Custom hand knives are precision cutting tools made from high‑carbon, stainless, or PM steels and shaped through grinding and heat treatment. Used in packaging, leather, food, plastics, and industrial trimming, they provide durable, accurate manual cutting performance.
Custom hand knives are manually operated cutting tools engineered for specialized industrial, craft, and processing applications. Their manufacturing process typically involves precision blanking or forging of the blade profile, followed by heat treatment to achieve the required hardness and toughness. Grinding and honing operations define the cutting geometry, including bevel angle, edge radius and blade curvature. Common blade materials include high‑carbon tool steels, stainless steels, powder‑metallurgical steels, and carbide‑tipped edges for high‑wear environments. Handles are produced from wood, polymers, aluminum, or composite materials and are ergonomically shaped for safe, repetitive use. Tooling for production involves CNC grinders, waterjet or laser cutting systems, heat‑treatment furnaces, and surface‑finishing equipment. Custom knives are widely used in packaging, leatherworking, food processing, plastics trimming, rubber cutting, textiles, and general maintenance tasks where controlled manual cutting, precision, and durability are required.
BÖHLER K110 is a 12% ledeburitic chromium steel and corresponds to material number 1.2379 (X153CrMoV12, D2). This tool steel combines the advantages of conventional 12% ledeburitic chromium steels with those of advanced tool steels. In the group of 12% ledeburitic chromium steels, BÖHLER K110 offers the best combination of wear resistance, compressive strength and toughness, for which reason it is used in virtually all cold work applications. Its advantageous tempering behavior with a pronounced secondary hardness maximum also enables the use of advanced coatings. This also makes BÖHLER K110 suitable for complex tools requiring a high degree of dimensional stability and shape stability.
Read MoreBÖHLER M340 ISOPLAST corresponds to a corrosion-resistant, martensitic chromium steel with improved wear resistance. This is ideal for the application area of glass fiber reinforced plastics. In addition, the BÖHLER M340 ISOPLAST is approved for food and beverage contact.
Read MoreBÖHLER M390 MICROCLEAN is a corrosion-resistant, martensitic chromium steel produced by powder metallurgy. Due to its alloy design, this steel has very high wear resistance and good corrosion resistance. In addition, BÖHLER M390 MICROCLEAN is approved for food and beverage contact.
Read MoreUddeholm Elmax Super Clean is a powder metallurgically produced mould steel characterized by a combination of very good wear resistance, corrosion resistance and dimensional stability. Recommended for long production runs of smaller and complicated shapes and/or reinforced plastics. High wear resistance is normally connected to low corrosion resistance and vice versa. In Uddeholm Elmax SuperClean it has however been able to achieve this unique combination of properties by a powder-metallurgy-based production. Uddeholm Elmax SuperClean offers a possibility to make long-life, low maintenance moulds for the best overall moulding economy. Benefits Less wear because of god wear resistance Less indentations because of compressive strength Less maintenance because of corrosion resistance Less adjustments after heat treatment because of good dimensional stability Standard specification AFNOR Z170 CVD 17.3
Read MoreUddeholm Sleipner is a general purpose steel for cold work tooling. It has a mixed-abrasive wear profile and a good resistance to chipping. Furthermore a high hardness (>60 HRC) can be obtained after high temperature tempering. This means that surface treatments such as nitriding or PVD can be made on a high strength substrate. Also, it means that complicated shapes with hardness levels >60 HRC can be wire EDM’d from blocks with relatively thick cross-sections with a much reduced risk of cracking. Uddeholm Sleipner is recommended for medium run tooling applications where a resistance to mixed or abrasive wear and a good resistance to chipping are required. Benefits Very broad property profile Very good steel for all types of surface treatments Extremely versatile conventional tool steel for medium run cold work tooling Suitable upgrade where added chipping or wear resistance is needed over traditional AISI A2 or AISI D2 In East/South East Asian countries served by ASSAB, Uddeholm Sleipner is sold as ASSAB 88.
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