Michael May Knives

Portland Works, Sheffield

Michael May didn't set out to be a knife maker — he studied history and music before family tradition pulled him into Sheffield's cutlery trade, working the factory floor at Taylor's Eye Witness from 1997. Trained by master cutler Keith Moorby, who never accepted "that'll do," May realised knife-making was what he wanted to do for life, and went independent in 2016, taking over the tools and patterns of retiring cutler Trevor Ablett.

He now works from Portland Works — the historic Sheffield building where stainless steel cutlery was first developed over a century ago — hand-making every knife from start to finish, from traditional Sheffield pocket knife patterns like the Barlow, Ettrick and Lambfoot to kitchen knives, using locally sourced steel and handle materials like ebony, oak and snakewood.

May has called himself possibly the last pocket knife maker left in Sheffield, and now trains apprentice James Rhodes — passing the same skills on to the next generation of a trade that once defined the city.