The Mantia Edition: Where Olympic Precision Meets Custom Cutlery Engineering
Mantia x Ryky Edition Knives / Joey Mantia Instagram
Great collaborations rarely happen in a vacuum. They are born at the intersection of shared discipline, mutual respect, and an uncompromising obsession with detail.
The Mantia x Burrfection Edition represents a significant milestone in our history. It bridges the world of elite athletic performance—embodied by multi-time World Champion and 2022 Winter Olympic Bronze Medalist Joey Mantia—with the world of custom artisan knife making. More importantly, it marks our first-ever collaboration beyond traditional Japanese smithies, pushing into high-performance European custom steel.
Here is the story behind the collaboration, the painful setback that nearly prevented it, and the exacting engineering behind this 100-piece limited release.
Joey Mantia
1. The Connection: From Short-Track Ice to Custom Steel
My personal background in short-track speed skating has always kept me tethered to the sport. When the opportunity arose to corporately sponsor Joey Mantia, it wasn't a standard marketing play—it was a gesture of friendship and respect for one of the most decorated transitions from inline to ice speed skating in history.
Joey is a world-class athlete with an intense training schedule, but he is also a passionate home cook who appreciates the mechanics of fine cutlery. Following our successful collaboration with Taku from OutdoorChefLife, collaborating with Joey felt like the natural next step: pairing technical knife design with someone who relies on high-tier gear in their daily life.
2. Pushing Beyond Tradition: The Partnership
For years, our focus centered exclusively on master Japanese blacksmiths in Sakai, Sanjo, and Takefu. While our reverence for Japanese cutlery remains absolute, true curiosity demands exploration. We wanted to experiment with modern stainless alloys and bespoke handle materials that fall outside traditional Japanese forging methods.
by custom knifemakers
The road to this partnership was anything but smooth:
The Initial Samples: Four years ago. Amid moving our production studio across town, the box remained sealed for nearly two years.
The Rediscovery: Upon finally opening the box, the polish, edge geometry, and fit-and-finish were jaw-dropping. We immediately shot unboxing footage for an upcoming review.
The Disaster: That exact night, our studio was burglarized. Thieves made off with tens of thousands of dollars in camera gear, authentic Japanese katanas, and the samples.
The Aftermath: Mortified by the situation—having left the knives in a box for two years only to lose them hours after opening—we couldn't bring ourselves to explain the unbelievable story.
3. Blade Architecture: Engineering for Real-World Utility
A world-class athlete doesn't have time to oil a high-carbon blade after every prep session or spend hours on a whetstone every weekend. The Mantia Edition had to be tough, stain-impervious, and effortlessly sharp
Why Böhler N690?
Traditional reactive carbon steels (like Aogami or Shirogami) were ruled out immediately. If left wet on a cutting board during multi-tasking prep, carbon steel rusts. We selected Böhler N690—a cobalt-enriched Austrian stainless steel.
N690 offers exceptional corrosion resistance, superior toughness, and the ability to take a screaming-sharp edge at 60–61 HRC. It strikes the ideal balance between razor-like performance and low-maintenance durability.
Profile Refinements
Based on our latest ergonomic testing, the 210mm and 240mm profiles feature a custom performance grind. The spine and choil are hand-eased and polished to eliminate pinch-grip friction points, allowing the blade to fall through root vegetables and dense proteins without wedging.
Joey Mantia Knife Collection
4. The Handle: Olympic Aesthetic & Material Innovation
The handle design captures the spirit of the 2022 Winter Olympics without compromising on functional grip. We opted for a custom-turned Japanese Octagonal (Wa) profile, engineered to fit comfortably in both large and small hands.
Pure White Juma: The main body is crafted from high-grade Juma—a dense, modern composite that costs more than many exotic hardwoods. It takes a brilliant mirror polish yet retains a tactile, non-slip friction feel even when wet.
In-House Custom Micarta Spacers: Because commercial suppliers couldn't produce the exact color combination required to mirror the Olympic theme, manufactured the Micarta accent spacers in-house from scratch.
5. Production & Limited Release Details
Bringing a 100% custom knife series to market requires extensive shop re-tooling and calibrating machinery to execute these exact custom specifications. Despite regional supply-line delays in Europe, production is finalized.
Total Global Production: Strictly limited to 100 pieces.
Available Formats: 210mm and 240mm Gyuto variants, Nakiri and Petty.
Exclusivity: Available exclusively through Burrfection.
