Recently, in the news there have been articles about some blade problems with name brand kitchen knives. At Salter Fine Cutlery, we have never experienced any blade problems simply because our blades are all truly individually hand-forged to the highest standards by master Japanese blacksmiths using traditional forging methods in small workshops.
That is why we feel confident in offering lifetime guarantees on all of our knives for quality of workmanship.
Unfortunately, terms like hand-forged or handmade are bandied about lightly in today's world. I was told once by someone in the industry, 'well, they can say handmade if someone put their hands on it and did one little process somewhere along the line'. I don't know how accurate that statement was, but I do know that there is a massive difference in quality of workmanship during the forging process as well as the grinding process depending on how and where the blades were made.
Also, many cheaper blades found in shops worldwide may use a good quality steel, but make the blades thinner to save money. Another thing they do, which you will never see in one of our knives, is that they put a pretty piece of metal on the bolster and on the end of the handle, but in the center there is nothing but a thin piece of wire surrounded by molded plastic, which will eventually have a greater tendency to break than our knives. Our full tang western style knives and steak knives have a solid piece of steel running throughout the handle.
And then, of course, is the widely used practice of welding a cheaper stainless steel tang to the higher quality steel blade even on full tang knives which gives the illusion of a solid metal piece, but has the potential of a weak point at the weld. Ours are never welded, but made individually by hand from a solid piece of very high quality steel. Hence our blades are often a 100 times or more the cost of a manufactured finished knife.
I welcome your comments or questions and will address any in future blog posts.
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