What is the highest production difficulty in the world – geometric structure grinding

The opening chapter is my usual style: talk a lot of nonsense first. Some readers have reported that they like to read my text, especially the above nonsense. To live up to your expectations, I will continue to carry forward this style here. The above nonsense is the expression of my personal concept of playing with a knife, which has a strong subjective color. Just look, I have no intention of arguing, our hobby itself is diversified, right?

In my opinion, in the field of handmade knives, there are two types of masters who can reach the top:

The first category of masters: there is no one before, and many come later. Such masters have amazing influence and have promoted the development of the entire industry on their own. Such people are pioneers and pioneers, and their main contribution is to tell others: It turns out that this can still be done! It seems to be working out well! Then he attracted a large group of younger brothers to follow him. Their works have a very key feature: moderate threshold and difficulty. If the difficulty is too high, no one else can reach it, and the influence will be limited; if the difficulty is too low, everyone can do it, and the master’s own level will not be reflected. The status of this kind of master is reflected by the legacy he left and the size of his followers, typical representatives are loveless and moran.

The second category of masters: there is no one before, no one after. This kind of masters have almost no followers because the difficulty of making their works is too high considering the economic benefits. At most, they borrow some design ideas, and the difficulty of the final works is much lower. The key features of their works are: the cost of imitation is extremely high, and it can be considered almost impossible to reproduce under the premise of reasonable economic benefits. Veteran art knife players often sigh: the golden age has passed. The reason is that most of the current knife works are based on economic benefits. How to spend a little less man-hour to create well-received and well-received works has become the primary goal of many handmade knife makers. Therefore, in recent years, the tactical style has become popular, and time-saving and trouble-saving methods such as dolls, titanium horses, and sandblasting surface treatments are not uncommon. Under the influence of this kind of atmosphere, no one can calm down to produce those works that do not repeat the design, are difficult to grind, and take a lot of time. This is the root cause of the so-called golden generation of master works. A typical representative is the four art knives (Wolfgang, Jurgen, Michael Walker, Arpu).

Friends who are familiar with me know that I prefer the second type of masters. This is because what a senior in the circle said a few years ago deeply influenced me, to the effect that the handmade knives that are really worth collecting can only be copied by unskilled imitators in half a year or even a year. conclusions drawn from the perspective of the author. What is the core fun of collecting? I have what no one else has. It is extremely difficult for future generations to imitate those master works with high production thresholds. If they retain their uniqueness, they also have collection value.

So according to this statement, are the works of the first type of masters worthless? No. Take loveless’s antlers and big bear works as an example, you will find that although countless followers have imitated in shape, surpassed in workmanship, carved more gorgeously, and materials are more expensive, but they just lack a little charm. This charm may be reflected in the distance between the two hand guards, or in the color and texture of the antler patch, or in the gradient of the thickness of the handle. That’s right, even if 99% of the appearance can be imitated, the last 1% of the so-called Shen Yun becomes an insurmountable wall.

So in the final analysis, the value of collection still depends on scarcity, but the production threshold of the first type of masters does not seem to be high. It takes a little effort to distinguish the truly scarce originals from imitations, and players who cannot grasp the charm may think that the workmanship exquisite imitations are even better; the production threshold of the second type of master works is extremely high, the original and imitations are easy to distinguish, and the scarcity is naturally guaranteed. And I am lazy and unwilling to delve into the differences, so I prefer the second type of masters.

Closer to home, the proportion of “nonsense” in this article is estimated to be the highest on record. Next, let’s talk about the difficulty of making the works of Comrade Jurgen, a representative of the second category of masters. Excluding individual items, overall, the difficulty of Jurgen’s straight knives is almost the best in the world in the field of modern handmade knives. In addition to aesthetic considerations in the design of his works, the difficulty of production can be described as “self-abuse”. Let me explain the difficulties in a few points:

 

1. All straight knives are one-piece steel structure

One-piece steel straight knives have always been more difficult to manufacture than separate ones. Taking the big bear as an example, the custom-made price of Johnson’s one-piece big steel bear is twice as expensive as that of ordinary split big bears.

Why? First of all, the cutting volume of the integrated structure is much larger than that of the split structure. For a knife with an integrated structure, we assume that there is no waste. The volume of the initial steel material is equal to the product of the maximum value of the three dimensions of the finished product. The formula is:

If it is a split structure, the volume of the initial steel material should not be less than the sum of the products of the maximum values of the three dimensions of the split structure, expressed by the formula:

Is the formula abstract? It is easy to understand by drawing a picture. The blue is the raw steel material of the integral structure, and the red is the raw steel material of the split structure. The difference is obvious. Moreover, the drawing does not consider the thickness. The guard here is obviously thicker than the blade body, and the difference in cutting volume is even greater.

Please forgive my drawing skills

Secondly, it is much more difficult to grind integral steel. The split structures can be assembled after grinding with tools such as belt sander wool wheels. However, there is no way for the integrated structure, especially those parts with a small area, which can only be processed by hand a little bit.

The entire series of Jurgen straight knives are made of integrated steel structure, and some works have large differences in length, width, and height, so the difficulty can be imagined.

Although these two Jurgens are not the longest (ranked second), they are the largest in terms of volume, because the gauntlet is too long.

 

2. There are many grinding surfaces

First define what is a grinding surface: a flat or curved surface that is continuous on the steel knife body and is not divided by obvious boundaries. The more grinding surfaces, the more difficult it is. Because different grinding surfaces must be processed separately and cannot be completed at one time. For those who have a little understanding, it is not difficult to find that most of the hand-made knives have very few grinding surfaces, and there are only one or two grinding surfaces on each side of the main blade. For example, the most common ABS Bowie knife:

The main blade surface is bounded by the root cleaning position, and the front and rear can only be counted as two grinding surfaces. I don’t think the false blade part is counted.

If ABS belongs to the forging school, and grinding is not its strong point, then let’s look at the representative of the grinding school, the most high-end loveless knife type—Big Bear:

Here, there are three grinding surfaces on the main edge surface, including the ridge line and the clear root, and there are a total of three surface-to-surface junctions that need to be processed.

There are only three grinding surfaces on one side of the big bear. This is already the most difficult knife type. Other loveless knife shapes are not so complicated (the ridged design has three sides, but the big bear has two guards)

Let’s look at the several sides of those complicated grinding works, which are known as domestic self-designed straight knife works with top grinding difficulty—Zhengyi’s “bat”:

There are as many as six grinding surfaces on one side of the main blade of this bat! The knifesmith claims that it is a headache to deal with. Counting the front and back, both of which are too many, there are five places on one side! Zhengyi claims to be the first in the country in terms of grinding finish, and it is also claimed to be ranked first in the world (I have not touched it, so I can only use “title”, but the level of the person who can grind this knife is not bad), indeed. Not in vain.

So are there any works with higher difficulty and more grinding surfaces? Yes, naturally it is the turn of God Jurgen to play.

This is my favorite Jurgen creation, with eight grinding surfaces on one side, not counting the guard and handle.

There are 8 grinding surfaces on one side of the main blade surface (triangular grooves, 12 including the hand guard and 16 when including the handle! Some people may have questions here: Can the hand guard and the handle be counted? Hands are easy to say, for example, the big bear can also count as two hand guards, and the number of grinding surfaces is increased to 5. Many knife handles are made of natural handle materials, such as deer antler patches, which also require grinding work, are they considered grinding surfaces? The answer is obviously no. As mentioned above, the definition of the grinding surface should first be the surface of the steel blade, because the hardness and toughness of the steel are relatively high, and because the metal surface is very dense, the processing requirements are relatively high, and the grinding difficulty is actually higher than that including Natural materials and synthetic materials (mad dog handles and the like) are much larger, so the handle material cannot be counted on the grinding surface. However, Jurgen’s blade, hand guard, and handle are all one-piece steel, so the grinding surface must naturally be counted. .

 

3. The grinding tolerance of plane and straight line is extremely low

I didn’t quite understand this at first. Isn’t it easier to deal with straight lines and planes? There doesn’t seem to be as much variation as curves and surfaces. But after careful study, it is found that without the assistance of CNC, the grinding difficulty of flat and straight lines is more difficult than that of curved surfaces. The root cause is: low fault tolerance.

Let’s take a look at a few pictures of top-level polished tactical knives:

The insider of this knife circle is called JB knife, and the initials of the author’s name happen to be JB. Combination of concave and convex grinding.

Typical segmental grinding, I didn’t know much about knives when I was young, I thought this was the level of the ceiling

This one is similar to the polish of the previous ST night devil

This is also a combination of concave grinding and convex grinding. It is still difficult, and it is obviously longitudinally drawn.

Are these difficult to grind? Really big for a tactical knife. But there is a big difference between these two. I believe that people who read my article should be able to tell which one is more authentic. Some are obviously processed by rough grinding with a belt machine, and some are combined with concave grinding and convex grinding, which will be more difficult. After all, the treatment of the interface must also be considered. If it is still drawn longitudinally, it will be even more difficult.

But no matter which one it is, if you think about it carefully, if there are some changes in the curvature of these grinding surfaces, such as deeper concave or higher convex, will it have a big impact on the final effect? The answer is obviously no. The core reason why the design of curves or curved surfaces has a relatively high fault tolerance is that it can be modified while doing it. Deviations in the grinding process can be saved as long as they are not too large, because there is no clear standard for curves and curved surfaces. It looks pleasing to the eye.

However, planes and straight lines are not good. They have unique and clear standards, and no deviations are allowed (of course, within the range visible to the naked eye, there is no absolute thing). If there is a deviation, you can only go back to the original point and start again, because the straight line cannot make a halfway turn.

Looking at the four grinding surfaces on the tail of this Jurgen knife, there is really no room for deviation

Is that all there is to Jurgen’s difficulty? There are still some works with flat grinding and straight borders. How can Jurgen stand out from the crowd? Let’s take a look at the comparison of the two flat grinds:

Grinding 1: The structure of the blade (orange line) is ground from a steel plate (blue line)

Grinding 2: Grinding the shape of the blade (orange line) from a steel plate (blue line)

Grinding one is a common combination of plane grinding. The planes on both sides of the blade form a “V” shape. The core key of grinding one is only the angle between the two surfaces is movable (that is, the angle of the V shape), and the two surfaces of the top surface and the bottom surface are fixed at 90 degrees with the blade surface. The idea of how to do it is also very clear. Draw a V-shaped line on the top and bottom of the cuboid and cut it vertically.

The second grinding is the grinding of the main blade of Jurgen’s large kitchen knife, cutting out a tetrahedron from a piece of cuboid steel. Please pay attention to the two points marked by my arrows, these two points are the intersection of three faces, and the angle between these three faces is movable! These three surfaces only converge on four vertices, and if there is a slight deviation in the position of the converging point, it has to start all over again. When grinding the first surface, it is relatively free. When grinding the second surface, it is also possible to allow the angle to be different from the initial setting. When the third surface is reached, the first two surfaces have uniquely determined the angle. There must be no deviation in the angles of the three faces. Once there is a deviation, you need to find the vertices again, and you must start over from the beginning of the three faces!

I don’t know if everyone will understand after talking so much. Don’t think too complicated, just look at the two pictures above, imagine the cuboid composed of blue lines as a piece of wood, and see how difficult it is to grind two by seeing how to cut out the corresponding shape.

Is there anything harder than grind two? Have! The peak difficulty of the big kitchen knife is the intersection of four sides, as shown in the figure below:

The difficulty of grinding is scary just thinking about it

 

4. The sharpness of the lines is extremely high

More than one knife circle master has said that sharp lines are the embodiment of finish. What is the truth of this sentence? The sharper the line, the lower the tolerance, and the higher the requirement for precise grinding control. Let’s look at the comparison of the two pictures:

This is the work of a top tactical knife master. Due to the design, the boundary of the grinding surface is still relatively wide.

I don’t need to say much about Jurgen’s sharp lines.

Afraid of being said that there is no high-definition picture, please make up a picture.

It is clear at a glance which of the two knives is sharper. If the sharpness of the line is low, the boundary between the surfaces has a certain width, or a curved surface, so that there is a little more room for error when grinding.

However, whether the line is sharp or not has a lot to do with the style of the work. For example, the folding knife of William Lee above, although I seem to be criticizing his fleshy lines, but in fact there is nothing wrong with handling it this way. The so-called words convey the truth, and the techniques must be suitable for the theme. The style of the folding knife itself is relatively round (just look at the handle), and it is normal for the lines to be round. However, Jurgen’s works are intended to highlight the sharpness of metal, so the lines are naturally sharper.

 

5. You can’t rely on tools without thinking, and many parts have to be purely manual

“Blood slot” can be seen in many works, this design is not only practical, but also has elements of showmanship. why? The blood tank has an increased grinding surface, and there is no way to process it with a belt machine, so it can only be processed by hand. However, most of our blood tanks, if you look closely at their ends, you will find a feature: they are all arc-shaped, including the cross-section of the blood tank, which is also arc-shaped like a semicircle (like a cylinder split in half). Interesting, right?

This is the work of Brother Cookie, look at the shape of the blood groove, a typical semicircular section.

This is the blood groove on one of Royer’s swords. The cross section is a semicircle, and the end point is also approximately a semicircle.

There are many similar pictures, not released one by one. Seeing this, will you have any doubts, what is the reason that everyone adopts a similar design? Let’s take a look at the production picture:

The blood tank is opened by a machine

The cutter head of CNC is also similar in shape

It turned out that these blood grooves were cut out by machines, and the shape of the cutter head of the machine equipment determined the shape of the blood grooves. So why is the blade shaped like this? First of all, for drilling, the cutter head must be sharp, with a small bottom and a large top, so the cross-section of the groove drilled out is similar to a semicircle arc; secondly, the current motors basically rotate to cut, so in the groove It is not surprising that the ends of the slots are also semicircular.

The classic blood tank in Jurgen’s work is not in this form at all. It is composed of three triangular planes, there is no way to rely on equipment, and as mentioned earlier, the grinding difficulty of the plane is very low tolerance. So this kind of blood groove is definitely a nightmare to make. Jurgen used a chisel and a file to file it out with both hands bit by bit! Finally, use a small wooden stick to polish the surface with sandpaper to custom a mirror surface! There are at least two blood slots and as many as four for a knife like this, which is terrible.

The difficulty of the three-plane groove is too high

Well, long-winded, this is the end of this introduction. Geometric knives are too difficult to make, so there are basically no large-scale works, usually more than 20 centimeters. In addition to the largest 48 cm work of Jurgen, the largest is a 33 cm large kitchen knife. The difficulty is higher than that of a human, and the size is larger than a human. It is speechless.

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