• Fast EU-wide shipping
  • World-wide shipping on request
  • Customer Support via email
  • info@donner-tech.de
  • Fast EU-wide shipping
  • World-wide shipping on request
  • Customer Support via email
  • info@donner-tech.de

About

The idea for the knives came about in 2017 as a hobby project for company founder Steven Donner - "designing and making a knife according to your own ideas". At that time, the company existed as a sole proprietorship in the area of contract manufacturing and was still operating in a small workshop without employees.

That was 3 years before the “Donner Tech” motorcycle accessories brand was created and initially there was no intention of offering the knives for sale.

After the first hand sketches, the design quickly followed in the CAD program, after which production began immediately. Since there was already some experience in machining and suitable machines, this quickly led to satisfactory results.

First version in CAD

The Donner lettering was initially designed with pen and paper...

... and then transferred to the CAD program and refined

The blades were first roughly prepared and then hardened

This was followed by final machining using hard milling (1.2379-D2 with a hardness of 62 Rockwell.

Hard milling also produced excellent surface finishes - but the tooling costs were enormous.

After blasting and surface grinding, a DLC coating was applied to improve corrosion and scratch resistance and appearance.

Finished coated here. As you can see, the handle area in the first version was designed without openings.

Fun fact: the blades are made on a home-made milling machine - the Thundermill evolution. Steven Donner developed these in collaboration with a former employer and built two of them. The solid construction with a total weight of 5.5 tons and the use of high-quality components from well-known manufacturers enables precise machining of the quite difficult to cut steels.

After manufacturing the first handle scales, the individual parts of the knife sheath, the DLC coating of the blades as well as assembly and sharpening using the "Wicked Edge", the first 12 knives were soon finished:

 

Of course, the knives were then used and tested extensively

Here with the Tek-Lok adapter system installed

Even rougher work is easily possible thanks to the 5mm thick blade

Batoning test

Hardness test in aluminum sheet. Thanks to the DLC coating, aluminum abrasion can be wiped off without leaving any residue

Use in hunting

Due to demand, a first edition with serial numbers 1 to 12 was produced at the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020 after a revision of the design and manufacturing process for the blades.

Instead of milling the blades in the hardened state, they are now finished in the soft state from a block and only then hardened

The raw material block is cut off with a side milling cutter. This is only possible with a stable machine

The handle area now has openings and the design of the eyelet at the end of the handle has been improved. The geometry of the blade has also been optimized

As before, the processing of the second side is carried out on a magnetic chuck

Now the steel type, serial number and date of manufacture are also engraved on the blade

Only then are the blades sent for vacuum hardening in a specially made holding frame

Flat grinding of thickness

Blasting for a homogeneous surface finish

Subsequent vibratory grinding for look and feel

The further steps such as DLC coating and grinding of the actual cutting edge have remained the same.

Here is a comparison of the old (above) and new version (below).

The weight of the blade has been reduced from 150g to 124g, which has improved the handling of the knife.

The first 12 knives with a serial number quickly found buyers and in mid-2020, in addition to handles made of new materials and other experiments, further knives up to serial number 36 were produced, including 4 with blades made of Böhler M390.

The first knives with serial numbers

Different handle shells - no longer just made of aluminum

Canvas Micarta

New textures for the handle scales

Unusual materials

The M390 blades are also milled from one block

And what do knives have to do with Donner-Tech motorcycle accessories?

In 2020, shortly after the new Yamaha Ténéré 700 was privately purchased, another product was created, which then marked the beginning of the Donner-Tech brand.

A sat nav holder, also Steven Donner's own creation - because nothing suitable could be found on the market.

The first product “Navihalter Basic 11-12” was created from the idea to design and production of the prototype within one day. In-house production has great advantages here.

Mounted in the cockpit of the Ténéré 700

The Yamaha in question with prototype knife

Another Instagram account was created and other Ténéré drivers were quickly interested in this sat nav holder. After the first sales via Instagram as a sales channel, this web shop was launched in 2020 and demand was high. Little by little, products were added that further increased interest in Donner-Tech solutions and shortly afterwards the knives moved into the background due to time constraints.

However, the will to continue the knife story was always present and three years later the project was finally taken up again. The company has now changed its corporate form to a "GmbH" and 6 employees are employed at the new location in Schorndorf.

From 2020 there were still some half-finished blades, handles and all other parts in the drawer that were finally completed into finished knives. The team then decided on a name for the knife model: ORIGIN. Because it is the first model - the origin of the product division.

Some Origins could be put together from the existing individual parts and are available here in the shop for the first time, including 3 pieces with blades made of Böhler M390.

 

From now on there will be new production; the Origin will be available in different versions and as Makers Choice here in the shop. All parts except the blade will also be available individually.

The Origin is an ideal platform for customization. Since all parts can be interchanged at will and a variety of different materials and finishes can be combined, a wide range of different tastes can be covered. With a blade length of less than 12cm, the Origin can also be used legally in Germany.

Steven Donner - Donner GmbH

Photo: Karl Grötzinger

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