The August 23rd Artillery Battle of 1958 brought to Kinmen as many as 470,000 artillery shells. The ensuing(8) smaller bombardments and "propaganda" shellings on odd-numbered days of the month continuously supplied Kinmen with a huge number of artillery shells. These shells provided the best material resource for making steel knives. Aside from any artistic carving, a famous Kinmen steel knife requires the processes of slicing, melting, striking, and sharpening. About sixty steel knives can be made out of a single spent(9) artillery shell.
民國四十七年（西元1958年）的八二三砲戰，整個金門島落彈量約 47萬發；之後的幾個小型砲戰和二十年『單打雙不打』的砲擊，所累積下來龐大的砲彈，正是製作菜刀最好的材料。一把聞名的金門菜刀，除了雕工以外，仍須經過切割、加熱、打造及研磨等步驟。一顆廢棄的砲彈外殼約可作出六十把菜刀。