can anyone recommend a stencil making system?

[Travis Fry]

I've recently become dissatisfied with my current go-to stencil maker, who will remain unnamed. Being an accountant and all I started running the economics, and I determined that it might be in my best long-term financial interest to acquire my own stencil developing machine and make my own. Depending on the cost, it wouldn't take long for the machine to pay for itself in money saved, not even considering the possibilities of making them for others for profit.

My question is this: Does anyone have any specific experiences with any of the myriad stencil making systems out there, and, based on those experiences, can anyone recommend one? Quality is of primary importance, though price is an important factor.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Travis,
The reality of the economics is that getting all the equipment to make top quality stencils yourself is sort of like building your own refinery to make your own gasoline. The end product will be lower cost, but the startup will never be recovered. Unless you are talking many thousand stencils, it won't be cost effective at all.
I would just get a new supplier and move on. The cost of a sheet or booklet of stencils is very low, and will do hundreds to thousands of knives. The cost is literally pennies per knife.

If you want to make them yourself, you can do it for as cheap as $5-10 or get a full system for about $600. Just like stabilizing your own wood, it is most probable that the guys who do it every day and thousands of times will be far better at it than you will.

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

I'm curious, how many stencils have you had made? If you're doing a lot of one off stencils, have you considered a different method? A laser printer can be had for $100 and a cheap iron is $20. Print the mirrored, inverted image and iron it onto the blade to be used as a resist then go to town etching it.

Here's a tutorial on it:
http://www.field-knives.com/tutorials/21-logo-etch-tutorial.html

 

[benjamin2515101]

Can anyone provide a link to a good stencil maker?

 

[jawilder]

Can anyone provide a link to a good stencil maker?

http://www.erniesknives.com/knifemaker_stencil.html

 

[Jason Fry]

Here's another stencil maker.

http://www.tustech.com/admin/ecst

 

[Mike Fennessy]

Here's how I make my one-offs
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/930699-Stencil-Developing-with-lots-of-pictures

Otherwise I get them from Ernie, and they're excellent. The electrolyte from usaknifemakers is a huge improvement over salt water.