HELP! How does a manufacturer make blades?

[Hoerchner]

How does one make a lot (5 to 5,000) of identical nicely ground blades? I understand how handles can be mass produced using water jet or laser cutting equiptment, but how are well-ground blades made? Can anyone clue me in? Are they all actually hand ground, or is there some sort of machinery that is used? I would really appreciate any solid information on the subject. Thanks, Hoerchner

 

[Andrew Taylor]

Water jet or stamp out the blanks, put them onto a jig on a computer controlled grinder or milling machine. Pop them through heat treating, polish, add the handle material, and into a machine to grind the edge. Hand inspect and hone the edge. Take a look at the Henckels website.

Ours are handmade BTW!