Knife Gifts for Men: Hand Forged Picks by Budget and Person

The best knife gifts for men match what he actually cooks. A man who lives at the smoker will use a brisket slicer or a butcher cleaver every weekend. An angler needs a fillet knife, and a home cook gets the most from a chef knife. Pick the person first and a hand forged knife gift gets used.

Most knife gifts go wrong the same way. Somebody buys the biggest, meanest looking blade on the page, it gets a laugh when the box opens, and then it sits in a drawer because it is the wrong tool for anything he cooks. So this guide is sorted by budget first and by person second, with prices taken from our store as it stands today. Every knife below is hand forged in the Serbian style from high carbon steel on a full tang, and shipping is free in the USA. If you would rather browse hand forged gift ideas in one place, our knife gifts collection has them all.

Knife Gifts by Budget

Under $100

This is where the small, useful knives live, and small does not mean lesser. The Hellfang 5" butcher knife is $79 and does one job very well: trimming fat caps, stripping silverskin and cleaning up a rack of ribs. Every pitmaster already owns a big knife. Very few own a good small one, which makes this an easy win.

For anglers, the Barracuda 10" fillet knife is $68 and sized for trout, walleye and the rest of the everyday catch. The Barracuda 13" fillet knife is $78.99 and carries an 8" blade for salmon, striped bass and anything that hangs over the edge of the board. Also under $100 are the Mako 7.5" boning knife at $96 and the 5.5" clip point cleaver at $95. That little cleaver weighs 270 grams, has a finger hole, and its red Padauk handle stands out the second the box opens.

$100 to $150

The biggest spread of single knives sits here. The Mamba 11" brisket slicing knife at $112 is the gift for the man who talks about his brisket more than he talks about most things. The Orca 7" chef knife at $135 is the everyday prep knife for someone who cooks most nights. Cleaver fans get plenty of choice. The Razorback 6" with its saw tooth spine is $105, the Kermode 7" chef cleaver and the Mastodon 7.5" are both $119, the Warthog 6" is $121 and the Megalodon 6.6" is $125. Toward the top of this band you have the 7.5" Hand Forged Butcher Cleaver at $126, the Aurochs 6" spear point at $136, the Rhino 8" at $138 and the Grizzly 8.7" heavy duty meat cleaver at $147.

$150 to $250

This is statement territory. The Kraken 8" cleaver is $160 and built for people who process their own game. The Ironclad 8.7" chef knife is $179, 13.7" overall, for the cook who feeds a crowd. The Mammoth 9.1" meat cleaver is $183 and weighs about 1500 grams, which gets a laugh out of the box and then gets put to work. The Kodiak 8" drop point butcher cleaver is $189. At the top sits the Chef's Kiss 7" Serbian chef knife at $224, for a cook who already owns a block full of knives and still wants one with character.

Knife sets as gifts

A set is the big gift, the kind several people chip in on. The Butcher's Trio is $330 for three cleavers: a 7.5" butcher cleaver, an 8" drop point and a 7" sheep foot. The Handcrafted 4 Piece set is $395 for a mix of chef knives and cleavers. The Meat Lover's Set is $412 for three hand forged BBQ knives, and grooms often buy it for their groomsmen. The Mastercraft 4 Piece is $480 and pairs two cleavers with a fish and steak cutter and a 9" chef knife. If you are weighing up a chef knife gift set, our guide to the best chef knife set goes through what is in each one.

Knife	Blade	Price	A good gift for
Barracuda 10"	10" overall	$68	Anglers who catch smaller fish
Barracuda 13"	8" blade, 13" overall	$78.99	Anglers who bring home big fish
Hellfang	5"	$79	Pitmasters who trim their own brisket
Clip Point Cleaver	5.5"	$95	Home cooks who find big cleavers tiring
Mako	7.5"	$96	Brisket trimming and game
Mamba	11"	$112	Slicing brisket and carving roasts
Mastodon	7.5"	$119	Hunters and camp cooks
Orca	7"	$135	Someone who cooks most nights
Kraken	8"	$160	Hunters who process their own meat
Ironclad	8.7"	$179	The cook who feeds the whole street
Kodiak	8"	$189	Anyone who owns a smoker
Chef's Kiss	7"	$224	The cook who has everything

Knife Gifts by Person

The griller

Gifts for BBQ lovers are the easiest ones on this list, because cook day has clear stages and each stage wants its own blade. The Kodiak is the one pitmasters keep asking about. It has cleaver weight up front, a drop point for scoring the fat cap and a curved belly that actually carves, so one blade takes a brisket from trimming to slicing. If he already owns a big knife, pair the Mako boning knife for trimming with the Mamba for slicing and cook day is covered from raw to sliced. For the friend who owns more grills than he strictly needs, the Meat Lover's Set covers the whole job in one box.

The angler

Match the fillet knife to the fish he actually brings home, not the fish in his stories. The Barracuda 13" suits the guy who books a charter every summer and comes back with a full cooler. The 10" is handier on panfish, trout and walleye, and easier to use in a home kitchen. If he cleans his catch on the dock, the Megalodon 6.6" cleaver is worth a look. Hook a finger through the hole for heading and portioning, then slide back onto the handle and chop. Remind him that salt water and high carbon steel do not get along, so the knife gets rinsed and dried the minute he is done.

The hunter or camper

Hunters are hard to buy for because they already own a pile of gear. What they probably do not own is a hand forged cleaver. The Mastodon 7.5" cleaver has a heavy rear half for ribs and joints and a clip point up front for trimming and scoring, so one blade breaks down a deer or a hog. The Kraken 8" is the heavier processing cleaver, and it moves to the grill once the season is over. For campers, the Warthog 6" fits in a camp box and has a pakka wood handle that copes with moisture. If he orders a side of beef every year, the Grizzly 8.7" was built for exactly that.

The home cook

For someone who cooks dinner most nights, a chef knife gets more use than anything else you could buy. The Orca 7" chef knife is quick in the hand, easy to steer on a crowded board, and the black rosewood handle looks right the moment the box comes open. The Kermode 7" is a chef knife and a cleaver in one tall blade, a good fit for a cook who hates switching knives halfway through a recipe. The Chef's Kiss 7" has a taller blade than the Orca and hammer texture on the face, for a cook who already owns plenty. Not sure which shape suits him? Our guide to what a chef knife is used for sorts that out.

The Custom Builder

If none of the standard blades fits, the custom knife builder lets you set up the blade yourself, including the shape, the size and the handle. We forge it from raw high carbon steel in the Serbian style on a full tang, and it comes out one of a kind because the hammer marks and forge scale belong to that knife alone. It suits a retirement or a wedding, the kind of occasion people remember.

Two things to know before you order. Custom knives take 2 to 3 weeks to forge before they ship, so this is the wrong route if you need a knife by the weekend. And custom orders cannot be returned, so settle every detail before you check out. If time is short, pick something ready to ship from the gifts collection instead.

Giving a High Carbon Steel Knife

High carbon steel takes a keen edge and is easy to sharpen at home. The trade is that it rusts if it is left wet, so the kindest thing you can do is hand over the care routine with the knife. Hand wash it, dry it right away and wipe on a light coat of food safe oil. No dishwasher and no soaking in the sink. Over time the blade darkens into a patina, which is normal and not a defect, so warn him before he tries to scrub it off. Our high carbon steel knife care guide covers the rest, and it is worth sending him the link.

A few practical points. The buyer must be 18 or older. Every knife carries a lifetime warranty against defects in materials and craftsmanship. If you guessed wrong on size, unused knives can be returned within 30 days, which takes most of the risk out of buying a knife for someone else. Custom orders are the exception.

There is also the old superstition that giving a knife cuts the friendship, and the traditional fix is for the person receiving it to hand you a coin so it counts as a sale. We take no official position, except to point out that it is the best price anyone will ever pay for one of our knives.

If the person you are buying for asks whether a hand forged knife is worth it, send them the plain answer on hand forged knives and let them argue with that instead of you. And for the griller, our brisket knife guide explains why the Mamba made this list.