Knife production as a business: list of equipment, description of manufacturing technology, nuances of business organization 0

Specifics of production

Current market participants in the industry specialize in the production of knives of various shapes and purposes. Depending on this, their main consumers may be wholesale companies involved in selling products to ordinary consumers, food industry enterprises, specialized stores selling hunting and tourist models, as well as individuals wishing to purchase collectible items, and representatives of law enforcement agencies. It is important to understand that the largest share of sales falls on the household sector, which, moreover, does not require giving products specific properties and licensing, as is the case with edged weapons. Accordingly, it is much easier to enter this segment.

At the same time, 99.9% of society's need for kitchen and other household knives is covered by large concerns, the scale of which is quite difficult for a new enterprise to achieve from scratch without significant investments. That is why many start-up companies choose the so-called “knife-making” strategy - when products are manufactured in limited quantities or even in single copies and sold through narrow distribution channels.

However, if in the West, knife-making is developed quite widely, then in the Russian Federation this type of activity is still of a more artisanal nature, only in some cases making it possible to get really serious profits. This is due to the fact that for most entrepreneurs, making exclusive knives is more of a hobby than a business. Accordingly, there is no talk of large investments in expensive professional equipment. As a result, even the best examples of hunting and chef's knives cannot compare in quality with the products of well-known foreign concerns.

Thus, there are two options for developing a serious business in the production of knives: opening a full-fledged production line with a certain range of products or working with individual orders, which, however, does not exclude serious investments in material support.

Why do you need a sharpener?

A living relic of our days is the Finnish hunting knife. Not a gangster Finnish knife, sometimes of a bizarre shape, but a Finnish-type hunting knife, on the left in the figure. Traditional hunting knives (center and left) are similar in shape, but the difference between them is very large.

Finnish knife and classic hunting knives

The blade of a Finnish knife is forged from cast iron, which can be smelted right in your yard from swamp ore in a furnace-furnace, without resorting to the blast furnace process, puddling, and other methods of converting cast iron into iron and steel. The viscosity of crinkly iron is excellent; it is very difficult to break a blade made from it. But the hardness is also low, somewhere around HRS55, the knife becomes dull quite quickly. Finnish hunters did not care about this: a blade of such hardness can be sharpened (sharpened) by beating on many natural stones, and there were always enough smoothed moraine boulders in Fennoscandia.

They sharpen a knife by beating it in much the same way as beating a scythe, only the whetstone is motionless and the blade is moved. First, they pull it along the whetstone with the butt away from you, then they turn it over and pull it with the butt towards you. The position of the cutting edge (CR) on the whetstone is always dragging; quick movements: shirk-shirk! During each movement, you need to keep the contact patch of the blade with the touchstone (see below), but the requirements for maintaining the angle of inclination are not so strict. Learning to sharpen a knife by beating is not very difficult, and with some skill you can create a smoothly running profile on the blade, see below. However, the Finnish knife is, in general, a dead end in the evolution of a cutting tool, surviving in special natural conditions.

A good knife has never been cheap, and in extreme situations, the durability of the blade, combined with the toughness of the blade, became vital factors. Therefore, even in ancient times, they learned to harden knife blades from the surface and cement them: the core remained viscous, not brittle, and a hard, red-hot crust formed on the outside, see next. rice.:

Structure of a knife blade with surface hardening and carburization

It is still possible to sharpen a knife with a cemented blade, but you need a skill that is not given to everyone. And the abrasive is already needed from a special type of stone - lithographic grunstein slate. There is little of it in nature; Grünstein is still considered a strategic raw material. There is no artificial grenstein and it is not expected. It’s as easy as shelling pears to ruin a cemented knife with inept beating - a little somewhere the cementation bark will be stripped down to raw metal (this is not visible to the eye), the knife will only have to be thrown away, the blade will immediately become dull and begin to crumble.

Note: if you have an antique scythe whetstone of a slightly greenish color lying around somewhere, do not throw it away, it is a valuable rarity.

Service knives do not require the same durability and toughness as hunting and hiking knives, and they should cost much less. As a result, special steels and powder metallurgy are widely used in the production of utility knives. The blade of an “eternal” kitchen knife is structured like a rodent’s incisor: in longitudinal layers, the hardness of which decreases from the core outward. In any case, you have to sharpen the knife less often, but chipping is definitely ruled out - the blade immediately becomes discolored.

Types of knives

Knives are divided into types depending on their purpose, size, shape and length of the blade. There are:

• Combat . Such products are not available for free sale. They are manufactured at enterprises with a special license and are intended for arming law enforcement units.
• Tourist . These are lightweight, practical, easy-to-clean products with handles predominantly made of synthetic materials and fixed blades with a not very sharp tip angle (for opening cans). As a rule, the blades of such knives are made from durable steels, which, if necessary, can be easily sharpened in field conditions.
• Hunting . The products are wear-resistant and retain their sharpness for a long time. They are often fixed ones with a wooden handle. Can be equipped with hooks for skinning.
• Folding . This group is extremely diverse and can include both monofunctional products (“butterfly”) and models with a large number of additional functions (can opener, screwdriver, scissors, etc.). The second option is called a multitool.

• Special . This group is represented by knives that are used to perform specific operations: scalpel knives, gardening knives, diving knives, for emergency workers.
• Bivvy . These are fixed blades, comparable in functionality to a machete. With their help, you can cut branches, pave a road through a thicket, etc.
• Sports . The main representatives of the group are throwing knives. They do not have a cutting edge or a handle.
• Kitchen . The most numerous category with a huge number of modifications: for cutting bread, cheese, meat, cutting, etc.
• Canteens . Designed for table setting.
• For survival . High-quality products that are a variation of multitools. In contrast, they may contain not only tools, but also components such as a compass, lighter, etc.

Types and main sizes of knives according to GOST R 51015-97

The same standard regulates the parameters of sections that blades can have in the transverse direction. In total, three options are allowed for household knives:

Sharpening can be either one-sided or two-sided, and its angle can be 30-50 degrees. A section of the blade of at least 20 mm adjacent to the handle must be dulled.

Touchstone

A homemade knife sharpener will be much more convenient and accurate if you do not buy a whetstone for it, but make it from a piece of square corrugated pipe 200-300 mm long (on the left in the figure below) or a wooden block.

Homemade whetstones for knife sharpeners

The edges of the base are covered with sandpaper, respectively. numbers. Glue – stationery adhesive stick. The advantages of a skin-based donkey are obvious:

• Much cheaper than an emery block.
• Can be made with 4 numbers of abrasive, while sanding blocks have a maximum of 2 sides.
• Wear (depletion) of the abrasive is possible no more than the thickness of the abrasive layer of the sandpaper; the waviness of the RK due to the rotation of the whetstone on the sharpener rod (see below) is also no more than this amount.
• As a result, the sharpening angle error due to the development and rotation of the whetstone does not exceed fractions of a degree.
• The chip from the pipe can be put on a threaded rod (in the center in the figure), which makes changing the abrasive faster and easier.
• A touchstone made from a pipe or a wooden block is held in any clamps under an emery block no worse than the last one, on the right in Fig.

Steel grades for knife production

For each type of knife, steel with certain properties is selected. For example, the state standard prescribes the use of alloys with a hardness of 48-57 HRC for the manufacture of kitchen appliances, but for hunting knives this indicator is not enough.

Along with a certain level of hardness, metals for the manufacture of household knives must meet a number of other indicators:

• the ability of the cutting edge to maintain hardness for a certain time (it differs depending on the purpose of the knife);
• resistance to corrosion, including that caused by household liquids;
• elasticity;
• hardness level that allows sharpening at home;
• balance between blade and handle.

In practice, it is quite difficult to obtain the entire range of these characteristics using only one grade of steel, so enterprises often use multilayer “packages” of several alloys to produce workpieces. However, for the production of knives in the budget and mid-price categories, steel grades such as, for example, CPM S30V and 154 CM, as well as their domestic analogues D2 and AUS 8, are quite suitable.

In the modern knife industry, many grades of steel are widely used, each of which has unique properties:

• 40X13 (420) – material for the manufacture of domestic kitchen knives in the budget segment. It is characterized by high corrosion resistance, unpretentiousness to operating conditions and ease of sharpening. Otherwise, this alloy is called surgical or medical steel.
• 65X13 (425mod) is one of the most common materials for the manufacture of consumer knife products in the Russian Federation. It is versatile and does not rust.
• 95Х18 (440С) is a strong, flexible and hard steel, very capricious in hardening and processing. Sharpening requires certain conditions, but the blade remains sharp for a long time. Has a certain sensitivity to moisture and salt.
• 65G – spring-spring steel, prone to rust. Most often used for the production of throwing knives.
• 420 is another representative of the budget segment with high corrosion resistance. The final properties of products largely depend on the quality of hardening and processing.
• 8Cr13MoV is a Chinese-made material with significant inclusions of carbon, chromium, vanadium and molybdenum. Knives sharpen easily and stay sharp for a long time, as evidenced by the Byrd line of products from Spyderco.
• 8Cr14MoV - steel, in many ways similar to the previous one, while possessing higher resistance to corrosion due to the increased chromium content.
• 420J2 is a Japanese-made steel widely known in the world. Due to its ease of processing, availability and excellent properties, a large number of companies use it as a base material for blades and as a lining for harder metals.
• 420HC is the ideal high carbon alloy for mass production of knives. Low cost, ease of processing, satisfactory strength and corrosion resistance - these are the main advantages of the material. In addition, knives made from it are easy to sharpen.
• 12C27 is a high-quality Swedish-made stainless steel that contains practically no impurities. Can be used to make knives for various purposes.
• 3Cr13 is another Chinese material, essentially one of the modifications of 440A, which after hardening received a hardness of about 57 HRC. Steel is used for mass production of knives in the mid-price segment.
• 440 (A - B - C) - in these steels, depending on the marking, the carbon content increases - from 0.75% for A to 1.2% for C. All steels are resistant to corrosion and have excellent load resistance.
• AUS-4 is another “Japanese”, not very well known in the Russian Federation. Its properties are similar to 420J2 steel, but it contains less carbon, so although it can be processed well, it does not hold sharpening for long.
• AUS-6 (-8, -10) – “stainless steel” from Japan with high wear resistance due to the high vanadium content. The characteristics are similar to grade 440A and contain from 6.65% (AUS-6) to 1.1% (AUS-10) carbon.
• ATS-34 (Japan) and 154CM (USA) are high-tech steels with excellent rigidity and hardness characteristics, slightly less resistant to corrosion than materials in the 440 series. Due to their high cost, they are used for the production of knives of the corresponding class.
• H-1 is a grade with excellent cutting properties, the ability to hold an edge for a long time and high resistance to corrosion, including in salt water, known from Spyderco products. Due to its high cost and difficulty in processing, it is used primarily for the production of professional sailor knives.
• 3G is a composite powder material made in Sweden. It belongs to the latest generation of steels and is considered one of the highest quality in the corresponding group.
• S30V (CPM S30V) is a martensitic powder “stainless steel” obtained by Dick Barber during development for the Chris Reeve company. The composition contains vanadium carbides, which provide the material with high strength and grain perfection. Excellent qualities have led to the use of this steel by many well-known knife manufacturers.
• D-2 is a semi-stainless steel, which, however, has increased corrosion resistance compared to carbon analogues. Thanks to their high strength, the knives retain their cutting edge for a long time.
• ZPD-189 is high-quality powder steel from Japanese manufacturers. The material is superior in hardness to any analogues, while possessing strength and good impact toughness. The high cost has led to the use of metal for the manufacture of premium knives.
• ШХ15, Х12МФ, D2 - despite being susceptible to corrosion, blades from these brands are resistant to wear, excellent cutting properties, elasticity and strength.
• Damascus and damask steel are the best materials for making high-quality knives. They require serious processing and are expensive.

Having decided on the composition of the metal for the production of knives of one type or another, it is necessary to establish wholesale supplies of raw materials. It is advisable if the supplier is the metallurgical enterprise closest to the production.

Machines for the knifemaker's workshop

You don't have to be a slave to the machine to appreciate the benefits of saving money and time through increased productivity when using metalworking machines to make knives. Manufacturers understand that having the right tools will ultimately save time, and a well-equipped workshop is another step towards achieving maximum efficiency.

A means of achieving such efficiency can be a Burr King 960-272 grinding machine equipped with a 1.5 hp electric motor. and speed controller. It has a manufacturer's suggested price of $3,036.

Burr King spokesman James Cryer says when you purchase a machine, if you mention what you read about it in BLADE's Complete Knife Making Guide, you will receive your choice of free 944 Vertical Table or Small Diameter Roller, saving $550.

“We will also include a $105 starter kit of 3M tapes,” he adds.

Cryer says the massive all-aluminum structure provides structural support and helps dampen vibrations. A belt sander will come in handy when grinding flat blades and blades with concave bevels, as well as for contouring and free-belt sanding using vertical or horizontal tables. Serrated wheels increase yield.

The drive of the grinding machine is the front roller. “It improves power transfer because most of the horsepower is required at the processing site,” explains Cryer.

The drive from the front roller allows you to remove the contact roller and use the unit as a lathe and polisher.

Just imagine what you can achieve by converting your machine into a polishing unit or installing a Scotch-Brite sanding wheel.

Andrew Grevstad of Tormach LLC notes that the main advantages of the PCNC 1100 Series 3 Personal CNC Machine are its low price and versatility. “Tormach PCNCs are the next big thing in small, benchtop milling machines,” he says.

“Our new PCNC 1100 Series 3 cuts any material: high carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum, plastic, titanium or cast iron.

Cast iron construction and a 1,100-pound bed, sensorless vector spindle control, and a new multi-phase feed system ensure the machine's strength and machining power and accuracy.

Other advantages include a 4th axis, mechanically driven cleaning rod, automatic tool changer and much more,” adds Grevstad. MSRP: $8,450.

Options are extremely important

According to Grevstad, the PCNC machine can be equipped with a range of options and accessories that are compatible with all models, regardless of date of manufacture. “This way the machine can be used to do the work you are interested in and updated as your business expands,” he says.

While many manufacturers resort to using CNC machines for machining, others choose to forge steel. For such people, NC Tool Co. has released a special model of the Knifemaker Gas Forge, which, according to the company's advertising brochures, is intended “for knife makers who forge steel blades or Damascus.”

NC Tool spokesperson Sharon Bolton states, “Heating and reheating of metal occurs quickly with short recovery times, and all forge doors are insulated on both ends to facilitate feeding and removal of Damascus steel workpieces.”

There is one solid door and one 2" x 3" door with an exit hole. The firebox itself is 4.5 inches wide and 13.5 inches long.

The gas forge weighs 48 pounds and features high-performance burners (no blower required), push-button ignition, even heating, and a maximum temperature of 2,350°F. Suggested retail price is $553 plus shipping.

According to company spokesman Scott Sharp, the Tru-Grit Maximizer module allows you to synchronize the parameters of the grinding machine with other work sites.

“Perhaps the main innovation compared to previous models of our quality belt sanders is the ability to rotate the spindle along a vertical or horizontal axis, as well as rotate through 300 degrees, which provides access to all seven work sites.

Thus, you can configure and operate several sites simultaneously.

Replacing the drive roller simply requires repositioning the tension roller, which will keep the quick release belt tension the same, and can also be adjusted to suit specific requirements,” says Sharp.

The Maximizer features work platforms with 3-, 4- and 6-inch rollers, 8- and 12-inch tensioned or loose-tension belts, and an optional split-size roller seat ranging from 1/4 to 2 7/8 inches in diameter. All rollers are urethane coated.

The 6" drive roller can be replaced with 8" or 10" versions to increase belt speed. A 9-inch flat disc on the drive roll is available as an option, as well as polishing pad mandrels and soft abrasive wheels for deburring.

Suggested retail price: $3,499.

“This is a grinding machine with a horizontal/vertical spindle, which is equipped with everything necessary for making knives. Tilt of the work table allows for maximum material removal and reduction of areas of increased corrosion and belt wear. For angle grinding, traditional 45-degree mounts are available, as well as work tables in a variety of shapes.

There's nothing better than Bader

Reid Hawkins states that Hawkins Knife Making Supplies only makes Bader sanders.

“We mainly sell blade steel, drills, taps, reamers, tomahawk handles, knife making materials and automatic folder components.

Bader grinders are one of the most preferred types of grinders for knife making,” explains Hawkins.

“They are highly durable and suitable for everyday use,” he emphasizes. Our machines are equipped with an electric motor with a power of 1.5-2 hp. and are available with or without speed control.

The accessory list for each model contains everything you need to make the knives, and most require only an Allen wrench to replace them. Our prices are competitive and the machines are supplied fully assembled.”

Suggested retail prices range from $1,645 to $2,600.

Tracy Mickley of Midwest Knifemakers Supply states, “For a budget-friendly option, we suggest knifemakers build their own sander with a 2x72-inch belt.

The cost of manufacturing at home is often 2/3 less than the purchase of a similar unit. The resulting machines will not be inferior to serial models in terms of power, safety or quality.

The Internet is full of photos and drawings of homemade grinding machines, but most of them require welding or metalworking.”

This is where Midwest Knifemakers Supply comes to the rescue. Mikli develops, designs and sells designs for grinding machines that do not require welding. The drawings are priced at $25 and include over 50 pages of drawings and installation instructions.

He states, “More than 5,000 sets of drawings have been sold to date, and hundreds of drawings of weldless grinding machines can be found online and are provided for reference.

They are distinguished by the fact that their construction uses ordinary metal pipes and does not require welding or machining for assembly. Assembly requires a drill, a hacksaw and some hand tools.

I included a list of parts suppliers in the drawing kit, but I also sell everything from simple metal pipes to complete bolt-on kits.”

“There is also a “complete kit” on sale for $1,207, which includes all components except the motor. If you buy all the parts separately, it will cost $150 more,” he sums up. “Add an electric motor for $200 and you can get a sander with all the features of a machine for $2,000 or more.”

Jantz Supply sells a full range of machinery, including polishers, grinders, sandblasters and hollow surface sanders, but most of their customers make knives with little or no power equipment, according to company spokesman Terry Lynn. For such enthusiasts, the company offers two new, most popular and affordable products in the line of knife making equipment - the Knifemaker's Centering Scribe and the Hardened File Guide, both made in the USA.

Marks even the hardest steel

Knifemaker's Centering Scribe is used to mark center lines for sanding blades. Accuracy can be adjusted from 0 to 1 inch in 1/64 inch increments, and Lynn says the carbide tip will be able to mark even the hardest blade steel. Fine Adjustment SRP: $39.95.

Lynn states, “The Hardened File Guide is used to hold the knife blade, allowing the knifemaker to accurately file crosshairs, reach corners when hand-cutting blades, and perform other complex file work. Essentially, the file guide is a budget cutter that allows you to make the precise file cuts needed to finish many folders and crosshairs.”

The file guides are made and ground from A2 tool steel and hardened to 62 HRC Rockwell and are 3.25 inches long with a maximum blade width of 2.25 inches. Each grip measures 318 x 314 inches. Suggested retail price: $49.95.

Paragon Industries introduces the Xpress-KM knife making oven, equipped with Sentry Xpress three-button digital controllers.

The operating temperature limit for the new KM and Xpress-KM oven models is now 2350°F.

“We've raised the limit to allow cutlers to heat treat the newest grades of steel,” says Paragon's Arnold Howard.

“”The Xpress-KM and KM models feature a digital controller.

The 12-button Sentry has more features than the budget three-button Sentry Xpress, but the Sentry Xpress can store up to 4 programs, each with up to eight segments.

The Xpress-KM-14 knife making oven has a lower price due to the fact that it is equipped with a three-button controller,” he admits.

Paragon offers a choice of four models with a three-button Sentry Xpress controller: KM-14, KM-18, KM-24 and KM-36, the numbers in the model name indicate the length of the oven box, expressed in inches.

On every oven, the door opens downwards and a counterweighted handle holds the door closed. The safety switch turns off the heating elements when the door is opened, but the controller continues to operate.

Suggested retail prices range from $1,075 to $1,575.

Howard notes that the heating element is housed in recessed, brick recesses that protect it and reduce required maintenance; The thermocouple that measures the temperature in the furnace is closed with a high-nickel steel tube, which ensures accurate measurement and long service life. All ovens include a 16-page Sentry Xpress Controller Operator's Manual, Quick Start Programming Card, and Heat Treatment Manual with technical specifications for D2, 440C, ATS-34, and 154CM blade steels.

“We try to provide the craftsmen with everything they need,” says Howard. – They need a budget oven model, we offer the Sentry Xpress controller. It is manufactured by Orton, which means accuracy and reliability are guaranteed.”

“Knifemakers love to learn new skills, and we are happy to help them with this,” he adds. The typical Paragon client is a knife maker, something of a perfectionist, who likes to experiment with heat treatments.

He is fascinated by the intricacies of working with steel and loves to talk about it. For a knifemaker, heat treatment is an important stage in creating knives. He enjoys it because for him it is another science to master.”

Announcement picture: Array

September 19, 2012

Source: https://customknife.ru/articles/modern-knifemaking/

Materials for making the handle

According to the method of fastening the handles of knives, they are divided into:

• Invoices . The handle is assembled from two parts, fastened with rivets. Most often, this fastening method is used for products with a wide shank, the shape of which often determines the contours of the handle. In addition, in this case it is easy to balance a massive or long blade.
• Horsemen . The method is used for knives with a narrow shank. A solid handle is lighter and stronger than a riveted handle, so the knives can be used for labor-intensive operations.
• Solid cast . In this case, the handle is integral with the blade.

The following materials are most often used to make handles today:

• Hardwood with high viscosity (birch, maple, walnut) is not lower than second grade with a moisture content not exceeding 12%.
• Polypropylene, for example, grades 04P-01010, 05P-01020.
• Impact-resistant polystyrene grades UPM 0503, UPM 0508.

Handles can also be made from other materials, for example, various metal alloys, supplemented with various decorative elements, covered with leather, etc.

For the manufacture of washers, rivets and other fittings, it is allowed to use steel grades 12Х17, 12Х18Н9Э, copper-zinc alloys L63., L68, LS59-1, aluminum alloys AD, AD0 or their analogues.

At the initial stage of activity, it is possible to arrange supplies of ready-made handles, but in the future it is advisable to establish your own production.

What will be required for implementation?

First of all, you need to decide on the type of knives that will be manufactured at the enterprises. For example, it makes no sense to master the technology for producing collectible knives at the initial stage of business development, since it will take a long time to find buyers for such products. But kitchen knives and hunting cleavers will find use among consumers and will be purchased.

Next, you need to find premises for a workshop and sign a lease agreement. Then you can start purchasing equipment. For production you will need:

• grinder with discs;
• drill or screwdriver;
• grinder;
• engraver with different attachments;
• grinder (grinding machine);
• electric jigsaw;
• band-saw.

As for the raw materials, for example, to make traditional kitchen knives, you need steel with a hardness of 48-50 HRC. If hunting is done, then this indicator should be higher. During operation, the knife should not lose its original shape, should not rust from detergents or other household products, should be well sharpened, etc. The strongest and most frequently used steel grades are CPM, S30V, 154 CM.

As for handles, you can buy a special line for their production or order ready-made handles from other manufacturers. When starting a business, it is more profitable to purchase ready-made equipment. And the technology for independent production of handles can be mastered a little later, when the company begins to achieve self-sufficiency and make a profit.

Knife production technology + Video on how to make them

The method of producing knives is determined by the type of product. Products can be manufactured using both stamping and forging technology. The fundamental difference between these methods is that in the first case, the workpieces are cut out using a stamping machine or using waterjet cutting from sheet steel of a certain grade, and then subjected to hardening, grinding and other types of processing. Forging technology makes it possible to make blades using several grades of steel, which are packaged, alloyed and forged into a finished product.

Schematically, the technology for manufacturing knives using the stamping method is as follows:

1. Reception and quality control of raw materials.
2. Cutting (stamping) blanks for blades.
3. Metalworking, which involves making technological holes and other functional elements.
4. Hardening clients in order to impart additional strength and other useful qualities.
5. Grinding and preliminary turning of workpieces.
6. Blade polishing.
7. Installation of handles.
8. Blade sharpening.
9. Preservation of knives.
10. Quality control of finished products.
11. Packing in cardboard boxes, individual containers or sets.

All operations are performed in accordance with the requirements of GOST R 51015-97 “Household and special knives. General technical conditions".

Kitchen:

Locking blade machines

Knife sharpening machines with locking blades will attract the attention of those people who want to sharpen a knife not only efficiently, but also quickly. The design, which rigidly fixes the knife blade relative to the sharpening stone moving at a set angle, allows you to accurately set the angle of inclination.

To create such a homemade machine with your own hands you will need:

1. The base is a rectangular wooden plate with dimensions 440*92 mm and a thickness of 18 mm.
2. Wooden die 92*45*45 mm (for fixing the vertical threaded rod).
3. A wooden block 245*92 mm and 18 mm thick (the plate to which the knife will be attached).
4. Iron plate 200*65 mm and metal thickness 4 mm.
5. Piano hinge, 92 mm long.
6. M8 hairpin 325 mm long.
7. Nuts and bolts with M8 thread.
8. Drill 6.5 mm.
9. M8 tap.
10. Self-tapping screws 50 mm, 4 pcs.

The die intended for fixing the vertical threaded rod must be drilled through with a 6.5 mm drill. The hole should be located at a distance of 15 mm from the edge of the die, approximately in the center.

Layout of the hole in a wooden die

Next, in the resulting hole you need to cut a thread for an M8 stud. The wooden block prepared in this way must be screwed to the base at a distance of 265 mm from the edge using ordinary self-tapping screws 50 mm long, screwed into the back of the base.

After the block and the base are securely fastened, you need to insert an M8 pin into the hole in the block. The pin should run across the entire cross-section of the beam and the base; thus the risk of changing its position is minimized. The pin at the base of the block must be firmly fixed with an M8 nut, slightly recessed when twisting it into the wood of the block.

The second part of the work involves assembling a clamping device to fix the position of the knife. To do this, a piano loop is attached to a block of wood 245*92 mm with three self-tapping screws from the end of the wooden plate, with the help of which it will be attached to the base of the device.

Attaching the fixing bar to the base using a piano loop

After securing the wooden part of the holding device, you can begin to attach the iron plate. In the center of the 200*65 mm plate, you need to drill an oblong groove, 90 mm long and about 1 cm wide. The groove should be located from the edge of the clamping plate at a distance of 60 mm. Additionally, you need to drill a hole at a distance of 20 mm from the opposite edge and cut a thread in it for an M8 bolt. Then you need to attach the clamping plate to the previously prepared wooden base using this bolt. Using another bolt and a suitable washer, you need to fix the clamping plate in the center of the cut groove. The fixation should be clear, but at the same time neat, so as not to damage the surface of the blade.

Attaching the Iron Clamp Plate

The most difficult part of assembling this device is preparing the control device that will set the sharpening angle of the knife. For this you will need:

• metal square profile 40×40 mm;
• furniture bracket, 40 mm wide;
• a pair of rivets;
• a piece of plywood 42×25 and 18 mm thick;
• bolt and nut M5;
• a pair of M8 wing nuts;
• whetstone;
• steel bar with a diameter of 0.8 cm and a length of 40 cm.

It is necessary to drill a couple of holes on a piece of plywood: a through hole with a diameter of 8 mm along a cross-section of 42×18 mm (the distance from the edge on the 42 mm side should be set at 15 mm) and a through hole with a diameter of 5 mm along the side with a cross-section of 42×25 mm (the distance from edges 10 mm). The square pipe should be cut in half so that you get a “U”-shaped bracket with a width of 40 * 15 mm and ears of 20 mm. You need to drill 8 mm holes in the ears, into which an M8 pin will later be inserted. Connect the resulting bracket to a furniture hinge using rivets. Using the second part of the furniture bracket, attach a block of plywood to the resulting structure with an M5 bolt.

Location on the spoke of the guide mechanism

Connect the touchstone to a guide rod, which is a steel rod with a cross-section of 8 mm. When connecting the keystone and the guide rod, you should strictly ensure that their center lines coincide. If desired, for ease of use of the sharpener, a handle-holder can be attached to the whetstone on the reverse side. All that remains is to secure the whetstone in the guide mechanism, secure it with a thumb and the homemade device for sharpening knives is ready.

Sharpener assembly

Equipment for the production of knives

The equipment for knife production depends on its scale. For full-fledged production, a significant territory will be required where the following workshops will be located:

• Workshop for cutting blanks. They can be produced by stamping, waterjet cutting, electrical discharge machining or laser cutting. Each of these technologies will require appropriate machine tools. It is advisable to have several technologies at your disposal. For example, to produce the dies and punches used in a stamping machine, you will need a wire drawing machine, which can also be used for cutting blades of folding knives, making tooling and high-precision prototypes. Laser cutting technology is considered the most advanced today.
• Heat treatment workshop. This is where the blades are hardened. For this purpose, an installation can be used, including pre- and main heating furnaces, as well as a heat-resistant conveyor.
• Blacksmith shop. The main equipment is a forge and a mechanical forging hammer. It will be required if the company uses forging technology for producing knives.
• Workshop for finishing blades (satinizing).
• Vibration polishing workshop. It is an installation with several bowls filled with ceramic elements of various diameters. Gradually moving from bowl to bowl, the blades acquire the necessary shine.
• Art area. Here sketches of the future product are created and, if necessary, drawings are applied followed by etching.
• Assembly shop. Here the blade is sharpened and mounted into the handle - manually or using special installations.
• A woodworking area where wood handles are made.
• Workshop for the production of plastic handles.
• Workshop for applying markings using a laser printer.
• Packing shop.
• Technical control area.

As you can see, equipment for the production of knives is a complex set of high-tech units, the exact composition of which is determined by the types of products produced and the selected technology. On most modern lines there is a maximum level of automation, where manual labor is used mainly for feeding workpieces and final quality control. However, there are other options when, for example, sharpening and packaging are carried out manually. An entrepreneur needs to assess his capabilities and clearly define the technological cycle, and on this basis begin to select a supplier of units.

Machines with fixed sharpening surfaces

Machines with fixed sharpened surfaces are a simple modification of the device for processing household knives. In such a device there is no possibility of adjusting the sharpening angle, but you can pre-set several different angles for sharpening different types of knives. The work of sharpening blades using such machines is not difficult; you just need to move the blade along the abrasive surfaces in the recess.

The device consists of a pair of planes inclined to each other at a certain angle, one of which is a grindstone.

Starting a business

As with any production, an entrepreneur must register his activity. The optimal organizational and legal form will be either LLC. The OKVED code is selected depending on the specifics of the activity. For example, for the manufacture of kitchen knives this is 28.6 “Manufacture of cutlery and cutlery”. To produce bladed weapons, you will need to obtain a license. This is fraught with a whole series of difficulties, so a novice entrepreneur should focus on products used in everyday life.

To accommodate large-scale equipment, you will need a room of significant area - from several hundred square meters with the supply of all communications. In addition, the production of knives is accompanied by a high noise level, so the site must be located in an industrial zone or outside the city limits.

The size of an enterprise's staff depends on its scale. But in any case, it is difficult to organize a full-fledged production with less than 20 employees. Special attention should be paid to finding a professional artist who will develop sketches, a blacksmith and a technologist. The quality of the finished product will directly depend on these specialists.

Making sharpening stones

It will not be difficult for a modern craftsman to make sharpening stones with his own hands. For this you will need:

• a wooden die to the size of the future sharpener;
• epoxy resin;
• cardboard boxes according to the size of the block;
• abrasive;
• protective rubber gloves.

You can use ready-made powder as an abrasive, or you can prepare your own abrasive, for example, from an old Soviet-made green block. Such a block can be ground into powder and used in the future as an abrasive.

Knife sharpening device

The wooden die needs to be treated on one side with sandpaper and frequent cuts must be made with a saw. Mix epoxy resin with abrasive chips. Having previously placed the block in a cardboard box glued to the size of the block, cover the prepared surface of the wooden block with a mixture of epoxy resin and abrasive. Once the resin has completely cured, the block is ready for use.

Another option for making your own sharpening stones is to create a sharpening stone from small rectangular glass plates about 5 mm thick. Using double-sided adhesive tape, sandpaper is glued to the surface of the glass plate. The sharpening stone is ready for use.

It is important for an entrepreneur to understand who will become the final consumer of the goods: housewives, professional chefs, fans of tourism, hunting or fishing. Perhaps the company will be able to simultaneously satisfy the needs of several categories of customers.

An online store will be a good way to demonstrate knives to a wide range of potential customers and a source of direct sales. Provided proper promotion, it is thus possible to attract not only retail buyers, but also large companies that need to supply large quantities of goods.

It would also be useful to post information about the new production on thematic forms and in communities dedicated to cooking, fishing, tourism and others where knives can be discussed.

Also, methods of product promotion, assortment and other nuances related to the production of knives can be “seen” from existing manufacturers, a large list of which is available, for example, on the website sirin-knife.com.

You also need to remember that the best advertising is the high consumer properties of the product. Accordingly, you should focus on quality and try to ensure that every customer is satisfied with the purchase.

Sales of finished products and advertising

When starting a knife manufacturing enterprise, you should know in advance for which consumer the product is intended. If these are kitchen appliances, then the buyers will mainly be housewives and professional chefs. In the case of a hunting knife, this could be all men.

An online store is perfect for selling and attracting customers. Its service is inexpensive and requires minimal staff to ship and process orders. Advertising can also be organized on the Internet. Particular attention should be paid to various thematic communities and forums.

Model selection and drawing production

When the necessary set of tools is available, you can begin work. First of all, you need to decide what purpose the product will have. The shape of the blade, design, and raw materials depend on this factor.

The following types are recognized as the most popular:

1. For hunting. This type of tool is most often made at home. Extremely high demands are placed on these knives. They are designed for cutting prey, so the blade must be as durable as possible and not dull for a long time. In addition, the high viscosity of the metal is of particular importance, due to which the blade will not be damaged by the bone. Replacing a knife while hunting is impossible, therefore increased wear resistance of the item is required.
2. For tourism. A great option for travel fans. A homemade camping knife is used for cutting branches, wood chips and solving other problems that may arise on a hike. Due to the possibility of sharpening the tool, high strength of the cutting edge is required.
3. For survival. This is one of the subtypes of tourism products. They are equipped with a variety of devices that will allow you to survive the difficulties of a tourist outing. These tools should contain the largest number of additional properties.
4. Combat. These products are designed to defeat the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. In addition to the main task, these tools are often used for digging, cutting wire and other things. These knives require maximum strength and lightness.

Next, you need to make a life-size sketch of the product on paper. You should draw the shape of the blade and handle. The presence of decor, caps and other features also needs to be displayed on paper. If you lack the experience and skills of an artist, you can use ready-made drawings from Internet resources.

The drawing will allow you to think through all the features of the product and the correct location. Based on the diagram, you can make a cardboard template and check how comfortable the item will lie in your hand, and then make changes if necessary.

For hunting

Tourist

For survival

Combat

Materials and tools used

Before you make a knife, you will need to create a project. The basis of the cutting object is the blade. It can be made using several methods and choose different shapes. Therefore, when working on the handle, it is necessary to think about the appearance of the blade. The best solution would be to create a drawing that takes into account the features of the future tool.

The easiest way to make a knife with your own hands is to make all-steel and all-iron tools. The welded blade can be steel or iron. Do-it-yourself knives at home are most often made from old files, shock-absorbing springs, and steel strips. This is the easiest way to make knives with your own hands, which requires only mechanical processing.

Homemade holders are made from:

• plastic;
• wood;
• birch bark;
• skin;
• various artificial materials.

The handle should not only be beautiful, but also comfortable to use. The type of knife determines the condition of its use. Therefore, raw materials must be selected that will allow the product to withstand loads during operation.

For making a blade by hand, damask steel and damask are considered the best options. However, these materials are expensive and require professional blacksmithing skills.

To make a knife yourself, you will need a basic set of tools, which are not always available at home.

To perform the hand forging method you need:

• coal;
• bake;
• forging hammers (large, small);
• blacksmith's tongs;
• pliers;
• file;
• sandpaper;
• adjustable wrench;
• grinding machine;
• grinder drill;
• anvil.

Plastic

Birch bark

Tree

Leather