My apologies to Dietmar Kressler

[Quiet Storm]

In this post I stated that Dietmar Kressler lets someone else CNC-machine his knives.

This is wrong.
Please let me explain how this misconception came about.
The German knife rag "Messermagazin" published an article about Kressler about two years ago. In this article they stated the following:

Früher stand Dietmar Kressler noch selbst an der Fräsmaschine, heute lässt er die Rohlinge von einem Profi-Fräser in der Nachbarschaft auf einer CNC-Maschine bearbeiten. "Der kann das schneller und besser als ich" gibt der Messermacher zu.

Translation:
Dietmar Kressler used to operate a milling machine himself, today he lets a professional in his neighborhood work on the blanks. "He can do it faster and better than I could" the knifemaker allows.

This sounds like that professional does the majority of the work on Kressler's knives.
In fact, everything he does is making the blanks, cutting the raw chunks of steel into pieces Dietmar Kressler can work on (Bob Doggett described how it works). The way Dietmar Kressler makes his knives is the SOP for all knifemakers.

In my defense, I'm not the only one who was under this false impression, Messermagazin should have made clear that the person working the CNC-mill doesn't process the knives.

 

[Joss]

Class act, QS.

 

[NickWheeler]

Seems like an understandable mistake to me... and very good of you to follow up with your apology and explanation.

Much too often these days people are quick to blow a whistle on something but typically manage to slink away to the shadows if they're proven to have been incorrect.

Thank you for being an acception to that! Kudos to you

-Nick-

btw- I feel Dietmar's work is absolutely stunning.

 

[Kevin Wilkins]

SNIP

The way Dietmar Kressler makes his knives is the SOP for all knifemakers.

SNIP

Ah, no it's not. Many knifemakers do all machining operations themselves, on their own equipment in their own shops, some even do their own heat treating.

What the magazine article said is that Mr. Kressler jobs out the basic milling operations on his integral fixed blades to someone who uses a CNC controlled milling machine. Mr. Kressler then grinds the bevels, makes the grip scales and finished the knives.

As this article ran without correction in later issues, I think it is safe to say the information is correct.

I think it is the correct and honest thing for Mr. Kressler to be up front about exactly how he makes his knives. The milling operations on an integral knife are a substantial part of the production process and if the maker doesn't do them himself it's certainly in order to say so. Mr. Kressler is an honest Maker and his knives are of the best quality, but many Makers do the milling operatons themselves.