Anyone who enters our laboratory smells the scent of horn, olive and iron and can touch the raw materials, such as bovine horns, and can see the entire manufacturing process, from raw to finished.
Ox horn
The knife makers’ statutes tell us that knife handles were made of bovine horn already in the 16th century . The rural nature of the area made this material easily available locally. The horn is mainly made of keratin ant it becomes plastic when heated so that it can be flattened or bent until it hardens. This material was in great demand not only for knife handles but also for combs, clips, shoes, and many other everyday objects, before the advent of plastic. It was and it is appreciated for its natural color, very elegant after brush polishing.
Buffalo horn
This material is very similar to bovine horn, except for the structure and color. In fact, while the bovine horn has a circular conical shape, the buffalo horn is flattened and it has a wavy and not very regular surface. Its typical color is black with gray-brown shades. However, there are various qualities of buffalo such as the “blonde”, which has a more amber color and the “striated”, which instead has a white vein that draws very beautiful streaks on the black of the horn.
Olive wood
The processing of a knife handle is one of the fascinating aspects of our profession. Experience and manual skills allow us to work the natural material right from the rough, thus making a selection of materials based on the quality and particularity that only mother nature can create. Olive wood is in great demand due to its unmistakable grain. The olive tree also has a very particular fragrance and even if its use was not widespread in the past in the cutlery sector, it is currently highly appreciated by the foreign market, also because it is a wood commonly combined with our Tuscan territory.
Boxwood
The boxwood is a plant that was commonly used in the Italian garden, it is the classic hedge, it has small leaves and a rounded shape, and it has a very slow growth, the trunk grows in diameter just over 5mm per year. It is very rare to find shrubs larger than 40/50mm in diameter. The growth of this plant is very slow, and this fact causes compactness and hardness of boxwood. In the memories of old cutlers, boxwood was described as hard as iron, so much so that it was used for the handles of work tools. Boxwood has a yellow straw color and a very compact grain with small knots.
Oak wood
It is a very common wood both for furniture and for some professional uses, such as barrels. It has a light color and a regular grain; it is very hard and resistant.
Padouk wood
Padouk is a wood coming from the tropical areas of Africa and Asia. It has a bright red color and a long and regular grain. It is a very hard wood and it turns to dark when it is exposed to the sun.
Wengè wood
It is a very hard wood, and it comes from tropical African areas, the color is dark brown turning to black, with very thin and lighter veins. It is a very particular wood, during processing it smells as cococa.
Mahogany wood
Mahogany is a typically American wood and there are various types. It has a reddish color tending towards rust color which lightens on the outside, the grain is dense and fibrous.
Bamboo wood
It is very resistant and compact material that is worked by pressing the bamboo fibre. It has very useful features for intense use and excellent waterproofness.
