The story of how our cutlery is made Fortessa Canada Inc.

The story of how cutlery is made

How flatware is made? You pick up a fork, maybe admire the pattern, and then you eat with it. But did you ever stop to think about how a piece of base metal became a fork in the first place? There are seven distinct steps that go into making a fork, or any other piece of flatware. It is an incredible piece of workmanship involving many skilled hands. To begin with, flatware is “coined,” not molded. That means its shape and pattern are stamped into the metal by heavy presses. In the first two steps, stainless steel rolls are cut into notebook-size flats, for easier handling, and then stamped into “blanks, “ which are the basic shape of the pattern handle with the head of the utensil left unshaped. In the third step the head is rolled to make it wider and thinner, since the heads of flatware pieces are thinner than the handles. In the fourth step, the handle is coined. This process produces the final shape of the handle and impresses the pattern into it. Next, the two outer tines and a final stamp to form the two inner tines. Next, the tines are shaped into their final curvature. For a spoon, it is a single stamp that both cuts and shapes. Knives are unique. The blanks are pre-heated to 500 – 600 C and forged by a drop hammer. The forging process adds the extra strength needed for the way knives are used. The blade is then rolled to the desired thickness and shaped, at which point the process continues much the same as other flatware Next, the item is ground to soften the rough surface and remove burr. Finally, the piece is polished and buffed to achieve its mirror finish and poly-bagged in plastic. Every pattern of flatware we produce requires its own coining molds for every stage of the process. And watching a piece of metal travel through the factory and become a finished piece of flatware is an impressive experience. You leave with a new found respect for the complexity of the process and the people who perform the work. At Fortessa Tableware Solutions, we have always been committed to quality first. When you think of the number of steps involved in producing flatware, you can imagine the importance of quality control in arriving at the final product.