Trepidation and Indecision... Help me out

Hankins

Hankins

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Dec 7, 2008
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Trepidation and Indecision... Help me out :confused:
After finally getting my Ducks in a row as far as equipment it is time to:
"Crap or get off the pot" as the Boss (Wife) says.
Trying to decide if Water Jetted or all Handmade is the way to go with a new line of Frame lock folders...
Have always prided myself on doing the whole job myself start to finish.
IE: It ain't custom if you you don't do it all mentality.
BUT
In order to pay the bills ya gotta bust out more than one a week.
Therein lies the dilemma and actual cost I suppose of doing semi-production work
 
I'd say go for it with waterjet or laser cut parts. It's your design, you're doing the finishing work on those parts, you're making the blade itself. You're doing the handle work, final finishing...

The way I see it, general profiling and cutting of the liners and such via a waterjet business is no different than sending it out for heat treat or buying precision ground steel. You're letting the properly equipped professionals do what they do best so you can focus on the whole project effectively.

I plan to make some folders in the future and will definitely be having at least the liners waterjet cut for profile and the liner lock cut. I'd consider having the holes spotted as well, much easier for the machine to get that precisely placed than for me to do it. I'm all for doing it myself if someone donates a machine to me or the time on one, but I really don't see the difference between me sending the schematics to the company to cut and entering them myself. I also feel that if that gives me a better end result or the ability to offer a quality product and not go broke doing it then that is the best choice.

Do you go chop the wood yourself? mine and smelt the ore?
 
Production is production and if you want to make a hundred the same well getting some help in getting the done is the way to and making some money out of it too can be good, I guess.
I've always said its no how it's made but how good its made.
 
A fairly common dilemma I think. If I may offer an opinion, I would suggest it is still your work as long as it doesn't bypass or artificially enhance your skills.

For example, there is essentially no skill involved in profiling blanks or liners, so WJ just saves you some time at the saw or grinder. This is a simple economy of time. You'll still have to properly fit up these pieces as a knifemaker should. I don't think waterjet takes anything away from your authorship of the knife.

Of course, there is a flipside to that position but some may take offence, so I'll just leave it there as a proposed answer to the question. :)

Rob!
 
Waterjet all the way. I have a blade design that I really like, and that I think would be a decent seller for your average hunter around these parts. But I can't make them even close to profitably without getting the blanks cut for me.

Think about all the time wasted in profiling and drilling holes, and all the materials you burn through (belts and bits). While that work is being done for you, you can be finishing the last batch of blades!
 
Technically it is not custom unless you make them to a given customer's specifications. Handmade is what it is if you are doing the work yourself.
Waterjet is just a big precise bandsaw. If you are doing all of the design work for it it's not much different from using a bandsaw

-Page
 
One does not exclude the other: you can do both, on different price levels.
Moreover, a waterjetted part doesn't mean you didn't do it, nor that it's not handmade.
A belt grinder is a machine, after all, but it doesn't mean it's not hand made.
Any machine that does the boring, repetitive parts for you letting you concentrate on the skillful parts is IMHO welcome.
As for custom, if it's made to customer's specifications, then it's custom, be it handmade or machine made.
 
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