News: TWI at the cutting edge of technology

On Rotherham's Advanced Manufacturing Park, The Yorkshire Technology Centre of The Welding Institute (TWI) has made use of an innovative new technique to produce a traditional Sheffield long knife for the Lord Mayor of Sheffield. Working with Stuart Mitchell, a third generation Sheffield cutler, the blade features a friction stir processed cutting edge, a technology developed at TWI that enhances the atomic structure of a metal to create an edge that is both hard and durable - without the need for any complex and costly heat treatment. This is the first friction stir processed stainless steel knife to be made in the area made famous by stainless steel. The blade shape is a traditional Sheffield style named after its inventor, Lord Wharncliffe, who commissioned the cutlers Joseph Rodgers and Sons to manufacture a knife for him in 1832. The friction stir processing offers the potential for not only of harder, tougher wear resistant blades, but the manufacturing process offers additional benefits in terms of reduced energy input, greater controllability and the elimination of the dirty, occasionally hazardous and certainly environmentally unwelcome processes in their manufacture.
TWI website
AMP article
Rotherham