About me
My name is Sauro Sandroni and I’m a knifemaker in Tuscany (Italy), in Terricciola, a small country town famous for its wines and its strawberries.
Making knives is my passion. The blades I build are designed to be used: I like to think that a knife built in my lab can travel all over the world to its new owner, who will use it for the task for which it was conceived.
Every knife (and every sheath) is worked exclusively by me, from design to final realization. I don’t use jigs or automated processes, there are no shortcuts: all the work is totally handmade. This makes each one of my knives different from any other I’ve ever made. Each blade is a unique and unrepeatable piece.
I prefer to use high-carbon steel, because I think its performance is better than stainless steel and because I like to use forge, anvil and hammer. Despite this, in the past I have also built stainless steel knives and on demand I still build them.
Heat treatments are also my exclusive responsibility and I carry them out on my own, through a forge for high carbon steel or through a temperature controlled electric oven for stainless steel. Each blade is checked with my professional hardness tester (HRC Rockwell scale). Before I put on sale knives made from a certain steel, I build prototypes to test them hard in the field (chopping, batoning, etc.).
I buy supplies from specialist retailers, so I’m sure to work on quality materials; occasionally, however, I also use steel from old files or rasps, or the one from ball bearings removed from cars and trucks. I like the idea of recovering material that would otherwise be thrown away. Whenever my knife is built with recovery steel, this information is clearly indicated in the sales announcement.
Each knife is the result of mistakes, frustration, backward steps and lessons obtained at a great cost; but the result of effort, dedication and passion too.
Sauro Sandroni, knifemaker
