Gehring table cutlery spade

The cutlery comes from Gehring in Solingen. All aspects of the work, from forging, to implanting, to polishing, are accomplished there. The knife blades, made out of 1.4021 tempered steel, and with a relatively high carbon content, can be finely sharpened, and, through the finest sanding, they become completely corrosion resistant. After the initial sanding the knives are already much sharper than normal cutlery. Due to the quality of steel and optimal tempering, the cutting durability of the blade, with its 1 mm. serrated blade located at the initial point of cutting, is increased 20 times. The blades have a material thickness of 2.2 mm., which is milled at the cutting edge to 0.3 mm. The knife handles and all other parts of the cutlery are made of stainless steel 18/10.

This ‘Spaten’ model derives from the 1950’s. Here, the steel blade and handle are not welded, but instead inserted; that means, the tapered tang of the blade is fitted, with millimeter thin precision, into shells. This traditional way of combining blade and handle requires intense manual labor. The remaining pieces of cutlery are not only, as is commonly the case, designed flat, but instead are truly malleably formed.

Some manufacturers are utilised because of the communicative way in which they market their brand. At times, they forget about the importance of production, and, in the short or long term, this tarnishes the allure of the brand; the brand core decays.

There is also the opposite situation, when, for example, a manufacturer is so intensely preoccupied with the retention and further development of its technical capabilities that it has little time and sees little sense in the purely "communicative" approach. This then is a "brand," a core brand even, well-known and highly valued, particularly in the industry and serves as an assistant for those "brand manufacturers" that are no longer able to do particular tasks. Gehring in Solingen is such a "brand among brands", producer of high-quality cutlery, upon which other logos are frequently displayed. Gehring is also one of the few businesses that actually performs 100% of the production tasks: from forging, to inserting, to polishing.

The knife blades are made from 1.4021 tempered steel, a special steel used for making surgical instruments; this steel brings two seemingly opposing qualities into optimal usage. Because of its relatively high quantity of carbon, the steel can be intensely sharpened (appropriate for a scalpel), and, through the finest sanding, the steel becomes completely corrosion proof, a quality vital for surgical instruments that must be concerned with hygiene and numerous sterilizations. Due to the material employed and the tempering process, the knife blades are already much sharper than normal cutlery after the initial sanding. Due to the quality of steel and optimal tempering, the cutting durability of the blade is increased 20 times, with its 1 mm. serrated blade located at the initial point of cutting. The blades have a material thickness of 2.2 mm., which is milled at the cutting edge to 0.3 mm. The knife handles and all other parts of the cutlery are made of stainless steel 18/10.

Knives, forks and spoons are, when well designed, truly highly developed instruments. Classic cutlery will always prove itself to you by demonstrating its fine balance between individual parts. For example, when weight is distributed over the length of a spoon, one can see the result of numerous tests; with quality cutlery the cross section changes continually on the basis of optimal weight appropriation. A further sign of quality: with good cutlery the blades are never rigid, but instead pliable and elastic.

The knives, included in high quality cutlery, are always constituted of two distinct parts, handle and blade, and are not made simply out of one piece (Monobloc). A knife should not be too heavy, and that is only accomplished with a hollow-handled knife, where the tang of the blade is elaborately fitted in a constructed handle made of two half shells.