At the forge
One coal fire, two anvils and a lot of patience.
- 1988
- year the forge was lit
- 20
- knives in a good week
- 61 HRC
- hardness of our chef’s knives
Who we are
Forged in fire. Kept sharp.
Bhola Mahto lights the coal forge at 6 am. Steel is heated, hammered to shape and hardened in oil before noon; afternoons are for grinding, handles and the stones. About twenty knives leave the forge in a good week.
Kitchen knives hammered from carbon and layered steel in our forge outside Ranchi, ground and sharpened by hand. Saturday mornings the forge is open to visitors. Stand behind the rail, watch a knife take shape, and try our knives on onions at the bench. Free; message us first.
— The Subarnarekha Forge team, Ranchi
What we stand for
Three things we will not change
Steel on the box
Every box says what steel the knife is made of and how hard it is, so you know how to sharpen it.
Sharpened for life
We re-sharpen our own knives free in the first year and at cost after that, for as long as you own them.
Local wood
Handles are sal and rosewood from fallen or felled trees bought from timber yards around Ranchi.
Watch a blade being forged.
Saturday mornings the forge is open to visitors. Stand behind the rail, watch a knife take shape, and try our knives on onions at the bench. Free; message us first.
Visit or call usOur story so far
Subarnarekha Forge, year by year
- 1988
A village forge near Hatia
Bhola Mahto, a blacksmith’s son from Khunti, sets up a forge making sickles and sabzi knives for markets around Ranchi.
- 2002
Knives for hotel kitchens
Cooks from Ranchi hotels start ordering choppers and fish knives. Bhola learns to harden steel in oil for a finer edge.
- 2015
The first chef’s knife
His daughter Puja, back from a mechanical engineering course, works with him on a 210 mm gyuto and a grinding jig.
- Today
Two anvils in Tupudana
The forge ships knives across India, sharpens hundreds by post each year and opens to visitors on Saturday mornings.
Choose
On the site, or try them at the forge.
We finish
Sharpened, test-cut and oiled on the day.
Delivered
Boxed and tracked, 3–6 days across India.
Reviews
What customers say
Sample reviews, written for this demo. Real customer reviews replace them on your store.
I cook for six every day and my sabzi knife from here is three years old. I send it back once a year and it comes home sharper than new.
The 210 mm gyuto goes through tomatoes without pressing. It arrived with a card explaining the angle for the stone.
We visited the forge on a Saturday with our son. Bhola-ji let him turn the grinding wheel. We left with the fish knife.
Know when the next batch is ready.
A WhatsApp note when layered blades are out of the forge, and sharpening tips every month.