We reported last week that UK-based company Raven Forge has acquired a Star Trek license and has just released a Bat’leth-inspired pizza cutter. If you live in the UK and like medieval weapons, mead or even lightsabers. Their name may already be familiar! The Star Trek Bat’leth Pizza Cutter has gone viral on social media, so we just had to learn how the idea came about. Check out our review and bring glory to your house.
🔥 REVIEW: Raven Forge Bat’leth Pizza Cutter
After they reached out to us to share the news (and kindly provide some review samples). We also had a chance to ask their founders, two brothers, Sam and Tom Ive, some questions about their Star Trek background, what it was like to work with Dan Curry on the Pizza Cutter and what they have in store!
🖖 OUT NOW – Star Trek Bat’leth Pizza Cutter
Trek Central: Let’s get started with a couple of classic questions to break the ice. First of all, who is your favourite Captain?
Sam: I’d have to go with Benjamin Sisko. He’s just so GREAT. His relationship with
Jake is a joy to watch unfold, and it resonates strongly with me. He’s a dad, fronting
parenting through the wild teenage years, doing his best to forge a great relationship
with his son. I adore the way he talks—it’s so powerful. Every word has purpose and
is delivered with every ounce of his massive emotional range. I quote him daily. “The
soufflé will rise, or it will not – and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it” can
be used in almost every personal interaction.
Tom: Honestly, for me it’s got to be Picard. He was just who I enjoyed watching
most, and who I identified most with as a person. Guy just wanted to do the right
thing and drink a nice hot cup of tea. Special mention to Janeway, what a
powerhouse. Picard = best captain, Voyager = personally my favourite series.
Trek Central: And secondly, favourite episode?
Sam: This is an unfair question, there are too many. It is of course “In the Pale
Moonlight.” (DS9) It’s full of powerful, moral monologues from a man trying to do the right
thing, something that, in the end, never sees the light of day. It’s so poetic. It’s also a
lot of people’s favourite, so I feel a bit basic, but it’s Ben Sisko at his finest. So…
ALSO! “Nemesis” from Voyager. It’s offbeat and most folk overlook it, but the use of
language was astounding, and it hits hard right in the feels. It delivers everything that
Star Trek is to me—a dive into morality and people trying to be the best they can be
against the odds. It doesn’t even finish on a high, it’s so heavy and beautiful. I could
go on. I want to go on. But I’d be here all day… WAIT – Finally – Captive Pursuit (DS9), it
was one of the first chances for O’Brien to shine, and he excelled, classic star trek
showing us that the future can be full of good people, taking care of each other and
fighting tyranny! OK, I’m done.
Tom: “The Measure of a Man” (TNG). It was philosophical and as a kid, it
taught me so much about humans and human emotions, I needed that episode more
than I knew, I know it still affects my moral compass to this day. “Starfleet was
founded to seek out new life and THERE IT SITS” will never fail to give me chills.
From a product point of view, when we were kids, our dad loved Data, and we had
the Data box, Memory Alpha on VHS. That REALLY pretty box with Data’s actual
face pressing out of the front. I’m going to have to ask if he still has that. What an
episode.
Trek Central: Going a bit deeper, what’s each of your personal history with Star Trek?
Sam: I grew up on Star Trek with Tom, watching all the movies as kids. I still say
“Hello, computer” every time I come across a wired mouse. DS9 and VOY ran
through my school years. I remember rushing home and waiting for it each night to
find out who Kira was gonna knock out, or if Neelix was gonna poison everyone with
space cheese. Now, 25 years on, not much has changed. I’ve watched Next Gen,
VOY, and DS9 over and over again. And the best thing is, you can start over again
once you get to the end. I didn’t get on with Enterprise when it first landed, but I gave
it a good 20 years before watching it through and really made sure it felt like Star
Trek. I even learned to love the theme tune. Every episode started with a full family
singalong!
Slowly over the years, my house has become more of a museum of Star Trek
memorabilia and swords. Some of my favourites? A 1-inch section of Worf’s uniform,
a full-size replica of the Grand Nagus’s staff, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a
small collection of Kanar bottles… To say working with Paramount on Star Trek
merch is a dream come true, would be literal.
Tom: Mine, personally, is shallower than Sam’s. It was my childhood: Red Dwarf,
Blackadder, Star Trek, Ground Force and X-Files (but always from behind the couch
as I’m a proper wuss). This is how we were brought up, and honestly, what a way to
be brought up. As an adult, I’ve not had a great time with modern Star Trek, but I
often revisit TNG, Voyager and DS9. It’s the best, the golden years. Fight me. But
honestly, I mostly enjoy Star Trek though the medium of my brother, he loves it, in a
way that people rarely love things, and hearing him talk about it brings me genuine
joy.
Trek Central: On to your latest release! What made you pick the Bat’leth as the design for the pizza cutter, instead of some of the more ‘conventional’ or easy to adapt designs like the Mek’leth, kur’leth (introduced in Picard season 3) or the Andorian Ushaan Tor?
Tom: Our pizza cutters have always been rocker-style, and the Star Trek Bat’leth is ICONIC. As much as I love all the Klingon weapons, none come close to the Bat’leth. Plus, I once saw a meme of Worf cutting a pizza with one and thought it was hilarious. It was an easy choice. Bat’leth pizza cutter all the way. If you want a Kur’leth one, it should be a kebab knife. 100%.
Sam: We wanted to make something truly iconic and instantly recognisable. It’s already the right shape—we just had to do the unspeakable and put the handles on the other side. But it was necessary. Mine gets used 50% of the time to cut pizza and the other 50% for pizza cutter waving and Klingon posturing.
Was the decision to go with kitchen safe plastic over leather wraps for the grips a practical, or convenience-based decision?
Tom and Sam: We wanted it to be more than a gimmick. It had to hit the holy grail of kitchenware: dishwasher safe. That meant wear- and heat-resistant materials. Not leather. These handles were the right choice for actual usability. It’s 2025—food safe and dishwasher safe are musts. The 1:1 scale version will have leather. The pizza cutter? It needs to be used in the kitchen.
Trek Central: Now, we’ve heard that you got to work with Dan Curry while developing the cutter. What was that like? How much collaboration was there?
Tom & Sam: BRILLIANT. What an absolute superstar. We had lovely conversations about the old Star Trek days, how the original props were made, and what he’d change if he could go back. The photos we’ve exchanged and the things we’ve seen have been a Star Trek fan’s literal dream come true. Our collaboration has been primarily on the 1:1 scale Bat’leth.
Tom: But I’ll let you in on a few things we collaborated on with the pizza cutter with Dan.
So Dan LOVES our 1:1 Star Trek Bat’leth design. Says it’s exactly how he first envisioned it—totally accurate to his original 1990 drawing. Coming from him, that’s the highest praise. I’m not going to lie, that email is printed out and on my office wall.
For the Pizza cutter, I was initially nervous about bastardising something so iconic he created to cut pizza. Telling THE Dan Curry that I wanted to flip his Bat’leth and make it into a kitchen tool was, well it was a scary day. But he was so nice and excited, he went as far as to sketch us out how he would envision the Bat’leth as a pizza cutter, I have original 2024 drawing from Dan on how he would like his Bat’leth to cut pizza. Feels a bit like a fever dream honestly… what a guy. I’m hoping to meet him in London this year for dinner and a proper catch-up. His stories are superb and no one name-drops like Dan Curry. What a lovely man.
Sam: These things don’t happen to normal people. Two brothers from Yorkshire working with the man whose name is in the credits of every Star Trek I’ve ever watched? Unreal. He’s a gentleman and so knowledgeable. The day he sent over the original Bat’leth drawing from 1990 was surreal. That drawing helped us develop the 1:1 scale Star Trek Bat’leth that’s still unreleased. I have an email proudly displayed in my office from him saying, “This is the closest and most accurate Bat’leth ever produced.” For a Trek fan, you can’t top that.
Also, the day we found the original Sword of Kahless—battle-damaged, hidden away in a secret location—was unforgettable. It should’ve been floating in space guarding the Klingon Empire, but no, it was tucked away instead. Come visit us at Raven Forge. I’ll show you the photos—as long as you don’t tell anyone.
What is your answer to the inevitable complaints that the location of the grips has been flipped on the cutter?
Tom and Sam: It was a design choice based on use. It’s a Star Trek Bat’leth-inspired pizza cutter. If we left the handles as they are on the prop, you’d be cutting pizza using the handles—gross. We had to flip them. We even had to send Paramount a photo of my Bird of Prey corkscrew to show how similar design liberties have been taken before. It works beautifully and stays comically true to Trek. Also, full disclosure, the 2 sketches that Dan sent over had the Bat’leth flipped in various forms too. That felt very validating.
Trek Central: Can you give us any hints or teases about what you have coming up in the pipeline, and how long we might have to wait?
Tom & Sam: We’re sworn to secrecy like Section 31, but yes. There’s a 1:1 scale Bat’leth coming that we CANNOT wait for you to see. We have more kitchen ideas and a few full-scale props. That’s all I can say—but you won’t be disappointed.
Trek Central: The US has ‘Star Trek Wines’ which aren’t available over here. We’ve seen that Raven Forge works with a number of UK businesses for your alcohol ranges. And I couldn’t help but notice the Chateau Picard bottle in your product photos...
Tom and Sam: To make good red wine, you need grapes, lots of grapes—and we don’t have those. We do make great mead, though. Bloodwine mead? Maybe. Kanar mead? Maybe. But proper wine isn’t something we can do well. The Chateau Picard bottle in the photos is from my collection—a gift from a friend. Yorkshire doesn’t really have the climate for grapes. Did I mention we don’t have any grapes?
Tom: We would LOVE to make a Klingon Blood Mead, but its going to be a hard sell as it’s a bit left field.
Trek Central: And to wrap us up, Are there any Star Trek products that you would love to do, but that aren’t an option?
Tom: A fully functional, very sharp Bat’leth. Just to test cut with one would be brilliant. Not to sell, obviously. But that’d be so cool.
Sam: I’d also love to make a full steel, functional D’k tahg with moving parts. But UK law says no. Honestly though, I’ve got enough ideas to keep Paramount busy for a long time…
What products or props would you like to see next? Would you buy a Blood Wine mead? Let us (and Raven Forge) know in the comments!
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