How is Cutlery Made?
Cutlery is a household essential that everyone will use at some point throughout their days, but not much thought goes into the production process of these handy tools.
Cutlery dates back to caveman times originally, but became use in the form it is today in the 19th century.
This is when Sheffield set up its famous factory and mass production of knives, forks and spoons began, soon to spread to the continent and became a famed product.
Cutlery can be made in various ways, but it is all generally containing some amount of steel.
The best around now is high carbon stainless steel, which is used in many top quality knives.
Here I will explain the process for producing a good knife.
There are 3 possible manufacturing methods for knives: forging, stamping and ceramic.
The best of the three is forging.
This means that the steel is heated up to 2000 degrees, and hammered into shape.
When heated and re-cooled it is then sharpened and given a really fine edge to the blade.
Stamped knives are, as the name suggests, stamped from a roll of steel and then hardened and sharpened.
Ceramic knives are heated to high temperatures and have a high pressure put onto them to make a strong, light knife.
All of the knives have the handle attached before sharpening.
The tang of a knife will be determined at the stage the handle is attached.
This is the piece of metal that is sandwiched between the handle, and will help define the balance of the knife and how easily it performs for you.
You want a full tang, if you are looking for the best quality knife.
Some will only have a partial tang which goes 60 to 80 percent up the knife though.
As mentioned, the best metal to use for a knife is high carbon steel.
This is a light weight metal which is soft.
The reason for it making an effective knife is that it easily sharpens and holds a fine edge which will obviously cut the best.
The trouble with this kind of metal is that it tarnishes and can be very negatively affected if kept in a bad environment for it.
Stains and rust can easily settle onto these blades, so look into good storage solutions for them, and make sure you take good care maintaining them.
Stainless steel knives hold a good edge too, but have the added bonus of being stain resistant.
They will also not rust in damp conditions.
These are probably the most common type of blade out there, as they are easy to maintain and will last a long time, whilst still cutting generally well.
Cutlery dates back to caveman times originally, but became use in the form it is today in the 19th century.
This is when Sheffield set up its famous factory and mass production of knives, forks and spoons began, soon to spread to the continent and became a famed product.
Cutlery can be made in various ways, but it is all generally containing some amount of steel.
The best around now is high carbon stainless steel, which is used in many top quality knives.
Here I will explain the process for producing a good knife.
There are 3 possible manufacturing methods for knives: forging, stamping and ceramic.
The best of the three is forging.
This means that the steel is heated up to 2000 degrees, and hammered into shape.
When heated and re-cooled it is then sharpened and given a really fine edge to the blade.
Stamped knives are, as the name suggests, stamped from a roll of steel and then hardened and sharpened.
Ceramic knives are heated to high temperatures and have a high pressure put onto them to make a strong, light knife.
All of the knives have the handle attached before sharpening.
The tang of a knife will be determined at the stage the handle is attached.
This is the piece of metal that is sandwiched between the handle, and will help define the balance of the knife and how easily it performs for you.
You want a full tang, if you are looking for the best quality knife.
Some will only have a partial tang which goes 60 to 80 percent up the knife though.
As mentioned, the best metal to use for a knife is high carbon steel.
This is a light weight metal which is soft.
The reason for it making an effective knife is that it easily sharpens and holds a fine edge which will obviously cut the best.
The trouble with this kind of metal is that it tarnishes and can be very negatively affected if kept in a bad environment for it.
Stains and rust can easily settle onto these blades, so look into good storage solutions for them, and make sure you take good care maintaining them.
Stainless steel knives hold a good edge too, but have the added bonus of being stain resistant.
They will also not rust in damp conditions.
These are probably the most common type of blade out there, as they are easy to maintain and will last a long time, whilst still cutting generally well.
