kept short
Deposit to start
40% of the quote
Balance due
On completion, before dispatch
Courier in New Zealand
NZ$18, rural NZ$26
Australia
NZ$65 tracked
UK, Canada, US
NZ$85 – 95 tracked
Lead time
5 – 8 weeks typical
Refund terms and the twelve-month warranty against steel or build defects live in our Refund Policy. The full legal wording for orders and delivery sits on the Terms and Conditions page.
08 — What people paid for, and were happy with
Recent commissions and their price bands
Ordered the paired gyuto and petty at NZ$1,180 and honestly the case alone was worth part of it. Four years on and both blades still take a fresh edge in five minutes on a 3000-grit stone.
Tomas Bergersen
Home cook, Pukete
Bought the professional three-piece at NZ$2,680 for the cafe. The free sharpening alone has paid for a chunk of it over two years, since we were spending NZ$60 a month on sharpening before.
Aroha Ngatai
Cafe owner, Claudelands
Went full custom at NZ$2,240 for a 270mm sujihiki I use for breaking down fish. Took seven weeks. The mock-up session meant the handle was right on the first go, which saved a lot of backing and forthing.
Marcus Lindqvist
Fishmonger, Raglan
09 — Question we get asked a lot
Pricing questions, answered plainly
A factory knife is stamped from a sheet and run through a heat treatment tunnel with hundreds of others. Ours gets forged or cut one at a time, normalised three times, hardened with a controlled soak and tempered twice with a Rockwell check between cycles. That is four to six hours of heat treatment alone, before any grinding happens, and it is done by a person watching the colour of the steel rather than a dial on a machine.
They do different jobs. The Damascus knife is prettier, takes a keener edge if you know what you are doing on stones, and holds it a bit longer than a basic carbon steel, but it wants to be dried and oiled. The powder steel knife is harder, more stain resistant and more forgiving if it sits wet on the bench for an hour. If you cook every night and want one knife that does everything without fuss, pay the extra NZ$150 and take the powder steel.
For anything over NZ$1,500 we can split the balance into three monthly payments after the 40% deposit, with no interest and no fee. It is the same price either way. Just ask when you send the enquiry and we will set it up before anything is cut.
If no steel has been cut or forged, you get the full deposit back within five working days. If the blade is already through heat treatment, the deposit covers the steel and the bench time, so it is not refundable. The full wording is on the Refund Policy page and we will always tell you exactly where your commission is sitting when you ask.
10 — More reading
All articles
If you want the detail behind the pricing
What Actually Ruins a Kitchen Knife
The damage almost never comes from the steel. It comes from the sink, the drawer and the glass board, and it takes about four seconds. Worth a read before you spend NZ$690.
11 — Get a quote
Send us the shape of what you want and we will price it
Tell us the blade length, the steel you are leaning towards and what you cook most. We come back within one working day with a firm number and a real delivery date, not a range with a shrug attached to it.