About Us
How Friction Forged Blades Began

In 2003, two quail hunters, Hobie Smith of Smith International, Inc. and Charles Allen, Knives of Alaska's President, were teamed up at the Grand National Quail Convention, an annual fund raising event in Enid, Oklahoma for quail conservation and research. As fellow bird hunters will do through the course of the day, conversation revolved around quail hunting and management, bird dogs, the Grand National, and eventually what each did business-wise. Hobie's Smith International has two operating units in Provo, Utah-MegaDiamond and MegaStir-both concerned with manufacturing synthetic diamond and other "ultra-hard" materials for oil field drilling bits and other specialty tools. Knives of Alaska manufactures high quality outdoorsmen's knives.

The discussions eventually led to the challenge "LET'S TEAM OUR COMPANIES UP AND BUILD THE MOST TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED BLADE IN THE WORLD."

Thus it was at the Grand National that a four-year research process began. Teaming mechanical and electrical engineers, metallurgists and materials PhD's from Brigham Young University, and manufacturing experts from MegaStir, MegaDiamond, and Knives of Alaska, eventually culminated with meeting the challenge. Their research yielded newly issued U.S. Patents concerning technological advancements in knife blades that are "a technological leap ahead" of any other knife in the world-FRICTION FORGED® SUPER BLADES-and resulted in the formation of the new American knife manufacturing company, DIAMONDBLADE, LLC, that builds the Friction Forged® blades.

Friction Forging Technical Document

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What They're Saying
ultramodern technology creates blades with strength and edge-holding ability that is certainly unsurpassed, and probably unequaled...not hype, it is for real.
— Field & Stream Magazine, award selection committee
In this age of hype and hoola it is refreshig to get exactly what you pay for - Quality!
— Tom Steck
DiamondBlade's Friction Forged blades are probably the most significant legitimate improvement in the knife industry in over 40 years.
— Dr. Tracy Nelson, Phd., Brigham Young University Mechanical Engineering Dept.
The Stars of the Show were the DiamondBlade knives. For once, I found something truly new and innovative, not to mention an improvement on everything I have tried before? .I was, and truly am, impressed, probably for the first time in 10 years or so? They are the neatest product to come along in the outdoor field in many a moon. These blades come out of the box razor sharp. They are so sharp they are a little scary.
— Tom Turpin, Guns Magazine
Do they stay sharp? I recently gutted and skinned a mud-encrusted wild hog in the California hills. The knife felt as sharp as before. In tests, a DiamondBlade severed a 1/2 inch manila rope 300 times and remained keen enough to shave. It then chopped several 2x4's in two---before lopping another section of rope with one swipe!
— Wayne Van Zwoll, Bugle Magazine, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation