How do they do that

F

Faron

Joined
Apr 5, 2009
Messages
173
How do knife manufactures test knives before being released onto the general public? Who tests them man or machine. Hours of testing. Location of testing. You know what I am saying,I know they are not motor vehicles that have servere ROAD TESTING and undergo all kinds of health and safety checks but there must be certain tests prior to release.
ALL THE BEST FARON
 
It depends on the manufacturer. All do some testing, some do a lot of testing. Spyderco in particular has delayed the release of new models for years at times before they got everything right. They design, make prototypes, mechanically break them, refine, prototype and break until it meets their criteria. Once they reach that point, they get field tested. In the case of collaboration models, the co-designer gets prototypes that have passed all other testing to use and evaluate. He then sends them back with any refinements he feels are needed, and more prototypes are made and tested until both Sal and the other designer are satisfied. I may be remembering wrong, but I believe it took three years to finalize the design of the BushcraftUK.

In the case of in-house designs, Sal does a lot of field testing himself, and I believe employees do as well. Sometimes pilot run (pre-production but final design) knives get sent to lucky customers for evalution and photographs before they are officially released.
 
Thanks for the reply guys. I agree it would be a great job to have. It does seem spyderco really are worth their weight in gold . It was something I just wanted to know, now I know, thanks once again FARON
 
I'm guessing there is no real testing for most, unless it's a distinguished maker/manufacturer. Honestly, a knife is a sharp piece of hard material. Does it cut better than your teeth and nails? Yes? Test passed.
 
Seriously, they probably Rockwell test it for desired range of hardness, cull the cosmetic blemished ones, check for correct tolerances for folders, and a few other "obvious" things that slip my mind.
 
Faron said:
How do knife manufactures test knives before being released onto the general public?
Click to expand...




Many knifemakers use their customer base as a test bed. :cool:



Take the makers here on the forum,

...they often send out prototypes of new ideas to trusted customers that they know are also serious users,

...using the input provided allows them to tweak their designs.



Likewise, many bigger knife producers,

...Mike Stewart at Bark River, Bob Dozier, even Sal at Spyderco come to mind,

...are very much in touch with their customers.


Testing is happening all the time. :)





Big Mike
 
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