The country’s only professional female bladesmith, Holly Loftus, is teaming up with Daisy Tempest – one of very few female guitar makers worldwide – to create a one-of-a-kind chef’s knife that will be auctioned to fund the new Grant-Turnstone Award at Cockpit: a “pay it forward” bursary named after the pair’s respective female mentors. The auction launches on 22nd February and runs to 15th March, across International Women’s Day.

The knife will feature a one-off ‘Damascus’, or pattern-welded steel blade, made from nickel guitar strings by Holly at her old workplace, Blenheim Forge. The finished blade will preserve the pattern of the strings in a fossil-like state by using 1200°c heat and a 20-tonne pressure hammer to fuse rather than melt them.

Its handle is made by Daisy of Koa Wood from the Acacia tree, which is favoured by guitarists for its resonant sound, and will feature an intricate detail of laminated ebony and maple – a nod to the ‘perfling’ or binding used in guitar making. The knife will be the only of its kind.

Luthier Daisy’s waiting list is currently seven years long, while Holly’s limited-edition knives are known to sell out in as little as six minutes.

Both makers were recipients of the Newby Trust Award, which funded studio space and training at Cockpit – the UK’s only non-profit business incubator for the country’s most promising makers and craftspeople from all backgrounds. The awards marked a hugely significant turning point in both their careers and by launching the Grant-Turnstone Award the pair will do the same for an equally talented maker on the cusp of a really special career.

Raffle tickets will go live on 22nd February 2023 at www.loftusknives.com/raffle. The raffle runs until Wednesday 15th March. Tickets will be priced at £1 each, with no limit on how many tickets can be purchased.