What's the difference between forged knives and stamped knives

Forged kitchen knives and stamped knives have their own advantages and disadvantages. Which one you choose is a matter of preference. But, know their difference can help you to make choice.

What's the difference between forged kitchen knives and stamped knives?

While choosing for kitchen knives, buyers often get confused about forged and stamped knives. The seller design and produce both types of knives and claim the best performance for every slicing and cutting need in the kitchen. It’s better to figure out their performance and quality first.

How to define forged cutlery knives and stamped knives

What’s the forged cutlery knives?

Forged knives mean the blades are made through the forging process. Knife forging is the process of heating and hammering out a knife from a single rod of steel. During the forging process, the shaping of the steel molecules makes the blade less flexible and much stronger. As a result, these knives retain an edge for longer. So, the sharpness of the knife can last longer too.

In addition, knife forging is in order to adjust the center of gravity of the knife, it adds the weight of the knife and makes the knife more balanced.

what's the difference between forged kitchen knives and stamped knives

Extra knowledge: Modern Forging vs Hot-Drop Forging

The hot-drop forging keeps heating the steel in a furnace and pounding it into a shape which is the traditional method.

Regards to the modern method, With the advancement of craft and technology, more and more machines are used in the forging process. a machine heats raw metal and hammers it before another machine cuts it into the knife shape.

What’s the stamped cooking knives?

With the development of ever-improving technology, manufacturers can make knives faster and easier. As we can see from the name of Stamped knives, these knives are stamped out from a large sheet of steel without going through the heating and pounding process.

What’s the pros and cons of forged cooking knives?

The significance of forging for modern kitchen tools is mainly two points: the first is to be beautiful. This is easy to understand, just like making colorful candy, you should stacking several layers of raw materials with different colors together, then, a simple twist can form a pretty beautiful pattern. To some degree, the classy pattern of Damascus kitchen knives is also the same.

The second is to adjust the center of gravity of the knife, the forging design can increase the weight of the knife， to a certain extent, and the appropriate weight can have many benefits as following.

Pros:

The blade with a beautiful pattern is eye-catching.
Forged knives can give off a firm and sturdy feel during heavy cuts.
Due to the rigid structure, they are suitable for higher precision cutting work when cutting hard objects like pumpkins, because they are not easy to bend
Retain the edge longer
Forged knives are easy to sharpen because it is not very flexible. When you try to hold the blade tightly with a sharpening stone or sharpening steel, the blade will not twist.
Full Tang design ensures greater weight distribution and balance to make you a comfortable grip and cut.

Cons:

Forged knives are not cheap, but they are definitely worth investing because they can last a lifetime.

What’s the pros and cons of stamped cooking knives

Stamped knives do not have a good reputation. People generally think that "forging is better", and many people think that stamped knives can’t hold the edge well, however, it depends on the materials used and how to maintain them. Not the way the tool is made. For high-end brands, sometimes forged knives made of better materials make them more durable. But when it comes to top products, forging and stamping kitchen knives, there is usually not much difference in durability between them.

Because the process is less complicated, the stamped knife is lighter but more flexible than the forging knife At the same time, it is easier to manufacture and get, so, the price is relatively low.

In a nut shell:

Pros:

You can get it at a lower price than forged knives
More flexible and tend to keep an edge for a shorter amount of time.
They are thinner and easier to cut, especially when slicing ingredients

Cons:

It is difficult to sharpen on the whetstone because they are too flexible. However, there is almost no difference between stamped or forged knives if we sharpen chef knife on electric knife sharpeners.
When cutting through hard surfaces, the thinner and more flexible blade may be easier to bend and reduce precision.

Which one should you choose?

I hope I have clearly outlined the advantages and disadvantages of each knife and their differences. I can summarize it here:

Forged knives - sturdy, strong, reliable knives, good balance, comfortable grip, will last a lifetime and are easy to sharpen. But the cost is expensive.

Stamped knife - affordable on a budget. Usually flexible and light. less fatigue with Long-term use. Consider buying an electric knife sharpener to sharpen the knife.

If you have enough budget, a fully forged knife is better. if you are on budget now, try stamped knives first.

Which knives are forged or stamped?

In the market, in general, Damascus kitchen knives are forged knives, and stainless steel knives are stamped knives. The pattern of Damascus is becoming more and more popular.

This Damascus kitchen knife is made of 67 layers of Damascus steel, which has been made by repeatedly folded and forged. Vacuum deep cooling heat treatment process making it have high corrosion resistance and sharpness.

This stain less steel knife is a stamped kitchen knife set, and the pattern is imitated Damascus pattern, which is beautiful too. You can try a complete knife set to try different knives for different cutting needs.

Search

Cart

You might also like