Machine shop for Mid-Tec Knives?

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Rhinoknives1

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Hello Fellow Grinders, I remember hearing of a Shop in the Pacific NW, Washington or Oregon?

That other knife makers and companies have used to batches of blades ground to spec for a mid-Tec line of my knives! Any help with that or if you know of another Shop that could make say 100-200 blades?

Thanks!
 
Jantz might have the hook up you need
 
The one you make be thinking of it Larkin Precision. The problem with some of the shops that do this is that they have discovered that they can make their own knives and the attendant larger margins, so they may not have so much excess capacity in the future. Larkin makes the Bradford line of knives. but you should drop Brad am e-mail. He strikes me as a straight up guy who will give you good info..
 
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Yep, Larkin Precision is what you are looking for

They do a lot of makers blades
 
Millet did some very shallow hollow ground kitchen blades for Adam Simha, but they are not really set up to flat grind. Plus, they may not have the excess capacity that they once had as they are now doing their own line of knives much like Halpern IIRC. Capacity may to be a potential issue for a number of these providers with the current state of the mid-tech and small batch production biz.
 
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What kind of setup do production knives get ground on?

I remember seeing an automation guy on Practical Machinist post a video of a system his company installed, which was basically a robot arm doing the grinds on iirc a CBN wheel with full flood coolant and a cartridge setup for ground/unground blanks. He wouldn't say which Mfg it was for but it looked like a Kershaw blade to me.
 
kuraki said:
What kind of setup do production knives get ground on?

I remember seeing an automation guy on Practical Machinist post a video of a system his company installed, which was basically a robot arm doing the grinds on iirc a CBN wheel with full flood coolant and a cartridge setup for ground/unground blanks. He wouldn't say which Mfg it was for but it looked like a Kershaw blade to me.
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That's my understanding of those new CNC machines but as long as the outcome is good, how doesn't really matter to me if the have a gorilla that can do it right in a timely manner. I have been through 4 other makers that ether took forever or out right ruined about $2000.00 of my water jet cut blades:rolleyes:. So I'm leaning towards CNC now that has someone that can program it properly!.... thanks Joe and ever one else for the leads!
 
We're not in the blade production business but our shop 3D machines scales for folks. We have one machining center almost completely dedicated to this. We have a total of four CNC VMCs with about 2/3 of our production knife related. We're probably a little bigger than most folks in this forum realize. Typical minimum run is 200 sets. We make many thousands of scales for folks per year and are reasonably priced with a focus on the highest quality in the industry. <--- you know, just in case folks weren't aware...
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
We're not in the blade production business but our shop 3D machines scales for folks. We have one machining center almost completely dedicated to this. We have a total of four CNC VMCs with about 2/3 of our production knife related. We're probably a little bigger than most folks in this forum realize. Typical minimum run is 200 sets. We make many thousands of scales for folks per year and are reasonably priced with a focus on the highest quality in the industry. <--- you know, just in case folks weren't aware...
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Thanks Nathan, We chatted about this briefly a couple of years ago! I have a Budget of Funds now if I can make this work for one smaller Culinary knife. I will be in touch after I get some numbers from the Blade grinders/machinists .

I am Allergic/sensitized to Micarta, "Formaldehyde" and Rosewoods so I will be sourcing Handler scales in other materials!

Thanks!
 
J. Rosa said:
If you find a place willing to do small batches let me know.
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Jim, Nate's quote of 200 units is typically the smallest batch that most folks will do. Some that I have talked to, like Ken Onion's people, said they would require 500 and another said 1000. Brad Larkin used to do 100 minimum, but that just isn't economically feasible anymore, I guess. That's 200 or more of the same "model" as each one requires its own setup/programming and fixture on the CNC mill, Berger grinding machine, etc.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
We're not in the blade production business but our shop 3D machines scales for folks. We have one machining center almost completely dedicated to this. We have a total of four CNC VMCs with about 2/3 of our production knife related. We're probably a little bigger than most folks in this forum realize. Typical minimum run is 200 sets. We make many thousands of scales for folks per year and are reasonably priced with a focus on the highest quality in the industry. <--- you know, just in case folks weren't aware...
Click to expand...
So when are you going to buy a Berger, water jet and some salt pots and provide the one stop shopping experience? :D
 
kuraki said:
What kind of setup do production knives get ground on?

I remember seeing an automation guy on Practical Machinist post a video of a system his company installed, which was basically a robot arm doing the grinds on iirc a CBN wheel with full flood coolant and a cartridge setup for ground/unground blanks. He wouldn't say which Mfg it was for but it looked like a Kershaw blade to me.
Click to expand...

In the past it was all Berger Double Disc grinders.

However with the new robotic cell manufacturing, you can plunk an arm in fromt of a grinder and basically have it hand grind a knife with faster setups and shorter runs.
 
Laurence, I just started a new job running an aerospace shop in Burbank,
we can talk, at least I might be able to guide you
I've never machined blades (bevels) but have done G10 scales on machines at my last shop I worked.

you can also try this concept but will require more of your time - http://urbanworkshop.net/

John (kuraki) I know a company like Emerson has Bergers for grinding
You could also try Emerson or you might get better results with ProTech, these are all local to us.
Maybe Brian Fellhoelter in AZ?
Maybe Aaron Gough?
 
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