CAS Knives is the work of the Sobral brothers of Argentina, and it is one of the few names in modern custom knifemaking where the sheath is as talked about as the blade. The initials carry two meanings at once: Claudio and Ariel Sobral, and Cuchilleria Artesanal Sobral, which translates as Sobral Custom Knives.
Who the Sobral brothers are
There are three of them. Claudio Alejandro Sobral and Ariel Ricardo Sobral founded the shop, and their younger brother Marcelo joined them in 2013 to take over sheath making.
Claudio came to knives through guns. He left high school at sixteen to work in a firearms factory, where he learned forging, machining, milling, polishing and bluing, which is an unusually complete grounding for someone who would later build knives to this standard. He started making knives around 2005 as a pastime, encouraged by knife forums and local shows, and the brothers went full time in 2011. Ariel came from the commercial side and ran the business end while the shop found its feet. They opened their workshop in Jose Leon Suarez, in the Buenos Aires area, in January 2015.
San Mai, and why their blades look like that
The brothers have a stated preference for San Mai construction, and it is the thing that makes a CAS blade recognisable across a table.
San Mai is a laminate. A hard core is sandwiched between softer stainless outer layers, which gives a blade that takes a serious edge without being brittle. On a CAS knife the join between the layers reads as a dark line following the edge, with a contrast that looks a great deal like a hamon. It is a structural decision that happens to be beautiful, which is a fair description of most of their work.
They also produce Damascus and stock removal knives, and the Damascus patterning on their larger pieces is some of the most complex coming out of South America.
What they make
CAS work runs to bowies, fighters, sub hilt fighters, daggers, hunters and integrals. The larger fighters and bowies are what most collectors come to them for, and the integrals show the machining discipline Claudio picked up in that firearms factory.
Why collectors chase them
A few things put CAS on serious want lists.
- The sheaths. Very few makers at this level produce their own leather in house. Marcelo does, and the sheath work is a genuine part of what you are buying rather than an afterthought.
- The San Mai. It is difficult to do well and almost impossible to fake, and it gives their blades a look that is theirs.
- Dealer confidence. CAS knives are carried by the leading custom knife dealers in the United States, which is not something that happens to makers whose work does not hold up.
- They are still ascending. Dave Ellis has described CAS as newcomers to the scene who are already highly sought after, and he counts the brothers as friends and sells their work regularly.
CAS knives for sale
Exquisite Knives carries CAS pieces as they become available. In the gallery now is a large CAS Damascus fighter, with a complex Damascus blade of roughly 14.5 inches and an overall length of about 20.5 inches, a Damascus double guard and ferrule, and a stabilised wood handle figured closely enough to pass for marble. The sheath, as you would expect, fits like a glove.
You can see every CAS knife currently listed, and it is worth calling before you order, because CAS pieces do not sit around. Reach Dave Ellis at (760) 945-7177 or through the contact page.
Dave has spent a career alongside the great makers, from Bob Loveless onward, and he is unusually well placed to say which of today makers will still matter in thirty years. He puts the Sobral brothers in that group.
September 17, 2026
