How we make and sharpen our knives

Gregson Knives are made from high quality materials so they will last.

The blade of our knife is cut from a high quality tool steel to produce the correct shape. This shape is then ground to the correct size and the bevel is added. Next the blade is treated to harden the metal. At this point the blade has the appearance of the finished article and it is sharp enough to cut and some could be used to scrape a reed. The blade is then left to "relax" the metal before going onto the next process.

The next part of the process is the most important to us. The blade, though near finished, has a number of imperfections that we need to remove. The grinding process often leaves deep scratches on the cutting edge and a burr. To remove these we use up to eight different stages of grinding and polishing to get a smooth, sharp edge. We do not attempt to produce a highly polished finish only a sharp edge.

It is easy to hide scratches on the blade by adding other scratches in a linear fashion. This is aesthetically pleasing but as soon as one tries to sharpen the edge with a 6000 grit stone these scratches become obvious. So at gregson we do try to remove scratches produced during production from along the cutting edge. Those that are still obvious after the eight stage grinding and polishing, that do not involve the cutting edge, are left.

Once the blade is finished it is then added to the handle, both are polished and sheath added to protect the edge.

My mission is to produce the finest quality reed knives available to the musician.