Question about water jetting

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Blue Collar Steel

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Hey there. First off I wanted to say that this is my first post and I have to thank everyone for all the help and advice that they have provided me up to this point. Right now I'm working out of my garage making a knife about once a week. I have a full time job but I make time for knife making when I can and I love it. I have been humoring the thought of increasing my production by getting a few knives water jetted. If I did do the water jetting I would like to do around 75 blades and then get a stand at a local gun and knife show. My question is who has done water jetting before and which company do they go through? Also who do you go through to get the steel because as of now I've been using mostly bar steel and have only found one distributor of sheets. Finally what is the average cost per cut to get that many blanks water jetted? This would be a big step forward in my business and I want to make sure I make the right decision before I spend all this money. Thank you!
 
One bit of advice from my experience. You are fairly new to this, starting to see some results and ready to go into big production - we've all been there. As you progress, your skills will progress as well and your designs will evolve and mature over time. I'm willing to bet that if you get 75 blades cut out right now, you will probably hate that design and not want to make it anymore way before you get to number 75. I've been doing this for 6 years and I can't stand stuff I designed last year. I'd hate to make that kind of investment early on and be stuck with a bunch of money tied up in blades that I may not want to even finish at some point in the future. I rushed into trying to mass produce blades early on and I have moved away from that practice. You will learn something with each knife you make and part of that will be tweaking your designs. I would hold off on water jetting large volumes (at s cost probably over $2k for 75) until you are sure of the design and can prove it will sell. I'm not trying to be discouraging, but that is my advice. I'm sure others will chime in with price estimates and vendors if you choose to go that route.


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Thanks for the advice and I have considered that. There are some knives I've made which I love and others I look at and think "where was I going with this"? Haha When I said I wanted 75 blanks cut I didn't mean all the same style. I would have a few different designs cut so I would only have about 10 of each style. But I can see what you are saying about not being 100% pleased with some designs. Thanks for the advice.
 
Do you have the capacity to make a digital 2d file of your designs? You have to send a .dxf file which is basically 2d line drawing that the waterjet can read. I used free CAD software to generate the .dxf and had some blanks cut by H2O Knife/ Leading Edge Fabricating, they are on the forums and great to work with. Aldo at New Jersey Steel Baron is the steel provider of choice for many makers of all levels. I ordered my steel from NJSB and had it shipped directly to Mark at Leading Edge Fab for waterjetting. He was clear, quick, easy to work with, and the quality of the service provided is top notch. You can send him your files or sketches and steel details and he can help you figure out how much it would cost.
 
Being a knifemaker that has a waterjet at work, here's my .02$
Having a rendering of your design is one thing, having the actual profile in your hands is a whole different animal. Water jet leaves behind a tapered kerf. Ensure your design is a little bigger all around to compensate for it. I tend to get bored easily and I constantly change my designs. I'd never do a production run as I'd never want to finish it. If you can't draw your design you'll be paying for it. It's not cheap. You'd be better off watching some YouTube videos about CAD and download draftsight. Save it into a DXF format to get a quote.
 
Mark at Leading Edge does my cutting. You need to do a lot of the same pattern to make waterjet cost-effective.
A metal-cutting bandsaw might be a better investment for now.
 
Expect to pay $5 to $20 per blank depending on cut quality, part geometry, and shop rates.
 
It has been a couple of years, but $10 per blade seemed to be kind of the median range for guys who were doing knife blanks.
 
Straighter lines cut faster and better than curves. Corners are also slow spots. The only reason I bring this up is that most shops that I've dealt with charge by cut time/cut quality. They can be one in the same. There is no change in pressure or media used to get a better cut, it's all feed speed. If I was cutting blanks for fixed blades I would cut relatively fast in areas that aren't crucial and can be changed. You can program different speeds for different lines. For folder parts that I cut I do this. I.e. On the geometry of the lock bar, and the tang of the blade I slow down the cut. On the edge of the blade I go fast. I also mirror the sides of the handles so the taper goes the same direction. One thing that I have noticed since I've actually started using a waterjet is that in the past I have always paid for good cut quality and received much less. Cut quality depends on a number of things, but job shops tend to not change out their consumables very often and the result is an average cut. I had no idea what a good cut was until I actually cut stuff. I'm getting less than 1* taper on my cuts that matter. All the above is not referencing the companies stated earlier, only local shops to me, I have not done business with any of those companies listed on this thread.
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Thanks for all the advice. Maybe I will just stick to making rough cuts myself and smoothing it out from there. Might even entertain the idea of a metal cutting band saw. I just thought the water jet would be easier and faster but from the sound of it it seems like it may be more of a pain.
 
It's only a pain if your not prepared, you get what you pay for.
Prototype - low volume orders are not cheap.
You better off bandsaw cutting until you have need to run 24" x 36" sheets.
 
I use a Harbor Freight portable bandsaw with good quality metal cutting blades and it works well.
 
Ok well maybe I need to start looking at a few. I've been using and angle grinder with a cut off wheel. It works however I'm looking for a better alternative.
 
A Harbor Freight or Grizzly 4" X 6" metal-cutting bandsaw is pretty much the industry standard for custom makers.
Some use portable band saws affixed to a stand. These may be a little cheaper than the 4 X 6, but are limited in depth of cut.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
A Harbor Freight or Grizzly 4" X 6" metal-cutting bandsaw is pretty much the industry standard for custom makers.
Some use portable band saws affixed to a stand. These may be a little cheaper than the 4 X 6, but are limited in depth of cut.
Click to expand...

Yep,

I get a ton of use from mine in both horizontal and vertical postiions. With a Bi Metal blade you can get a lot of work done.
 
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