Shipping/Packaging Bulk Blanks for HT - Recommendations.

Hawk45

Hawk45

Joined
Jan 28, 2005
Messages
2,154
He all,
Been such a long time since I've been doing any knife work and still w/o a HT oven. I think I'm just going to send my blanks out to Peter's HT again, but this time I have a lot more to go.
I have about 50 fixed blades from 6" to 20" with a bulk in the 8-10" range. In the past I sent about 10 out and used a thick cardboard box with the blades taped together and tightly packed with lots of extra duct/packing tape around the whole package. I don't think that is going to cut this size of a batch. What do you guys recommend for a packing solution? I can only find those HD tubes in bulk, and I don't want to invest in 6-12 (bulk packaging) of them and have them sitting around the shop gathering dust and sucking up belt $$.
Was thinking a thick/HD cardboard tube 24" long with the blades taped and packed tight, but also thought about lining a HD box I used last time with thin metal sheeting and doing the extra tape wrapping again.
Open to suggestions as I just want to make sure all the blades get there and back. With shipping the way it is now it's always a gamble. SMH.

Thanks,
Hawk
 
When I send out bulk stainless blanks for HT, I stack them all together, grouped by size, and try to keep it to 1-2 lots. I wrap them tightly in the Saran Wrap on a roller things you get for moving, then I pack the container absolutely full of brown packing paper on all sides, top and bottom of the knife piles.

I test by closing the box and shaking it aggressively. If I can feel any movement (even any gentle shifting), I pack more paper until it’s one solid box with no movement. Never ever had an accident or lost blade that way. Even for big batches of knives.
 
Pvc tubing? I will wrap the blades together by steel and size. Then I pack the heck out of it. Shake test, any movement is bad. Pack it until it doesnt have any movement like has been said. Lots of packing tape on the outside and ends too.
 
I use USPS flat rate boxes (free) and always double them up. Wrap/tape the blades into one cohesive mass and pack them into the doubled box as densely as possible. If the weight of the package ends up more than a few pounds I’ll also wrap the entire outer box in stranded packing tap to ensure that the cardboard won’t fall apart even if it gets dropped out of a truck and run over. It’s a cheap, quick, and easy way to package heavy metal items that fit in flat rate boxes. (I usually use this technique for shipping larger metal tools and stock myself.)
 
Cliff Carter Knives said:
If I can feel any movement (even any gentle shifting), I pack more
Click to expand...
A good (read: unused) box and this👆

Personally, I'd rather have the possibility of 5-10 smaller weights shifting around than one large weight.

Another option (something I'm doing for mailing 4-5 of my forging hammers some punches and chisels, it's flat rate up to 70#) to a shop where I'm going to work for a couple of weeks) is to get some thin plywood to reinforce the cardboard.
 
It works best if the blanks are the same, then you bolt them through the holes to make them the filling in a plywood sandwich.

Not wood screws, carriage bolts or hex headed bolts.

Inside a plywood box that just slips inside post office flat rate boxes.
You mark all plywood with the Wrench size, make it common like 1/4" -20

You cover every inch of the surface of the flat rate boxes in all directions with clear packing tape.

Call them ahead, as well as mark all the plywood with your name and phone number to - keep custom packing return in these crates
or it all just gets tossed.
 
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Not near as sophisticated as other suggestions but works well and I’ve never had any problems. I use the free bubble mailers from the PO or Fed Ex. I put about 20 blades in one and roll it up. I then put it in another and roll it up again. Then I wrap packing tape around it both ways. I then put blue painters tape around lengthwise. I write on here with a Sharpie type of steel and target hardness. Put five or six of these blade bundles in a cardboard box and off they go.
 
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