At 29, Jane Lee has a warm and bubbly personality. But beneath that is someone who lives and breathes knives – figuratively, of course.

Before becoming a full-time knifemaker, Lee spent years in the corporate world.

“I was a software engineer for about seven years, and this whole journey in knife-making came from a place of burnout,” she told FMT Lifestyle.

While she now crafts custom cutlery under her brand “The Quiet Forge”, her fascination with sharp objects began much earlier.

“I grew up watching anime, playing video games, and back then, my friends and I would always draw weapons in our exercise books. So doing this now, is like healing my inner child.”

“I heard about this old uncle in Johor making traditional Malay keris. So I drove down to Johor every single weekend to a fishing village, and I started forging with the old man.”

Today she is drawn to the precision of Japanese knife-making. That led her to Kumar Muthusamy, a banker by profession, and a passionate knifemaker for over a decade.

“I asked if he could teach me and he immediately said yes,” Lee recalled. Under his mentorship, Lee learnt knifemaking in early 2024 before going full-time soon after.

“My first knife took me about five months to complete,” she said.

Today, Lee makes everything from gyuto and petty knives for daily use, to more specialised blades. She is even working on a machete for a local cocoa bean farmer.

Among her pieces is a mid-sized 160mm kiritsuke made from N690 Swedish stainless steel, single-bevelled, with an ebony, brass and rosewood handle.

Her 178mm nakiri, fitted with a red and blue stabilised maple wood handle, is ideal for chopping vegetables.

She is currently working on a yanagiba, a knife traditionally used to slice sashimi. “I take my time to get it as precise as possible and enjoy the process. The knife at the end will speak for itself,” she expressed.

According to Lee, knifemaking falls under three main umbrellas: grinding, heat treatment, and finishing.

For mono steel knives, the process begins with stock removal using a belt grinder: shaping a flat piece of steel until the desired knife form (first outlined on paper) slowly emerges.

For certain blades, she heats the steel in a forge to create Damascus patterns, a distinctive marble-like effect. Heat treatment follows.

“I use a digital kiln and this process hardens the steel to a desired level, measured using a tool with a diamond tip. My knives are always aimed to be at least 62 HRC,” she said, referring to the measurement that indicates a blade’s hardness.

Finishing, however, is the most gruelling part of the process. “I spend hours on manual hand sanding, starting from a lower grit like 120 and going all the way up to 2,000 if I want to achieve a mirror polish before going onto the polishing wheel.”

Lee admitted that almost every knife she’s made has left her with her fingers in bandages.

Ergonomics, she said, is just as important as aesthetics. “I try to make sure the knife fits the user like a glove. For example, with the nakiri, I make sure the spine is curved and the heel is also curved, so it’s nice to hold.”

Each handle is also individually designed, featuring unique colours and patterns.

“I apply dye in desired colours, then stabilise the wood with resin in a vacuum chamber. This prevents water damage and internal rot.”

After the handle is shaped, hand-sanded and polished, the blade is then heated at the tang before being fitted.

Lee said not every home cook needs a custom knife. But for those who put real thought into the food they create, the right knife can make all the difference.

Her future plans? “I really want to collaborate with local chefs. Food is such a huge part of our culture, and I want to tell their stories through my knives.”

Follow ‘The Quiet Forge’ on Instagram.