Tobias Hangler

Tobias Hangler works from Gratwein, Austria, where he combines the disciplines of artisan blacksmith and professional metallurgist in a way few contemporary makers can match. A degree in metallurgy and more than a decade of applied experience underpin a practice that is unusually fluent in the science of steel. He is also a founding member of the development team behind Apex Ultra, the new high-performance culinary knife steel created alongside Dr. Larrin Thomas and Marco Guldimann with the singular goal of producing blades capable of both extreme sharpness and high wear resistance. That project alone places him among the most technically literate bladesmiths working today.

The Hangler approach is one of quiet technical fluency. Heat treatment is treated as a primary design tool, not an afterthought, and every blade reflects deliberate decisions about steel chemistry, geometry, and finishing. Tobias works confidently across mono steels and beautifully layered constructions, and his eye for pattern and contrast is matched by a discipline about where decoration ends and function begins. Edge stability, wear resistance, and a finely judged grind are non-negotiable; the visual character of the steel sits in service of those qualities. The result is a knife that performs at the highest level while quietly showcasing the metallurgical depth behind it.

What makes the workshop distinctive is the way Tobias's two backgrounds genuinely converge. Few makers can move from steel development at the laboratory level to hand-forged, finely layered kitchen knives — finished in his signature Rokkaku Hanmaru handle form — without losing fluency at either end, and that range is the defining character of his work. Tobias is also one of the active contributors to the Birch & Bevel brand, where his Apex Ultra expertise underpins much of the catalogue, and a regular contributor to Modern Cooking's MCx Design Studio, where his metallurgical fluency informs many of our limited-edition collaborative pieces. His metallurgical depth, layered steels, and performance-led geometry mark him as one of the most technically considered makers in the Collectors Selection.