Waterjet cutting for knife blanks

greatlakeswaterjet

greatlakeswaterjet

I really hate bladeforums. Which is why I still co
Joined
Oct 8, 2007
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Hello to everyone. I am David and own Great Lakes Waterjet, inc. I would like to tell you a little about what we can do for you. I have a very good source for knife blank materials and cut blanks on a regular basis for several large companys. We wish to expand our services and offer this to the person that may only need a couple of peices or thousands. I can use your drawings or help you design what you need. I use DXF or DWG most of the time. If you just have something in mind, I will be happy to draw it up for you. I will not charge you for set-up or helping with design. I will cut your parts on your approval only. I will save a copy of your file if you need more later or wish to make changes. I WILL NOT SHARE FILES! These are your parts and are confidential. Soon I will post some pics of some blanks to give you an idea of what can be done. I have some drawings I did for myself and have some time to make them. I will need some help from here from time to time on my projects. Please take the time to visit my website or contact me anytime. Thanks Kevin for a great site and thanks everyone for letting me hang out. I look forward to meeting everyone! David.:)
 
I sure can. I can convert them. I use AutoCad 2006 if you can convert them.
 
Could you tell us what your minimum orders would be and give a couple examples of how much a run would cost?
 
I don't have a minimum! If you only need one or one thousand, it doesn't matter to me. You will get the same service as the production jobs we do. Just for example, I cut a survival knife blank a while back. It was around 11" long and 1.75" tall. They were 1/8" stainless. The customer supplied material and I cut them for $10 each. Does that help?
 
I think you will have a lot of business here for those prices. Sounds like a great deal.
 
Welcome David, might give you a message about some tsuba blanks for sure cut from mild steel!
 
greatlakeswaterjet said:
I don't have a minimum! If you only need one or one thousand, it doesn't matter to me. You will get the same service as the production jobs we do. Just for example, I cut a survival knife blank a while back. It was around 11" long and 1.75" tall. They were 1/8" stainless. The customer supplied material and I cut them for $10 each. Does that help?
Click to expand...

David just curious about the edge is it exactly 90 degree's or is there some deviation that requires clean up? Also what is your requirement between parts and what would that above part cost in .250 stock.

Thanks
spencer
 
That's awesome. I know there are even some guys on here engineering equipment for custom work rests, grinder attachments, etc. that may be able to utilize your services. We all truly appreciate your interest in delving into the field of custom knives with your services.

Have a great time on the forums!

--nathan
 
I am interested in have some of my small folder blades and springs cut. I am not sure how detailed the drawing needs to be. Could I send a metal template that I use for both and have you take a look? I did not see the pics or your webaddress on your post, am I missing something?
 
Folx,

to quickly see what WJ can do & have (some of) your Qs answered , visit waterjets.org.
There's no limit to how elaborate of a shape you can cut, but for a knife, you still need to
think about scratch removal & buffing. Here's another interesting thing to consider: WJ doesn't care if the steel is already hardened.
 
SAR said:
David just curious about the edge is it exactly 90 degree's or is there some deviation that requires clean up? Also what is your requirement between parts and what would that above part cost in .250 stock.

Thanks
spencer
Click to expand...

I admit to being curious about this as well Spence..Almost all of my hackery bounces from 1/8" to 1/4"
 
greatlakeswaterjet said:
I don't have a minimum! If you only need one or one thousand, it doesn't matter to me. You will get the same service as the production jobs we do. Just for example, I cut a survival knife blank a while back. It was around 11" long and 1.75" tall. They were 1/8" stainless. The customer supplied material and I cut them for $10 each. Does that help?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick reply, I also think these are reasonable prices and it was helpful :D
 
Sorry guys, I was out for a while at the in-laws for supper:barf: Ok. I can cut up to 6" material thickness. Keep in mind that when you get over 1" thick it really slows down and the price goes up. On most materials up to .500 the "taper" is under .003". When the material is thicker, I slow the machine down to reduce taper. I cut all knife blanks at a higher quality than normal. Just makes a nicer part with little or no clean up. I think it is common for most blade steels to be .250 and under. I do keep some materials in stock. What I don't have, I get from Admiral Metals in Chicago. They have a great selection for blade and specialty steels. So I can supply or you can. The waterjet will cut very intricate design work. And you are right, I can cut hardened steel without heat. It won't change the temper. I can use a template, drawing or CAD file. Really anything. I will submit a drawing back to the customer for approval before any cutting. I will have some pics up soon. My website is http://www.greatlakeswaterjetinc.com/Thanks for having me and I look forward to making a lot of new friends.:cool:
 
First, gotta say I dig your website. The photos... eye-catching, beautiful, AND informative with respect to what sort of work you can do. Props to whomever took them and whomever selected them!

And then, just to think out loud a little bit, how much time do I spend blanking out a knife? My shops been offline a couple months now, because I've been moving, but going back now in my memory... it's not an insignificant amount of time. Including marking, cutting off the bar with the bandsaw, and then profiling on the grinder, gotta be at least 25 min. PLUS putting a pretty good hurtin' on a 36 gr belt.
Maybe I can profile three medium-sized knives on one belt, maybe four, but by then it's getting dull.
So I'm going to make a real rough guess here and say that to go from barstock to blank takes me 25 min and $2 in materials. Not to mention it's pretty boring.
So would I spend $8 to eliminate 25 of the more tedious minutes of my process? :confused: I think I would. :)
Once I'm back up-and-running, I think you'll hear from me!
 
Heres some of the more recent profiles that I've cut. I should learn to take pics of the actual piece.The 3rd one down is my design. Cutting that one from .250" 1095 steel. I'll need some help from you guys to finish it.
e79e1646.jpg

e79e1643.jpg

e79e1642.jpg

e79e15d2.jpg
 
greatlakeswaterjet said:
Heres some of the more recent profiles that I've cut. I should learn to take pics of the actual piece.The 3rd one down is my design. Cutting that one from .250" 1095 steel. I'll need some help from you guys to finish it.
e79e1646.jpg


:eek: what the?? I can send you a picture of the actual piece if you'd like
Sir
I'm VERY interested in this design you have listed there and who you cut them for, since it is my design
that I had Emachineshop.com cut for me..
you can see my finished product here.
http://www.primitiveskills.com/news.html
Click to expand...
 
Dan, very nice talking to you this evening and it was great to see some of my work in a finished product. You do some great work and I look forward to our future business. So just so everyone knows that the first design is Dan Gray's. So please don't ask for one of his.;) The very short time I've been on this forum, I sure have met some great people. Thanks everyone.:D
 
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