Materials

Woods

 

American Yellow Poplar is a sustainable (FSC Certified) American hardwood that is perfectly suited to protect your knife. It is durable enough to stand up to everyday use, but forgiving on your blade. Whether it’s an everyday line knife or a mirror polished showpiece, our yellow poplar saya will help you maintain that edge and sheen. This wood also offers amazing moisture wicking characteristics, so you can rest a little easier about your carbon blades in humid environments.

Color: Pale yellow     Durability: Medium     Moisture Control: Very High

Recommended Blades: All, esp. reactive carbon and mirror polish

Recommended Handle: All, esp. Japanese Ho wood 

Recommended Finish: Either

Cost: $40-60 *

 

Hard Sugar Maple is a popular North American wood recognized for its extreme durability and pale white/cream color. These saya will offer great protection for your blade for a long time to come. Due to the wood’s dense structure, this will not be the best saya material for blades with a high carbon content or for blades with a mirror finish.

Color: White, Cream   Durability: Very High   Moisture Control: Medium

Recommended Blades: Stainless, semi stainless. 

Recommended Handle: Very light or very dark

Recommended Finish: Either 

Cost: $45-65 *

 

American Black Walnut 

American Black Walnut wood is prized for its beautiful pale to dark chocolate color and excellent durability. With simple care this saya can outlast your knife

Color: Brown              Durability: High             Moisture Control: High

Recommended Blades: All

Recommended Handle: Brown, black

Recommended Finish: Tung Oil

Cost: $50-70 *

*These prices are rough estimates subject to change based on knife shape and size

 

Finishes

 

Mineral oil finished saya strike a balance between protecting the wood surface and allowing the inside of the cover to control the moisture sound the knife blade. Mineral oil does not cure so it will need to be periodically reapplied. It is food safe

Cost: Included

Tung Oil is a hard drying wood oil that provides a lustrous, food safe finish. We apply three layers of tung oil/citrus solvent and then cure for four weeks in a controlled curing chamber. These saya will offer long lasting protection for your valued cutlery. We apply several layers of Tung oil and allow it to cure for one month. Only available for custom saya

Cost: $5

Closures

 

Magnetic saya come equipped with a strong neodymium bar magnet that will grab and hold the spine of your knife blade. 

Pin saya will come drilled to fit the included ebony pin

Our saya

Our knife covers are sourced and crafted by hand in Brunswick, Maine. Constructed from heat-cured poplar and maple woods, they offer exceptional edge protection and effective moisture control. We cater to professional and home chefs as well as knife shops, worldwide.

Our custom knife covers are handcrafted with precision to fit your knife. Its tailored shape ensures a snug fit to preserve the sharpness and longevity of your blade. It protects the steel from accidental nicks or scratches and also prevents your knife from accidentally cutting you and your surroundings. Follow the instructions below on how to trace your knife to place an order. We can accommodate most shapes and sizes except for western style knives with bolsters.

How to order a custom saya:

  1. Set your knife on it's side with the top of the handle exactly aligned to the bottom edge of a letter or legal size sheet of paper.
  2. Use a fine pen or pencil to trace as close to blade as possible. (Fig.1) 
  3. Place your knife on the paper with the sharp edge facing up towards you and trace the outline of the spine. (Fig.2)
  4. Using inches, write the size of the paper you are tracing on. Longer knives will need to be traced on 8.5" x 14" legal size paper.
  5. Scan your tracing and save as a PDF at 100% scale, (very important!)
  6. Email us your PDF with the subject "Custom Saya". Include your preference of wood type: yellow or caramel poplar.
  7. We will get back to you with a price and link for payment within 2 weeks

Custom saya

We are currently not accepting custom orders but will be this fall!

In the meantime, check out our standard saya and please email us with any questions.

Our saya

Our knife covers are sourced and crafted by hand in Brunswick, Maine. Constructed from heat-cured poplar and maple woods, they offer exceptional edge protection and effective moisture control — essential qualities for knives crafted from materials such as carbon steel..

We cater to professional and home chefs as well as knife shops, worldwide.

Email us