The Precision Engineering That Goes into a Premium OTF Knife

The term “precision engineering” has a very specific meaning in a professional context, more specifically the context of engineering and manufacturing. Due to factors such as the age production equipment. the vagaries of the raw materials used, and the basic laws of physics themselves, precision becomes a question of how much variation one is willing to tolerate in a finished product. For some goods, closely conforming to an ideal design doesn’t matter all that much.  For others, though, a variance of a faction of a millimeter can render an otherwise excellent product completely unusable. OTF knives are just such products. In this article, we will examine the precision engineering that goes into a premium OTF knife, considering the topic from two perspectives. We will discuss the exacting manufacturing requirements to which a premium OTF must adhere, and we will investigate the material selection required to give end users a knife with a premium feel and functionality.

Blade Shape

OTF knives come close to being irreducibly complex instruments, machines that simply will not function if one of their component parts changes slightly or fails altogether. If a folding knife’s lock were to fail, you could still make use of it, even though you’d find its functionality reduced. But alter one of an OTF’s parts, and it may not work at all. One example is that of blade shape.

Knives in general and OTFs in particular possess blades that come in many different kinds of shapes and sizes. The sleek and classic drop-point. The chisel-nosed tanto. The double-edged dagger. The gently curving leaf. The blunt-fronted sheepfoot. Variations abound, each having its own use case and unique aesthetic — but you wouldn’t want a low-tolerance production run of a blade to go into a premium OTF knife. Slightly too thick or a little too wide, and it might prevent the blade from deploying at all. Additionally, purchasers of top-tier knives know their knife shapes, and they’ll generally find alterations intolerable. That’s why TAKCOM and other premium knife producers choose parts manufactured with high tolerances and little variation.

Blade Swedge and Primary Bevel

The shape of a knife doesn’t only involve its outline; the varying thickness of the blade plays an important role in knife performance. If you’ve done any serious hiking or have an interest in geology, you’re doubtless familiar with a topographic map. The wavy lines striping such maps denote the rising and falling of the countryside, charting its highs and lows. Blades have similar topography with the primary bevel being the gradual sloping toward the cutting edge and the swedge being the gradual sloping toward the blade’s spine. Believe it or not, such design choices heavily influence a knife’s ability to cut (i.e., to separate material without passing through it) or slice (i.e., to continuously move through a material). Premium knife manufacturers must create or source blades with exacting bevel measurements lest they undermine their knives’ functionality.

Grind

A knife’s grind is what lends it its cutting edge, and it works in tandem with its bevel. Knives intended for slicing tend to have thin bevels and steep grinds such as hollow grinds. General-use knives may pair a moderately sloped bevel with something like a flat grind or a chisel grind. Survivalist blades may combine an almost ax-like thickness with a sabre or convex grind designed to survive shocking impacts and hard use without chipping. Knife makers may mix and match different grinds with certain kinds of bevels, looking to mitigate weaknesses or create a unique effect. However, poor production tolerances could lead to an unintentional mismatch between blade slope and edge. Premium knife creators take special steps to ensure that their knives’ edges are created exactly according to specifications.

Blade Material

Selecting an inexpensive steel won’t necessarily compromise the quality of a high-end knife. After all, some sorts of blades prioritize ease of sharpening over other qualities, particularly those intended for outdoor use. Most premium OTFs, though, will select specialty steels. Why? For one thing, these steels are less prone to deformation. For another, newer formulations have the advantage of combining the best qualities of older options while mitigating the downsides. These metals have earned the name “super steels,” and while that’s a somewhat silly term, it’s not without its merits. Steels such as those employed by TAKCOM are hard, sharp, tough — and only slightly harder to sharpen than more traditional steels.

Deployment Mechanism

Unlike many standard knives, OTFs aren’t simple things. Pop one open, and you’ll behold a multitude of moving parts, such as a slide, a spring, various latches, studs, knobs, and a thumb slider. All of these parts need to work in tandem for the knife to deploy and retract, and they need to do so time after time after time. The precision engineering used in ensuring that high-end materials continue to function well and smoothly after thousands of uses is what separates a truly premium OTF from a so-called gas-station knife you’d purchase for a paltry sum.

Safety Mechanism

OTFs contain several kinds of safety mechanisms, the most obvious of which is the slide or latch that you must work to deploy the blade. Additionally, OTFs have an internal safety that, in the case of accidental discharge, uses the pressure of an impeding object to prevent them from punching into your bag or clothing — or you yourself. No one would want to place much trust in an OTF with a safety made from low-tolerance parts. Premium OTF manufacturers ensure that their safeties closely conform to their designs to prevent unfortunate accidents.

Handle Material and Design

Handles are often overlooked by knife purchasers, which is ironic given that they’re the part of a knife they’ll use the most often and have the most contact with. Shoddy handle shapes or cut-rate material will necessarily translate into an unpleasant experience. Manufacturers who want to create OTFs that will last for decades rather than months must ensure that they draft a plan for a grip that conforms to the human hand and that their manufacturing process mirrors it.

That’s exactly what we do here at TAKCOM. We create premium EDC OTFs that are meticulously designed, carefully constructed, and extensively tested. View our whole line of knives.