Boker Knifestyle | EN 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
hand-drawn 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 productionrelevant
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 softannealed
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.
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.
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.
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, “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 hand-honed and then
checked again, cleaned and packaged.