- How long does it take to make a knife?
- Why does this knife cost so much?
- What types of steel are used for knifemaking?
- What handle materials should I choose?
- What does “bevels” mean?
- Leather or kydex/boltaron?
- Why does it take so long to finish my order?
- How do I maintain my knife?
- Can I cut a nail/wood/break a brick wall with this knife?
- How long does it take to make a knife?
Usually making the knife starts with making the blade. It can be forged or cut from a sheet of steel. Then comes shaping the contour and grinding the bevels. This is an important step, because from it depends the overall looks and the cutting abilities of the knife. Then comes the quenching. This is a process, when under the effect of high temperature and fast cooling the steel acquires the needed properties for a good knife. The process consists in a few steps – annealing he forged blades, heating up to a given temperature, depending on the type of steel, fast cooling and tempering. When quenched, the blade is extremely hard, but very fragile. The tempering is a process when the already quenched blade is heated at a lower temperature and then held at it for a certain time period. Then the hardness is decreased, but the other useful characteristics of the steel are increased. After the obligatory heat treatment comes final grinding of the bevels and thinning the cutting edge to the desired thickness (usually a fraction of a millimeter), making the handle and stitching the sheath.
As you can see, making the knife includes lots of different steps, each one of them is important, takes time and can not be ignored, because this will affect the overall performance of the knife.
- Why does this knife costs so much?
As already written, the making of a knife takes long time and resources. Besides from that the master knifemaker has already spent lots of time in learning how to make a knife, to refine the process, has invested time and money in machines, tools etc. The knife may cost less, but this means, that a low quality materials will be put in making it, there will be less attention to the details and the performance will be of lower quality. And no master, that has some self-respect, can allow compromise with his craftsmanship. Keep in mind, that when you buy a handmade knife, you do not buy just a sharpened piece of steel! You buy lots of time, knowledge and skills! You buy a piece of the craftsman, who made it!
- What steel types are used for making knives?
Generally the steels are divided in corrosion resistant and non-resistant. But you should know that there is no such thing as absolutely corrosion resistant steel – there is just a steel, that rusts slower.
Besides from this division, there is a large number of steel types, depending on their purpose, but for knifemaking we use only a small part of them with the needed properties. This is why the steel is to be chosen depending on the type and purpose of the knife and the preferences of the owner.
- What handle material should I choose?
There is no definite answer to this question. We prefer using natural materials – wood, birch bark, leather, antler and bone (not so often). These materials give nice, warm feeling when held in the hand, but require more maintenance. At the same time, we can nor deny the good qualities of the stabilised wood and the artificial handle materials – micarta, G10, corian etc. Most of them do not react with acids, do not absorb moisture and smells and are easy to maintain. This is why choosing the handle materials depends on the purpose of the knife and the personal preferences of the owner.
- What does “bevels” mean?
The bevels are the flat part of the blade, that ends with the cutting edge. There are some basic types – flat, hollow and convex, but also different combinations between them.
- Leather or kydex/boltaron?
The answer of this question also depends on the preferences of the owner. The leather is a classic choice for a sheath, but, like the handle made with natural materials, it requires more maintenance. The kydex/boltaron sheath is not so demanding, but also lacks the feeling of the leather sheath.
- Why does it take so long to finish my order?
As written above, making the knife includes many steps, and none of them should be neglected. On the other hand, each one of them can go wrong. And according to Murphy’s laws everything goes wrong in the most unappropriate moment. Once an almost finished handle had to be broken and rebuilt, because a cavern in the wood showed up while shaping it. Or it cracked. Or something else. Lots of things can go wrong and usually this means, that everything must start from the beginning.
- How do I maintain my knife?
More for the maintenance – here.
- Can I cut a nail/wood/break through a brick wall with this knife?
The knife is a tool! And each and every tool is made for a certain task! So better consider using hacksaw, axe, hammer, because otherwise you shoot on sparrows with a cannon.
