Blacksmithing
and Cutlery
by Gérard HEUTTE Home
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Glossary of cutlery and blacksmithing
This glossary presents the principal narrower terms to the world of the cutlery and the forging mill.
> Annealing: Heat treatment intended to soften steel to work (drilling, abrasion) and/or to remove the internal stresses following lacksmithing. Details...
> Backstand: Abrasive machine made up of several pulleys supporting an abrasive tape travelling at high speed. Very much used in cutlery to carry out grinding quickly.
> Blacksmithing: Method of working of a part by hot deformation. Classically, this operation is carried out with a hammer and an anvil.
> Bolster: Metal Part located at the beginning of the handle (close to the ricasso) intended to reinforce the knife at the blade/handle junction. Example...
> Brasque: Mortar made up of fireclay, silica and charcoal powders.
> Calamine: Sleep of iron oxide formed on the surface of the parts at the time of a heating. Calamine presents the aspect of black plates, being detached at the time of hot work on the anvil. On a cold part, calamine (very hard) tends to damage the files quickly.
> Case hardening: Hardening partialy a blade. The back of the blade is not hardened, thus preserving high strength. Only the edge is hardened. Details... > Clinker: Residue of combustion being created in the fire hearths supplied with the forge coal. It is appeared as a spongy agglomerate. There does not exist in fires with the charcoal.
> Damas: Term usually used to indicate a composite steel. Two (or more) nuances of steels are welded in the form of sheets or of wire. One should rather speak aboutlaminated steel with damascus reading... The Damas is appreciated for its aesthetic and mechanical qualities.
> Decarburization: Phenomenon of carbon loss on the surface of the heated parts.
> File work: Decorations carried out on the back of the blade with files. Details...
> Fire loss: Phenomenon of progressive matter loss due to successive heatings then calamine formation.
> Friction: The folding knives called friction are folding knives without spring. The blade holds in position by the friction of the blade in the slot of the handle. Safety and solidity are sometimes ensured by simple devices like knife with two pins, Piedmontese). Example of Piedmontese and two pins knive...
> Full Tang: Technique of assembly for a straight knife. The blade has the exact profile of the knife, including the handle (i.e. the tang). This part is sandwiched between two slabs constituting the handle. These slabs are fixed by glue and/or of rivets (or pins or dowels) crossing the slabs and the tang. Example...
> Grain: At the macroscopic level, steel is not homogeneous but consists of grains. A fine grain gives more strong blades.
> Grinding: Operation of grinding leading to the realization of the edge. They are several kinds of grinding, named according to the transverse profile of the blade.
(A) Chisel grinding
(B) Partial flat grinding
(C) Total flat grinding
(D) Hollow or concave grinding
(E) Convex grindingx
> Hardening: Heat treatment consisting in brutally cool the steel heated at the "red" (in water or oil) to harden it. Details...
> Heat treatments: In metallurgy, this term indicates an operation consisting in heating steel then to cool it. The two major factors are (1) the temperatures reached (2) the temporal aspect (i.e. stage duration and/or heating or cooling speed). The principal HT are annealing, normalization, hardening and tempering. Details...
> Hidden tang: Technique of assembly of a straight knife. The blade ends in a "tail" which will be inserted in material constituting the handle. This tang can be short and (totally) hidden in the handle or emerge from the end of the handle (it then will be caulked or bolted). Details...
> Horn: "pointed" part of an anvil, round or square section.
> Hot Cutter: Tool used to cut (in general hot) metal.
> HRC: Measurement unit of hardness on the scale Rockwell C. It is the acronym of Hardness Rockwell C.
> Liner: On a folding knife, liners are metal sheetings located on each side of the slot for the blade. The slabs are fixed on them.
> Normalization: Heat treatment carried out after blacksmithing to refine the grain of steel. It is advisable to make several successive normalizations to reach a good result. Details...
> Ricasso: Plate and nonsharp part of a blade, located between the handle and the beginning of the edge.
> Pivot: Technical name of the axis which allows the rotation of the blade on the folding knifes. The pivot can be made by a special screw or a simple nail caulked at the two ends.
> Rockwell hardness: Measure hardness of materials. In practice a blade must be located between 55 HRC and 64 HRC (respectively very tender and very hard). The majority of the current blades, easy to sharpen and cutting correctly are about of 58 or 59 HRC.
> Slab: Small board of wood (or horn, or other), generally used by pair to carry out the handles of the knives in full-tang or the folding knives.
> Steel: Alloy of Iron & Carbon used tomake the blades.
> Stock removal: Method of working of a part by removing the matter. This operation is generally made with a saw and a backstand. Often, one starts from a flat part.
> Straight blade: Generic designation including all the not folding knives.
> Tempering: Heat treatment carried out after hardening to remove the resulting very strong internal stresses. Big increase of strenght, small loss of hardness. It is necessary to make two identical tempering, and let the part cool meanwhile. Details...
> Tuyere: Tube bringing the air to the level of the hearth of the forge. Air arrival can be by the bottom or the side of the earth.
> Wire edge: Small metal ribbon being detached from the edge at the time of sharpening.
> Wrist-strap: Thin strap fixed at the end of the handle to avoid losing the knife. Example...