Vintage Harrison Bros 10" Salmon / Ham Knife Double Shear Steel Stag Handle 1950-60

Harrison Brothers & Howson 10" slim semi flexible slicer marked made for Berliner's Seattle and Cutlers to his late majesty King George VI putting this knife squarely in the 1950s. The last of the Sheffield double shear steel was made in the 1950s and is the steel behind the reputation of Sheffield knives. It was far superior to other steels of the 19th and early 20th century in many ways, its slightly irregular carbon distribution makes for a great toothy edge and sharpens to a wonderful bitey finish that lasts a long time.

Handle is a turned stag of the type found on 10th and early 20th century knives, it too was made in an old Sheffield style that is no longer made, 

Double shear steel was a 19th and early 20th century steel that was made by case hardening bars of iron in ceramic boxes packed with charcoal, large numbers of these were heated for days on end at high temperatures and the resulting bars were broken up (it would break or shear rather than bend once carbon added hence 'shear' steel) and forged welded into a larger mass. This process was done twice on double shear steel creating a steel with a higher carbon content.