Om Mustache Knivene

In Sander Miesse's workshop, sparks and the beating of heavy metal music rains down upon you. The dust mask is removed, the tips of his mustache are sharpened and the music is turned off.

Sander relays: ...The knife virus bit me early. My first knife, a kind of camping knife, I made from an old nail file at 4 years old.

As a 19-year-old, having just left home - I had no money to buy a decent knife. So I started studying the knife maker's craft - and five years later I started the knife factory Moustache Knives - or MKnives As it is also called.

It takes about 15 hours to make a complete knife. This, of course, means a high price point. But Sander says it's not so bad. He gives a lifetime guarantee on every knife.

I hate the use-and-discard society. A good, expensive knife lasts all your life, and can be inherited from generation to generation, as opposed to a bad, cheap knife which you'll have to replace every couple of years.

My knives are forged in both 1.4109 stainless steel with a hardness of 60 - 61 HRC, and in Sanmai steel with a core of carbon fibre steel.

The stainless blades I make are easy to maintain and have a sharpness and cutting ability that fully match carbon steel and other types of Japanese knife blades.

One of the advantages of my blades is that they don't chip or rust. Moreover, they stay absurdly sharp for a very long time, and therefore very rarely need to be sanded.