Married 'mesters' crafting knives in the shed

Steven and Kylie Cocker are a married knife-making couple from Sheffield

A Sheffield couple who make hand-crafted knives in their garden shed claim they are "probably the only" married cutlers left in the UK.

Steven and Kylie Cocker, who work for local tool firm Egginton alongside creating pen knives at their home workshop, described themselves as a "little mester" and a "lady mester".

The term relates to a self-employed craftsmen who worked out of the city's famed cutlery works.

Mrs Cocker, 34, said: “There used to be many cutler couples working side by side in this way.

"It’s surreal to know we’re probably the only ones left.”

The couple's garden shed is filled with manufacturing machines from the 1930s

Their shed is filled with traditional 1930s machinery that Mr Cocker saved from scrap including a Victorian work bench.

Although cramped, the couple worked back-to-back in the small space.

"My whole family do it," said Mr Cocker, 38.

"I made my first knife with my dad aged nine and I loved it."

Recalling early dates with her future husband, Mrs Cocker said they went to see the famous knife-makers in Kelham Island.

"Literally every Saturday we'd go to a dusty old workshop to see [little mesters] Stan Shaw or Trevor Ablett working," she said.

When Mrs Cocker returned to Egginton after the birth of their second child, she decided she no longer wanted to work in the warehouse despatching knives and set her mind on working as a cutler with her husband.

"I wanted to make the knives myself," she said.

"My family were in drills and woodworking so it was in my blood."

The pair used to visit Stan Shaw's workshop in Kelham Island when they first started dating

With the last of the "little mesters" no longer in business, the pair considered themselves to be the last knife-making couple using traditional methods in the country.

Mrs Cocker said: "There used to be loads of couples working together, they did it in the back garden with the wives helping their husbands."

They divide their working lives between the Egginton workshop in Shalesmoor and their own "Cocker workshop" at home.

She admitted there was a slight competitive edge due to them working in close proximity.

"I like to race him," she said.

"If we're doing the same pattern I think I'll do it better than him."

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