Hands vs machines

If you are talking stock removal, then yes, a machine can probably achieve closer tolerances more reliably and repeatably - for less money, given economies of scale. There are probably some knifemakers who could invalidate that sentence also.

For forging, I don't see how a machine could ever come close to a man. Forget John Henry, this isn't about strength. It's about judgement, experience, all that other good stuff.

I've heard that forgers quit pounding steel when it's not red, put it back in the furnace, then take it out and start whacking it again when it's ready. How is a machine going to be able to judge that? Is there some optical sensor that can "see" the color and make the same judgement call? That would be a pretty expensive machine.

Just when the machine would catch up to the man (which will NEVER happen), the man will innovate something, and the machine is no longer any good at all.

With certain steels, 52100 I believe, and probably others, it's been proven that the mechanical reduction in size of the carbides due to forging give a huge advantage over non-forged knives of the same steel.

Look at the sorry state of affairs with computer software these days, I'll take a Master Bladesmith ANY day.
 
All I know is my Carson M4 is better than any Benza compared in any category. I forget witch one is hand made and witch one isn't.
 
Machine made knives can be made to exceptional tolerances, time after time. If that is what you are looking for then machines are going to be able to make that same knife over and over again better than any person is going to be able to do. That does not have anything to do with performance. I am sure that there are many high performance machine made knives, but of all the knives I have used over the years, handmade knives have always had the edge in performance. They tended to do the job they were intended to do as well or better for longer than any of the machine made knives I have owned. This comparison is not proof that a handmade knife is better than a machine made knife, because I have never had one of each that was exactly the same in every other way, but it is all that I require to have made the decision that as far as I am concerned, handmade knives are superior. No one has ever proved to me that I am wrong either.

For someone to say that a hand forged knife can not possibly compare to a good machine made knife, they should have the proof to back it up. Other than that it is no more than one persons opinion, and we all know that opinions are like a$$holes, we all have one.
 
You guys are talking about making knives here...

You had me worried for a few seconds there... ;)

Mel
 
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