Food Processing
Stainless and Tool-Steel Blades for Slicing, Dicing and Portioning
Designed for washdown environments and food-contact compliance. Material traceability documented per ISO 9001:2015 §8.5, mill certificates and CMM reports shipped with every knife.
Hygienic design
How food-grade blades meet the washdown
A food blade that survives CIP is one where water, residue and bacteria cannot hide. Geometry, surface finish and fastener selection all have to align.
Food lines are washed down 2–4 times per shift with chlorinated sanitiser at 60–80 °C. A blade that survives this has to shed water, drain cleanly and tolerate thermal cycling. Knives that trap product residue in horizontal pockets fail CIP and fail audit.
The two failure modes we see most often — edge passivation from residue build-up and corrosion pitting at the grind transition — both trace back to the same root cause: the surface finish was specified for cutting performance, not washdown compatibility.
Surface finish and drainage
Surface roughness ≤ Ra 0.4 µm ground, ≤ Ra 0.2 µm optional polish. No crevices at the grind transition — geometry designed to shed water and CIP chemicals.
Material traceability and lot marking
Mill certificate, heat-treatment chart and dimensional report shipped with every knife. Lot number laser-marked on each blade for recall traceability per ISO 9001:2015 §8.5.
Hygienic fasteners and handles
No threaded fasteners in the food zone. Hex-drive or captive fasteners with FDA-grade lubricant. Handles and backers in food-grade polymer or 304/316 stainless.
Engineering scope
Six specification levers for food processing
Food-grade blades live or die on surface finish, traceability and edge geometry. Each lever below is documented, measured and reported — not assumed.
Material grades
Martensitic stainless 1.4116 (AISI 440B) and 1.4034 (AISI 420) for direct food-contact applications. D2 (1.2379) where the cut is indirect or upstream of the contact zone. Hardness HRC 54–58 stainless, HRC 58–62 D2.
Washdown-rated finish
Surface roughness ≤ Ra 0.4 µm ground, ≤ Ra 0.2 µm optional polish, no crevices at the grind transition. Knife geometry designed to shed water — no horizontal pockets that trap product residue through CIP cycles.
Traceability and compliance
Mill certificate, heat-treatment chart and dimensional report shipped with every knife. Material traceability documented per ISO 9001:2015 §8.5. Lot number laser-marked on each blade for recall traceability.
Typical applications
Meat and poultry slicing, cheese portioning and shredding, vegetable dicing, bakery cutting, frozen-food portioning. Straight and circular geometries; serrated variants for crusty or fibrous product where a clean slice would smear.
Edge geometry
Honed edge 10–25 µm for clean slicing, scalloped / serrated for crusty product, micro-honed 30–50 µm for frozen product. Bevel angle selected per substrate — typically 15°–22° on slicing blades, 30°–45° on portioning tools.
Hygienic design notes
No threaded fasteners in the food zone. Where fixing is required, hex-drive or captive fasteners with FDA-grade lubricant. Handles and backers supplied in food-grade polymer or 304/316 stainless to match the line.
Sourcing food-grade cutting tools?
Tell us the product (meat, cheese, vegetable, bakery, frozen), line configuration and current failure mode. We will return a written quote with material grade, surface finish and edge geometry within one business day.