As early as in the 16th century a metal craft developed in the village of Pavlovo, which is known now as the town of Pavlovo-on-Oka. This place has always been famous for the handicraftsmen who made cold steel, hunting knives, place settings. Pavlovo masters have taught their neighbors their craft: in the village of Vorsma they also started to make knives. What knives they were! The handles were decorated with jasper, mother-of-pearl and bone. In the generations the legend was told of how the goods from Vorsma were evaluated at world fairs: on one scale of the balance a knife was put while golden coins were put on the other scale. The steel products of the Ptitsin brothers, of Biryutin and Zavyalov were highly appreciated at the international exhibitions in London, Paris, Saint-Petersburg, Berlin, Philadelphia.

The situation for the development of the knife craft was very favorable in the village of Vorsma. In the beginning of the 20th century the quality sign in the form of the tsar's two-headed eagle was awarded to the steel products and the knives with engraving produced by Vorsma handicraftsmen. During the Soviet period Vorsma became the «knife capital» of Russia.
SARO enterprise maintains the age-long traditions of the craft. Now it is a plant with the staff of 250 people, producing over 500 items.

While developing new items, the artists of the plant use the methods of flat and deep steel engraving. The specialists have mastered the method of model casting and filigree to finish the knives handles.
SARO specialists have developed a modern design of the knives, introduced new technologies and materials.

The secret of producing Damascus steel has been opened. Now CHT-62 knife steel is used, which is called “blue steel”. Combining viscosity and plasticity, the steel has hardness of 62 HRC at Rockwell scale. The steel may be compared only to Japanese ATC-34 steel and to its American analoque. But the Russian blue steel has certain distinctions. It has 17 alloying additions, in production of steel bars the most powerful press is used which ensures the maximum compression of the crystal lattice, which makes the sharpening of a knife more durable. It is no less important that the quality of the knives made of blue steel is higher while the cost is lower if compared to the knives made of imported steel. A large consignment of special knives made of such steel has been produced for special units of law enforcement bodies of Russia.

In continuation of the traditions of Vorsma as the weapons center the plant has initiated the production of modern «Storm» knives for the marines, “Varan” knives for combat-engineers, “Comandos” assault knives, “Shark” assault knives, knives for privates and officers.
As awards to the most merited privates and officers of the Russian army and state officials modern daggers and hangers have been developed: “Georgievsky”, “Andrew the Apostle” hangers, “Admiral Kuznetsov” hanger. To decorate them the modern state symbols are used in the modern style.

At the traditional “Dagger-2005” Exhibition in Moscow the specialists of the plant exhibited reliable hunting knives, sports knives, beautiful and elegant souvenirs – gift knives, as well as tourist and fishing knives, kitchen-knives, both clasp and fixed ones.

Now the town of Vorsma as the knives center of Russia faces the next stage of its development. Preserving the best traditions of the local handicraftsmen, the plant introduces the production of knives with the use of engraving and etching techniques; the handles are made of beech, walnut and birch bark, and artistic casting of brass and silver is used in the production.