Forged knives manufacturing mastery

Before forging, it is necessary to define the model and its technical specifications in order to be able to produce the forging dies (imprints of the future knife or cutlery piece) and the needed tools.

Coutellerie GOYON-CHAZEAU is not suitable for hosting a forge workshop, neither in terms of space nor in terms of manufacturing volume to absorb the machines and materials.
That’s why it works with 2 local and renowned partner forges company, : the Arno and Wichard forges.

Once the joint development work has been completed and the pre-series have been validated, the forge partner can start production.

He will first cut a coil of steel into segments.

These segments are then entirely heated in an oven at more than 1000° and, having become malleable, they are presented one by one to a power hammer.
The latter, equipped with the two dies of the future knife (or cutlery piece), will strike and crush the heated steel bar several times until it adjusts to the die shape: crushing the steel in certain places, giving thickness to others.

On some of our models, the segments receives an upset-forging step before passing through the die. This step c

onsists of forming a ball by hot pressing on steel segment in order to provide more thickness to the bolster or to the base of the handle, for example.

The forge initial section is then cut out and calibrated with a punch. This step will determine the shape of the blade in particular and will specify the handle outline.
If necessary, the silk is pierced in order to be able to attach a handle to it.

GOYON-CHAZEAU recovers its rough forged pieces to begin its work of master cutler.
It will now bring all its expertise and know-how to the various manufacturing stages.

1/ Knife heat treatment

Heat treatment is done through several stages of heating and cooling that give the steel the perfect structure so that it can acquire the hardness necessary for cutting while leaving the knifemaker enough flexibility to work with it.

First, the pieces are heated to a very high temperature (more than 1000°C) then quickly cooled.
This is called quenching.

At this stage, the hardness is such that there is a significant risk of breakage.

That’s why parts are heated again at a lower temperature (about 240°C) in order to restore flexibility to the steel by increasing the tenacity of the alloy, i.e. its ability to resist breakage.
This is called tempering.

The steel now has the desired hardness character, measured in Rockwell (HRC), and variable from one knife to another, from one use to another.

2/ Main knife manufacturing steps

Once the raw forge has been tempered, the cutler work begins.

Among the main manufacturing steps, the cutler will carry out the grinding of the blade, which consists of thinning the blade to create the edge of the knife, the grinding of the reste of the piece – erasing the “raw forge” appearance – then the polishing – to give it its final appearance – and the sharpenning and the honing to finalize the cutting edge.
All these steps are essential to guarantee a high-performance and everlasting cutting quality.

At the same time (and especially before the blade cuts too much!) the cutler works on the handle: preparation of the sides (handle material), adjustment, assembly, shaping to obtain the final shape and finish.

Forged in the best steels, GOYON-CHAZEAU knives actually go through 40 to nearly 100 manufacturing steps, mostly manual, to become a finished product.

Forged quality is characterized by a high robustness and sustainability, an excellent cutting performance and a very good balance in hand. At the same time, GOYON-CHAZEAU is also looking for for ergonomics, noble materials and careful manual finishing. This search for perfection allows the company to propose incomparable and unique knives and cutlery with high added value.

Hot forging principle in cutlery

Visually, a forged article presents volumes. A steel bar allows complex shapes with varied thicknesses.

Sensory, a forged knife or a forged cutlery piece is heavier and generally more balanced in hand.

Technically and mechanically:
The different steps of forging process bring to steel a homogenous molecular structure. This give strength and solidity.
As the steel is more homogeneous, the cutting edge offers a better and lasting cutting edge and is also easier to maintain.

“Forged” is an obvious characteristic of top-of-the-range knives and cutlery. “Forged steel”comes with “balance”, “efficiency” and “longevity”.

But, if forge allows to manufacture high-end cutlery, it is nothing without the finishing steps which let the cutler reveals its work and the forge values.