All About Pocket Knives

Arno Bernard knives is a South Africa family business with Arno Sr. and 2 sons making the knives. These are both beautiful and very sharp knives and at very reasonable prices. I have 2 at present but have owned and traded 2 others. My opinion is "great knives".
What i do not understand is the very large production numbers. I count at least 20 USA knife dealers who carry Arno Bernard knives. Some, like KSF have a large inventory of 100 or more of these knives. They sell well are are continually being re-stocked.
I do not know if these knives are also sold in Canada, Britain, Australia, Europe, Far East countries, etc. but likely they are.
How can 3 guys make so many full custom knives ? How many knives can one guy make in one day ?
Blade grinding, heat treating, making handles, making sheaths, etc. add up to quite a lot of time to make a full custom knife.
Can someone who is knowledgeable about making custom knives explain how 3 guys can continually make what seems to be a vast number of knives ? Note that these knives have a solid reputation for being exceptionally well made and very well finished. There is no shoddy workmanship involved.
kj

Roland,
I know nothing about these,but in answer to the question,I don't believe 3 can.I expect there are several more.

I'm know knife mechanic, so I can not answer the question. I would like to see a pic of one if you could share one with us?

I have never owned a Bernard knife but I understand they are very well made. Three guys could churn out a bunch of knives in a week depending on available equipment, heat treating methods, handles, grinds and so forth. The more complex each facet of the knife the slower you go, so without knowing a thing about their knives and their process it's a pretty tough question to answer.

Fiddleback Forge must make 50-60 knives a week and I believe there are five guys there, but don't hold me to that.

I guess if I wanted to work really hard I could do 7-10 myself..............but who wants to work that hard! I'm a five per month guy..........if I'm feeling good!

Does a CNC machine significantly speed up the process of blade grinding ? or are they used mainly to improve evenness of grind ? Do they do one blade at a time ? or multiple ?
Here are a few of the smaller FB's:

Nice looking knives! Those are probably questions for Arno to answer, I don't know anything about their operation.

I found this on the Arno Bernard Knives website:
"The metal used in each blade is world-class Bohler N690 stainless steel from Austria. Each blade is heat treated and tempered to insure absolute quality of the blade. The hardness of the blade is 59-60 Rc after going through the liquid nitrogen process. Each knife is hollow ground freehand and hand-polished to give it a unique quality. "
Arno and 2 sons make the knives, a third son makes the sheaths all individually fitted, and a fourth son has just joined and works on the 'business' end of things.
I emailed them and asked how many knives per month on average do they make.
kj

Cool KJ. Please post their response. I have never done the cryo treatment myself I know several people that do and they say it helps toughen the steel for better edge retention. I have looked into it it's not that expensive a process......I may try it someday.

I have a friend that owns a couple of Bernard knives and they seem to be good quality but I would not include them as "custom knives". I think I would place them somewhere between factory and custom shop knives. To put that many knives out they would have to be using some type of Production line system. I make about 50 to 60 knives a year and that's all I want to do, but I take orders which may include ordering special handle material or special steel and I also make my own sheaths which alone take about a hour or two to make, so all that is time consuming. BUT--I am retired and don't want to work 10 hours a day at it, that would take all the fun out of my "hobby". It will be interesting to know how or if they do it with a limited amount of employees. Heat treating and tempering stainless steel takes at least 5 hours, of course I am doing it one at a time. Terry

I have not heard back from the Arno Bernards. My 2 questions to them are: how many knives per month do you make ? and, how many countries do you export to ?
The 'work team' consists of poppa Arno & 4 sons; 3 work on making the knives, 1 makes the sheaths and 1 seems to be involved with the business end.
A quick check this morning of some of the USA knife dealers who carry these knives show:
KSF: 136 knives available
CN: 87 av.
DLT: 84 av.
Blade HQ: 23 av. of 96 listed
Arizona C.K.: 13 av. 284 listed
GPKnives: 31 av. 88 listed
KnifeWorks: 29 av. 31 listed

There are other USA dealers who carry these knives as well, and there are a few ebay sellers with these knives listed.
This is only USA. How many Arno Bernard knives are for sale in Canada, Australia, South Africa, Europe, Far East Countries, etc ?
They use Bohler N690 steel from Austria and " Each knife is hollow ground freehand and hand-polished to give it a unique quality".
I have never made a knife so my question is: about how long does it take for an experienced knife maker to grind and polish this steel into a blade say 4" long ? (not counting tang in the 4")
I have known at least 10 South African men who moved to my area. All were dedicated hard working individuals and it seemed to me that this is their cultural norm.
Given this hard work ethic and an efficiently set up shop i wonder if it is possible for 3 guys to make as many full custom knives as there seem to be 'out there'.
I want to add that i have owned a few Arno Bernard knives and all are superb; natural in hand fit, perfect blade grind, super sharp on arrival, absolutely beautiful handle material, and a very fine sheath of thick leather and tight 'snap in' fit.
So regardless of full custom or not these knives are of excellent quality and very good dollar value.
But, as a 'knifer' i like to understand every knife i own, so i have posted here hoping to learn more about these knives (even though this is AAPK and these are sheath knives).
kj

I will try and answer your question about how long it takes to grind and polish a 4" blade. Keep in mind that is only one of the many processes to make a knife. I can probably grind a knife (after it has been profiled) in about 1 to 2 hours, depending on the thickness of the blade. I use mostly 1/8" thick material and the thicker it gets the more time required. Then you would have to fit a guard if it has one, drill the holes for the handle pins, heat treat and then temper before fitting the handle material. so I guess what I do won't compare to what Arno and his team do, after all I'm a one man shop . Bottom line is I think it would be pretty hard for 3 or4 people to turn out the kind of numbers you are talking about/ but if you like them who cares how they make them. My opinion only, Terry

Terry, the reason i 'care' is because i am curious person. KSF, the Bernard website and other knife retailers describe these as full custom knives. But as i look around and see so many of these Arno Bernard knives i wonder 'is it possible for a small shop to make this many full custom knives' ?
It's just curiosity and i thought posting here might lead to increasing my meager understanding of what is involved in making a FB & sheath and how long (or short) it takes.
However they are made, these are good knives and i like them.
kj

KJ, Hey it is good you are curious, that's how people learn about things and this , I think, is a good forum to get others input. I would like to know how they make so many and keep the cost fairly low, if you find out please post the info. But I'm still sticking to my short answer, no I don't think 3 or 4 people can turn out a fully custom knife in those numbers you are talking about, but I could be wrong, been wrong before. South Africans are highly motivated little guys Hope I didn't make you mad, wasn't my intention. BTW I guess it takes me about 10 to 12 man hours to complete a knife in my one man shop, Terry

Terry, i agree with you. Although i have not said this so far, i have doubts about the "full custom" description of these knives. Your input about length of time it takes to grind a blade, etc. tends to support this suspicion. The lack of response to my email might be seen as supporting this suspicion as well.
A few years ago some fellow was selling a bunch of 'full custom' folding knives branded "Amherst Cutlery" on BF. Turned out blades and possibly entire knives except for handles were from China. The workmanship was very good but these were and are, not custom knives. However the Amherst scam has nothing to do with the AB fixed blades.
kj

Despite my doubts about the "custom" aspect of the Arno Bernard knives, i recently bought another. Somehow i got onto the mailing list for "Olde Towne Cutlery" and it showed a very nice Arno Bernard "Fin & Feather" with warthog tusk handle. I really like both smaller fixed blades and ivory handles, so i had to buy it. Note the keeper strap over the lanyard with bead to secure the knife in the sheath. Very neat !
I also have a "Wild Dog" with warthog ivory handle made by Arno B. and it is a bit larger at 7 1/4".
These to me are similar in quality to Bark River Knives (both very high) and both brands exceed the workmanship found in many full custom knives.
kj

WOW kj!! Very nice knives!! I really like the top one.. And that keeper strap for the lanyard is KOOL and a GREAT idea!!! NICE kj!!! John

Thanks John. Yes they are very nice knives including excellent in hand and thinly ground, very sharp edge. There is nothing i would want changed in any way.
kj

Nice knife, Roland. I think 3 or 4 guys could do this, if the blanks were water jet cut. The handles are simple pinned slabs, not like the complex handles of Fiddleback. The grind is also quite simple and could be knocked out quite quickly by a talented craftsman like Arno and his sons. It seems they have a good system down, and I know many folks who carry them and like them.

Here is an early Arno Bernard I acquired in a collection and messenger from his son with details on the knife.

Neat, do you know about when your early Arno B. knife was made ?
kj

kootenay joe wrote:Neat, do you know about when your early Arno B. knife was made ?
kj

I really don't but most of the collection was from the early to mid 90's.

Bumping an old thread. I just received this skinner. The warthog ivory is stunning. Although not a custom, the quality appears to be top notch. I really like this knife and would like a chance to use it this Fall. Speaking of Seasons, I am quite ready for Spring!

Very good looking knife ! Handsome & Strong. I hope you use it and then answer the question: how slippery is ivory when around blood & fat ?
kj

Very nice Cal !!
John

And then there were two. Warthog ivory.