Of course, you need a blade or two to start with. The rest of this is how the blades are protected and held in place when you are using the knife.
The liner is normally made of 2 layers of steel. One on each side of the blade. Then we add the metal bolsters.
All of these pieces are held together with metal pins, through the bolster, the liner layers, and the blade.
How about a spring, so the blade is held closed, and held open? That is usually held in place between the 2 layers of liner, by a pin in the middle of the knife.
To top off the appearance, scales (handles) are added. They can be made out of bone, wood, steel, or synthetic material.
The final product then is personalized with your name. This is usually done by laser engraving on the blade or the handle, or the bolster.
Some modern knives get their advanced look by having the liner do the job of the scales. Some have only a liner on one side, to save weight, and create a daring look.
Locking mechanisms are of two types. The liner lock holds the blade open by a spring action of sliding into the tang of the blade. The tang is the “root” of the blade. The other type of locking mechanism is the “lockback”. This is done by the spring locking against the blade tang. A lockback mechanism is easier to use. Some knives don’t have a locking mechanism. The blade tang just has a flat spot that rests on the spring to stay open when in use.
This is how the standard Personalized Pocket Knives are made. Knife designers are always looking for more unique ideas to attract knife lovers.
Gift Pocket Knives are usually laser engraved by professionals. There’s a good reason for this. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. There are several settings that a pro has to make, so the resulting engraved pocket knives are permanently and safely marked with your company logo.
The pro cleans the knife blade so there is no possibility of a contaminant interfering with the process.
The knife is placed in a special holder, so that the blade will be in the right position in the laser machine.
The door is closed, and the attached computer is adjusted to these settings: Intensity, speed of the engraving, PPI (or dots per inch), depth of the penetration, and number of passes.
If the settings aren’t right, the imprint might be too light, or melted together.
Sometimes a special chemical is sprayed on the blade, to make the imprint darker looking.
Different grades of steel require different settings. Some types of steel are not conducive to this type of marking, so it can’t be done.
It is obvious that this type of logo marking should be left to the professionals.
