At the Sardinian knife studio

Tuesday 3rd August, 2021 - Bruce Sterling

*Rather a pleasant mom-and-pop craft atelier here; a hybrid mix of modest machine-shop hardware and hand-crafting. Those are “resolza” folding knives, often named after the Sardinian village of Pattada. They’re the darlings of the Sardinian tourist trade, although you have to check them in baggage if you’re flying out.

*It’s interesting how the banging of a smith’s hammer is so similar to the “tap-chopping” of master chefs: it’s not about the number of times you slice or hit, it’s about the successful manipulation of the material on the anvil or the chopping board. So the craftsman sets up a muscular rhythm and moves the material under that.

*Also, chefs don’t cut their fingers and smiths don’t hammer their thumbs. It’s just not in the job description.

*That’s not stainless steel in those blades, so if you own a Sardinian pattada and you start slicing lemons with it, it’ll stain, or rather, take on a patina.