Knife forging is the process of heating and hammering out a knife from a single rod of steel. Forging makes steel stronger. The shaping of the steel molecules during the forging process results in a blade that is less flexible. As a result, these knives keep an edge for longer. The knives are also more balanced and comfortable due to the existence of a bolster from the forging process and have metal that runs the length of the blade through the handle, which gives your knife further balance and structural integrity. Lastly, forged knives are easier to sharpen as they have less flexible blades that won’t twist during the sharpening process.
Stamped knives are a cut out from a flat sheet of metal like a cookie cutter. Since they are not forged, their blades are less hard, durable, and sharp. Stamped knives don’t have real bolsters, which makes them less balanced and lighter.
To produce a real quality knife you need to do these steps correctly. If any of these are compromised, you will not have a good knife.
This is different from what knife makers do in most factories in the world. Often times, they start with two already flat pieces of metal (one for the blade, and mainly recycled material for the handle and bolster). Then they forge just the bolster by heating just the recycled piece of metal up to create a bolster. Lastly, they weld the two pieces together and then polish it to make it appear as if it was made from one single rod. This is problematic for two reasons because:
The end product, because they cover the welding with grinding and polishing, looks the same as a fully forged knife, but in reality, is not.
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