How they are/were made (traditional knife manufacturing past and present)

supratentorial

supratentorial

Joined
Dec 19, 2006
Messages
8,210
For many reasons, I think it would nice to have a resource on the manufacturing (both past and present) of traditional knives. One important reason is that understanding the manufacturing is fundamental to understanding quality. Quality is tied to manufacturing. And there are many large changes that have occurred in knife manufacturing in the USA.

If you have materials regarding the manufacture of knives (past or present), please share them here.
 
1912 Manufacturing of Press Button Knives
(you may need to open the images in a new window to view them full size)
4SYznDL.jpg

OZBwecL.jpg

XOyvPOa.jpg
 
This 1905 clip gives some approximate dates and opinions about the changes from hand forging, drop forging, and stock removal.

6OMOT13.jpg
 
Victorinox factory tour
This is a recent tour and it is much more automated than in the past.


Opinel factory tour --- fast forward to 2:12


additional video of the Opinel factory


Nontron factory tour


Otter-Messer factory tour

 
Subscribed, these will be great on my next batch of nightshifts...thanks for posting all the great info :D

~Chip
 
Buck #110 Folding Hunter Blade Process
Blank > Double Disc > Stamp & Nail Notch > Chamfer > Hollow Grind > Heat Treat > Tumble > Finished

EqV5HO8.jpg
 
A topic that came up elsewhere on the net was the Rockwell hardness of blades in the early 1900s. The Rockwell scale and testing equipment wasn't invented until the mid-late 1910s. So no Rockwell numbers unless tested present day.

In the early 1900s, the heat treat schedules didn't even record temperature. Instead, the heat treat was dependent on an employee's perception of the color of the metal. By the 1940s pyrometers were used to give exact temperature readings. I'm not sure when using the Rockwell scale became common in knife manufacturing.

c1907
Hardening is effected by bringing it to a red heat and dipping it in water up to the choil. The tang is left soft, so it may be readily filed, drilled, stamped with the maker's name , and fitted in the handle. Tempering is often accomplished by bringing the blades to a purple heat on a thin copper plate...
Click to expand...

c1920
After the blades are pierced, making ready for the rivet, they are forwarded to the Heat Treatment Department where they are hardened and tempered... Men who are able to perform this work day in and day out, producing a high uniform standard, are rare birds. The long experience of the Company in hardening and tempering gun parts, bayonets and other like products has been utilized to the utmost in this process. This room is screened so the light is very evenly diffused daylight in order that the operators may easily judge the color of the metal. After the blades are hardened and tempered they are tested and straightened. In order to test the blades for flaws, each one is thrown against a block of steel. Blades which do not ring true are rejected.
Click to expand...

This very basic article from the "Associated Cutlery Industries of America" in 1950 still describes the color of the heat but also gives a temperature range....

c1950
Whereas originally temperature of heat was determined by the color perception of the workman, and his judgment alone determined the temperature of the quench, these are now determined without the hazard of human judgment by precision instruments known as pyrometers, with resulting uniformity in hardness obtained....
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Great thread! The historocity is one of my favorite things about traditional knives, but I don't have much knowledge of the history myself. I look forward to reading through this thread.
 
supratentorial said:
Thank you, guys :)

Link to step by step tour of Remington in the 1920s: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/remington-enters-cutlery-field-100-years-ago.1523378/
Click to expand...

Very informative. I enjoyed reading that. It is very interesting to read what they felt were important parts of the process. (blade finishes being one). Also interesting to note their 'new' process for automation of pin installation. (spinning pins instead of peening?) I noticed they mentioned etching pattern numbers on the main blade, after hardening. At some later point in time they must have changed to stamping blades.
Thanks!:thumbsup:
 
Thank you, guys. Perfect edition to this topic, S-K!

Mark, I'm not sure about the etching. I certainly haven't ever seen an authentic Remington that hasn't been stamped with the pattern number. According to the catalog (shown below) each pattern number was stamped. It's difficult to prove a negative but it could be a mistake by the writer.

Remington Pocket Knives bear the Remington number stamped plainly on the reverse tang of the master blade.
Click to expand...

Each Remington knife is stamped with factory number, as advantage when re-ordering.
Click to expand...

LCp3lA3.jpg


One of the large changes in the cutlery trade was the switch from hand forging to drop forging to blanking/stock removal. There was resistance to each of these changes and lots of debate. Lots of articles in trade journals about these changes.

This is just an ad but I found the description of hand forged blades particularly enjoyable. At the time of this ad (1912), drop forging was already commonly used instead of hand forging.

There are two methods used in making knife blades-- the modern drop-forging process by the use of machinery; the other, the old-time method of forging by hand. By the drop-forging process, an ordinary workman can produce a thousand or more blades in a day; by the hand-forging method, a skilled workman is unable to produce over one hundred and fifty of the same sized blades in a day. In making a blade by hand, an expert forger delivers forty or fifty blows or taps with a three or five pound hand hammer, striking the blade at different angles in shaping it, but constantly "drawing" out the steel toward the point, thus elongating the crystals, so that their lateral edges are parallel with the cutting side of the blade. These elongated crystals produce the cutting edge. This hammering of the hot steel multiplies its strength two to five times, varying in proportion to the quality of steel and the amount of hammering done. This "kneading" or condensing effect, if thoroughly and deftly done, extends through the whole mass, and produces the proper crystalline structure necessary for the perfect cutting edge.
Click to expand...

Fba8F9w.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top