Boker Knifestyle | BUSA Edition 2018 / 2019

38
MANUFACTURE OF A KITCHEN KNIFE
MANUFACTURE OF A KITCHEN
KNIFE
Depending on the series, making
a kitchen knife requires up to
80 different production steps.
About ten in-house departments
are involved. Each build and
finish requires some of the same
processing steps and some
different ones. Before production
can begin, the product idea is
built digitally with the help of
CAD software. A simple handdrawn
sketch made by one of our
knife designer and custom knife
makers often serves as the basis
for the first construction drawing.
Once the design engineer has
determined all production-relevant
components, they are either
made in-house or procured from
suppliers. Then, production can
begin.
THE DROP FORGE
The base material is cut into
pieces, brought to a red heat and
hammered in a massive die with a
drop hammer weighing two tons.
The resulting blade blank needs
to be soft-annealed before it can
be deburred, which means that
the excess material created during
the forging process is removed.
The blank is calibrated again on a
knuckle joint press with 800 tons
of pressing force. We use this
process exclusively for knives with
a forged bolster.
HARDENING
The heat treatment of steel is a high
art. When we harden and anneal
steel, we push for the limits of the
steel in question. In order to attain
the required edge retention, the steel
needs to be as hard as possible,
while also having enough resilience
not to break during use.
GRINDING
Here, the blade receives its long
tapering grind from spine to edge.
Cooling the piece requires great
diligence at this stage. Otherwise,
heat might warp the blade or even
take away some of its hardness.
GLAZING
True Solingen handcraft begins with
glazing. Here, the spine is ground,
the transition from blade to tang is
cleaned up and the unique Solingen
blue finish is applied. The blades
of the Boker Saga Satin series keep
their blue satin finish surface. For
the series Boker Damascus Olive and
Damascus Black, the blades are also
sand blasted, which brings out the
texture of the stainless Damascus.
DAMASCUS ETCHING
Here, the blades of the hand forged
Damascus knives are etched in
order to bring out the lines of the
different steel layers. We use a
specially formulated acid bath, which
is precisely adapted to the Damascus
and the desired look of the blade.
"It's all black before the saw." This
means that you have to cut into the
wood in order to be able to tell which
parts and how much of the purchased
raw material is actually usable.
MOUNTING & FINE GRINDING
In mounting, handles and blades are
'married." Depending on the build,
the knife is assembled with rivets,
hollow rivets or extremely durable
adhesive connections. The contour
is also pre-shaped on the grinding
belt. The contour that was prepared
in mounting is now given its final
finish on fine grained grinding belts
and discs. Apart from the blade, the
knife receives its final aesthetics and
functionality.
FINAL CHECK - HONING
At the end of the process, experienced
eyes scrutinize the knives. Only
completely flawless knives are handhoned
and then checked again,
cleaned and packaged.
STAMPING
Here, the blades of the non-forged
knives are stamped out of plates or
coils – depending on the material's
commercial form – or cut with a
laser or water jet cutter. Forging
and stamping are the respective
first steps in making a knife. The
purpose and shape of the product
is already recognizable.
SCALES
This department stores lumber from
indigenous trees, 5,000-year-old bog
oak and rare burl varieties. The first
step of handle production is cutting
the wood by hand on a bench saw –
with a level of accuracy down to 1/10
of a millimeter. The resulting piece
is then finished by hand or on a CNC
milling machine. Our carpenters say,