Watch a Master Bladesmith Forge a Knife from a Meteorite

The first time you wield a professional-quality kitchen knife, a realization dawns on you: all other blades are imposters, completely and utterly lacking in culinary sensitivity and cutting prowess.

Bob Kramer knows something about that. In college, in addition to taking chemistry classes by day, he made a living working as a cook in various restaurants. He began to notice that none of the other staffers knew how to properly sharpen their knives, the most important tools of their craft. It was a lightbulb moment: Kramer gave up his prior career plans to start making knives. Today, he’s one of only 122 master bladesmiths certified in the American Bladesmith Society, and the only one who specializes in kitchen knives.

Anthony Bourdain went to visit Kramer in Olympia, Washington, for an episode of his series Raw Craft. In the episode, Bourdain says of the bladesmith: “Bob Kramer is clearly out of his mind. This process is so difficult and so long, it’s insane to work this hard to improve something as utilitarian as a knife, you’d think. But at the end of the day, what comes out is so unique and so beautiful, all I can say is that I want that kind of crazy.”

That process involves forging his own steel, hammering and pounding the red-hot metal into a thinner and thinner blade, etching designs on it, and finally sharpening the blade so finely that it can cut through a piece of paper with almost zero effort.

In the clip above, Kramer melts down an actual meteorite—essentially an iron space rock—to make a knife that Bourdain then uses to chop red onion and herbs for dinner. The beautiful craftsmanship makes Kramer’s knives some of the most impressive out there—tools that Bourdain calls a “status symbol” among collectors and chefs for their sharpness, resilience, and strength.

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A version of this story was published in 2015; it has been updated for 2024.