Cutting Tools

Forging

A typical knife or swordmaking process starts from choosing the steel and then forging it to shape. In some cases, when the initial material is very close to the final shape then forging is omitted. While forging allows for better control of the blade's shape as well as allows to stretch material beyond its initial dimensions (drawing), it can also induce stresses and, due to many heating cycles, can increase the size of the grain and reduce carbon content. Hence, skill and care are needed to be taken into the process. To reduce the aforementioned stresses, forging is followed by annealing.

Quenching

Usually, grinding follows the forging process, but here it is the quenching (hardening, heat treatment, etc...). We'd like to keep the blade as thick as possible during the quench to reduce any possibility of bending or cracking. The thicker the material is, the less risk the hardening poses. The blade is brought up to a proper color (which depends on a steel) and then quenched in a hot oil (usually around 100-120 Celsius degrees). Warming the oil allows for a "smoother" process and once again - smaller risk of cracks or bends. Many times, to test which temperature/color is correct for a given steel type, we harden pieces of the steel, then cut a small triangular groove into it and finally break it dynamically (the piece is inserted into the vise and broke with a quick hammer strike). This allows for a proper examination of the post-quench grain size and indication whether or not the temperature was correct. As usual, steel becomes very brittle just after quenching so the blade requires to be tempered. This involves putting it into about 180-200 Celsius hot oven and keeping it there for 2 hours. For majority of steels used here, this is more than enough.

Grinding

As mentioned earlier, grinding is done after the blade was already hardened and tempered. This means that the whole process needs to be done very carefully and the material has to be very often cooled in water. Grinding usually starts from a rough grit, like P36 for example, and is followed by 120 and 240. If the blade isn't meant to be hand-satin finished then the final run is done on a fine scotch-brite belt. Otherwise, the blade would be hand sanded to a desired finish.

Hand sanding

As the name implies, this type of sanding is done by hands with addition of wet-or-dry sandpaper. It involves a lot of elbow grease and patience. Sanding by hand allows for a much nicer and smoother finish. With straight and careful motion, one can achieve a very nice parallel lines that result in a very elegant look. Done with grits starting from 240 up to 1000, depending on requirements. Usually, one cane make it more "pleasant" with a little sprinkle of cutting fluid which lubes and helps to unclog the paper. Left picture below presents a typical setup. Sprinkler with cutting fluid, a stainless steel "stick" with some sandpaper (red) wrapped around it can be seen. Polishing can also be done with wetstones as seen in the picture on the right.

Guard-making

This step involves a transformation of a simple piece of metal, be it stainless steel, brass, copper, mild steel (in case of swords) or sometimes even wood and turning it into a guard, bolster or a hilt. Starts by creating a slot which is made by drilling, chiseling (with a cold chisel) and filing to match to shape. Sometimes it is pressed and hammered on a tang to create a very tight fit. Apart from aesthetical purposes it often serves as a prevention tool. It protects the hand from sliding on a blade by accident. While sometimes it creates a very nice touch to a handle, it can become an imbalance weight for a kitchen knife. Though it depents on ones preference, some people prefer more handle-heavy knives and some otherwise.

Handle-making

Starts from choosing a proper piece of wood. For a detailed information on what exactly types of wood are used here, please check the Materials tab. At first, the surface that would be in contact with guard is leveled and made perfectly flat. Then, the position of a tang slot is marked, drilled and enlarged for a proper fit. For glueing, a two part epoxy is used to ensure strong connection. Sometimes, pins are added, although they are inserted after piece of wood and blade are already connected - this means that it would involve additional drilling and epoxying. It is important to choose a proper kind of wood to ensure that the handle will be strong, elegant and water resistant. If one prefers a lighter handle, to make a knife more blade-heavy, less dense types of wood can be used such as Ash, regular Walnut, etc...