How to make a Swiss army knife

You are probably all familiar with the Swiss army knife — a multifunctional folding knife, which is equipped with a blade and several additional tools, such as screwdrivers, openers, corkscrew and so on. In the non-working position, the tools are located inside the handle of the knife and are released by rotating around the inner hinge.

How to make a Swiss army knife

Today we will visit the factory, which is located in a small town in central Switzerland, where the company "Victorinox" has been producing world—famous knives since 1891 - even before it became known by this name.

How to make a Swiss army knife

To date, the company produces more than a million knives a year, about 350 different models.

How to make a Swiss army knife

This is one of the original models of the Swiss army knife, made back in 1891. It was then that the owner of the company, Karl Elsener, decided to equip the army with Swiss-made knives. Although he did not have a well-known logo at that time, and Elsener's company did not yet bear the name "Victorinox" (which it received a few years later, in honor of Elsener's mother Victoria, and because of the French word "inox" meaning "stainless steel") in this knife, it is not the slightest difficulty to recognize the direct predecessor of the one that almost every one of us has today.

The Swiss government still buys knives for all its soldiers from this company. Since 1891, only eight different models have appeared for the Swiss military, the last of which was released in 2008.

How to make a Swiss army knife

At the base of the main blade of this original Swiss army knife, you can see the logo of Karl Elsener's company — before it became known as "Victorinox", it bore the name of its owner.

How to make a Swiss army knife

Elsener wanted to make a special official Swiss army knife for officers, and even started production of a new product. But the Swiss government decided that the officers would still use an ordinary soldier's army knife, which they received when they first joined the army, and decided not to conclude another contract with Elsener. However, the company has been producing officer knives for many years. This is what the 1931 model looked like.

How to make a Swiss army knife

A box of ready-made army knives is waiting to be packed and shipped.

How to make a Swiss army knife

To prevent workers from cutting themselves, taking blades that have just come off the conveyor from the container, a special grip is used.

How to make a Swiss army knife

This machine directs strips of aluminum to a stamping machine for the production of delimiters for various tools in a Swiss knife. Delimiters are made of aluminum so as not to add extra weight to the finished knife. The components of the knife themselves are usually made of stainless steel.

How to make a Swiss army knife

Stamping machines that produce more than eight hundred knife parts.

How to make a Swiss army knife

Here you can see the evolution of the Swiss army knife, starting with the original model of 1891 in the lower right corner. In the upper right corner is the newest model, released in 2008.The previous model, made in 1968, is located in the upper left corner. The 1931 officer's knife is located in the lower left corner. And in the center is one of the latest models with a red handle.

How to make a Swiss army knife

There are dozens of containers with parts for Swiss army knives in the warehouse.

There are key rings in this drawer.

How to make a Swiss army knife

A factory worker puts stainless steel sheets into a stamping machine that makes blades.

How to make a Swiss army knife

The blanks of the blades are placed on the conveyor. They will go to the furnace, where they will be exposed to a temperature of 1050 degrees in order to harden stainless steel. This will increase their service life by decades.

How to make a Swiss army knife

After exiting the stamping machine, a special device shakes the container with the blades so that the excess pieces of metal that could remain after stamping fall off.

How to make a Swiss army knife

The surface of the blades coming out of the stamping machine remains rough and rough. Therefore, they are placed in these special machines, which, with the help of artificial ceramic chips and water, polish the blades for a long time, from five to eight hours. After that, the surface of the blade becomes perfectly smooth.

How to make a Swiss army knife

A container with corkscrews.

How to make a Swiss army knife

Plastic toothpicks.

How to make a Swiss army knife

Halves of scissors.

How to make a Swiss army knife

And here are the ready-made scissors. Soon they will be sent to the assembly shop.

How to make a Swiss army knife

Boxes with blades for traditional small Swiss army knives.

How to make a Swiss army knife

Racks with ready-made handles. They can be in several colors, including traditional blue and red.

How to make a Swiss army knife

 

How to make a Swiss army knife

How to make a Swiss army knife

Next, the handles and blades with a set of tools are placed in a special pressing machine, where the handles are attached to the main part under pressure and as a result, a practically ready knife is obtained, with the exception of tweezers, toothpicks and key rings.

How to make a Swiss army knife

Assembling the knife.

How to make a Swiss army knife

 

How to make a Swiss army knife

 

How to make a Swiss army knife

Here we see containers with tweezers and toothpicks. The task of the workers is to quickly attach the parts to the knives coming to them on the conveyor belt.

How to make a Swiss army knife

 

How to make a Swiss army knife

Blank for the blades of Swiss knives.

How to make a Swiss army knife

Pliers that are part of the knife.

How to make a Swiss army knife

A box with aluminum clips. They fix the main blade of the knife when it is in open state.

How to make a Swiss army knife

A container with the main blades of a traditional Swiss army knife.

How to make a Swiss army knife

Not sharpened blades.

How to make a Swiss army knife

In addition to the direct manufacture of Swiss army knives, the company "Victorinox" for a small fee offers another truly invaluable service — repair or replacement of any knife made in the history of the company.

How to make a Swiss army knife

Due to the popularity of Swiss Victorinox knives, a large number of cheap and low-quality fakes made mainly in China enter the markets.

How to make a Swiss army knife

The worker checks every detail of the Swiss army knife. She uses a cloth to avoid hurting her hands, and a tool to help test each knife and all the parts that make up it.

How to make a Swiss army knife

And this part of the Swiss knife for riders, which is designed for cleaning horses' hooves.

How to make a Swiss army knife

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