Watch how Bohler Uddeholm makes Powder Steel

[Wartstein]

You are forgiven... :p :p

/ Yes, Voest Alpine is a (for Austrian standards) huge steel and technology company, they employ over 50 000 people as far as I know...

/ Liked the vid a lot, it explains the powder metallurgy process very good and understandable.

Here is the German version of the vid for those who might be German-, but not English Native speakers:

https://youtu.be/y-k0UjoBFLE

Hey Wartstein,

Is there a town or city in Austria which has a large concentration of knife and toolmaking, like Solingen in Germany?

Sorry for the late reply, my friend! :o

Actually I am aware of only one location in Austria where there was (and partly still is) "a concentration of knife-making": Trattenbach in Upper-Austria (that´s the proper name of one of the nine federal states Austria consists of). Called the "valley of knife makers", there they made (and make) a traditional Austrian pen knife, the Taschen-Feitel or "Zaukerl". A very simple and very cheap to make and to buy design, made in the current form since the fifteenhundreds.
I started a thread once asking people to show the traditional knives of their homecountries and introduced the "Taschen-Feitel" there. See here: https://forum.spyderco.com/viewtopic.ph ... 2#p1293139

Did not find a good link concerning that "valley of knife makers", but this one at least (click through the picture gallery): https://www.upperaustria.com/en/oesterr ... esort.html

Another traditional knife that is made all over Austria and Bavaria (but not really concentrated in a certain place)
would be the "Hirschfänger" (= "Deer-Catcher"), originally a hunting blade, that became more of an all purpose knife over the centuries. See here: https://forum.spyderco.com/viewtopic.ph ... 0#p1410787

[JD Spydo]

After close to 4 hard years of EDC use with my M390 Military model I can only say good things about Bohler-Uddeholm blade steels. I've gone through quite a few Spyderco folders for EDC uses and up till now my M390 Military model has been a super dependable tool from several standpoints.

Oh I'm sure if you do a bunch of elaborate tests that you'll be able to find a better blade steel>> but for all the hard uses that the M390 blade has done for me in all this time I've been impressed.

And it wouldn't surprise me if I do soon find another blade steel that I might switch to I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being another selection from Bohler-Uddeholm. I'm always looking to improve but with an M390 Millie I'm not in any hurry.

[Cambertree]

Sorry for the late reply, my friend! :o

Actually I am aware of only one location in Austria where there was (and partly still is) "a concentration of knife-making": Trattenbach in Upper-Austria (that´s the proper name of one of the nine federal states Austria consists of). Called the "valley of knife makers", there they made (and make) a traditional Austrian pen knife, the Taschen-Feitel or "Zaukerl". A very simple and very cheap to make and to buy design, made in the current form since the fifteenhundreds.
I started a thread once asking people to show the traditional knives of their homecountries and introduced the "Taschen-Feitel" there. See here: https://forum.spyderco.com/viewtopic.ph ... 2#p1293139

Did not find a good link concerning that "valley of knife makers", but this one at least (click through the picture gallery): https://www.upperaustria.com/en/oesterr ... esort.html

Another traditional knife that is made all over Austria and Bavaria (but not really concentrated in a certain place)
would be the "Hirschfänger" (= "Deer-Catcher"), originally a hunting blade, that became more of an all purpose knife over the centuries. See here: https://forum.spyderco.com/viewtopic.ph ... 0#p1410787

No worries Wartstein, and thank you very much for the information, my friend. :)

I enjoyed the pictures of the Trattenbach Valley. Your country is very beautiful, and the landscapes are a stark contrast to Australia.

I always like to check out places with a history of edged toolmaking when I travel.

I also enjoyed your thread introducing the Taschen-Feitel, both back when you originally posted it, and rereading it just now. I’m sorry I didn’t contribute to it at the time.

That type of knife was popular at one time in the English speaking world as well, and was known as a Penny Knife.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/tra ... n.1003514/

They were exported to America around the time of the Revolutionary War as well.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/pen ... e.1049394/

Thanks for introducing the Hirschfänger to me. I hadn’t been aware of that pattern before. They’re nice looking knives, and look very useful.

I’m a bit surprised there wasn’t a more heavily industrialised area of edged toolmaking, considering all the steel production that must have occurred during the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

I’ve always been impressed with Bohler steels. I used Bohler D2 for a knife I made a few years ago.

[Wartstein]

.....
I also enjoyed your thread introducing the Taschen-Feitel, both back when you originally posted it, and rereading it just now. I’m sorry I didn’t contribute to it at the time.

That type of knife was popular at one time in the English speaking world as well, and was known as a Penny Knife.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/tra ... n.1003514/

They were exported to America around the time of the Revolutionary War as well.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/pen ... e.1049394/
......
I’m a bit surprised there wasn’t a more heavily industrialised area of edged toolmaking, considering all the steel production that must have occurred during the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

I’ve always been impressed with Bohler steels. I used Bohler D2 for a knife I made a few years ago.

Wow, thanks! Did not know that this typical Austrian knife design was popular even in the US at one time!
Very cool! :) - Below is a pic of an old piece together with my Endura (perhaps posted this in another thread already)

/ Well, there may very well have been more areas of toolmaking in Austria I am just not aware of - I´ll have to read up on this.
But since you mentioned the Austro-Hungarian Empire (that ended with the loss of world war 1): As you certainly know, this Empire was pretty large, a LOT larger than todays pretty small Austria.
So it might be that the toolmaking areas where concentrated in areas of the Empire that don´t belong to Austria anymore, but are independent states nowadays.

/ Yes, Bohler makes good stuff, though my experience with their steels is rather limited. I very much like the N690 on my Enzo Trapper though for example.

[Cambertree]

Wow, thanks! Did not know that this typical Austrian knife design was popular even in the US at one time!
Very cool! :) - Below is a pic of an old piece together with my Endura (perhaps posted this in another thread already)

/ Well, there may very well have been more areas of toolmaking in Austria I am just not aware of - I´ll have to read up on this.
But since you mentioned the Austro-Hungarian Empire (that ended with the loss of world war 1): As you certainly know, this Empire was pretty large, a LOT larger than todays pretty small Austria.
So it might be that the toolmaking areas where concentrated in areas of the Empire that don´t belong to Austria anymore, but are independent states nowadays.

/ Yes, Bohler makes good stuff, though my experience with their steels is rather limited. I very much like the N690 on my Enzo Trapper though for example.

No worries, my friend. :)

I’ll have to look out for one of those Taschen-Feitel to add to my samples of regional historical knife patterns.

Yes, what you say makes sense about the broader industrial production of tools in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

I don’t know much about the industrial capacity of all the areas which are now independent states, but I guess the cities like Brno which are now in the Czech Republic and the areas around the north of modern Italy would have had strong edged toolmaking cultures.

That’s good to know you like N690Co in your Trapper. I’ve been thinking of trying out that Bohler steel in the Urban.

[Chieforman]

Per capita Austria makes some of the coolest **** on earth, e.g. KTM motorcycles, high performance BMW diesel engines, etc.

[Wartstein]

Per capita Austria makes some of the coolest **** on earth, e.g. KTM motorcycles, high performance BMW diesel engines, etc.

Welcome to the forum (since you joined quite recently)! :)

/ That's nice of you to say! :)
Like most Europeans I personally don't know a whole lot about guns, but another Austrian company many Americans seem to like is Glock (and their Glock 19 the only gun most people here in Austria at least have seen, since every Austrian police officer is issued one).

[Chieforman]

Firearms and highly engineered gadgets galore...what is not to love