22
The 20th Century
nCutlery manufacturing factories replaced the traditional home worker. nWWI requirements resulted in major advancements in production techniques. n“Heat-Treatable Stainless Steel” was first successfully used in the production of knife blades in the 1950s.
nCompetition exists around the world.
Heat-treatable stainless steel was developed in 1921.  Manufacturers at the time did not realize that a high carbon content was required to enable a knife blade to be correctly hardened.  Blades manufactured from this new steel were too soft, because they could not be tempered to achieve the ideal Rockwell Hardness.

This problem was finally overcome by the 1950’s.  So for the last 50 years we’ve had excellent stainless knife blades.