Blacksmithing
and Cutlery
by Gérard HEUTTE
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Glossary of cutlery and blacksmithing
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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...
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