Walled CityBlades

Joe Forbes runs Walled City Blades from a unit on Springtown Industrial Estate in Derry, making kitchen and outdoor knives after almost twenty years working in restaurants, including the Beech Hill Country House, Pyke 'N' Pommes and Belfast's Shu. He trained in blade-smithing at Antrim's Hot Milk Forge before founding the business in 2021. Handles are cut from Irish-sourced woods such as bog oak and sycamore, which Forbes stabilises himself in the unit: milling the timber, drying it in an oven, then curing it in a vacuum chamber over roughly seventy-five hours before it is fitted to a blade. The knives are bought by working chefs, including Alex Greene at Belfast's Michelin-starred Deane's Eipic, as well as home cooks and outdoor enthusiasts. Each piece is made to order rather than batch-produced for stock.