There's a group of knifemakers in Texas that put together a tag of "100%er". Knifemakers that do 100% of the work in their shop, 100% of the time. I know Warren Osborne was a part of the original group. Its more or less a way to build awareness of the craft of handmade custom knives. They have a FaceBook page. As an oldtimer I appreciate the knife made in a makers shop from raw materials. CNC and water jetting is new technology that is being incorporated into "handmade" knives and in fact the knifemakers guild has opened its membership to CNC makers recently. The 100%er group is staying true to the way old knifemakers that blazed the trail made their knives.
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What does "CUSTOM" Mean
- Thread starter nannybear
- Start date
I think that would depend solely on if its a single person running the shop or if their is a team of people making the knives. Usually most single makers would not bother getting a waterjet as the the price of the machine is tremendous compared to its usefulness to a single person. I don't really see it being logical unless you are a maker doing runs of 100 blanks at a time.
Are you sure about this? In the 2014 videos of LT Wrights shop he says they buy the stock and send it out to be water jet cut (like many makers do) then do all the grinding in house and make the handles. If doing a full custom profile they band saw cut in house. I don't think heat treat was addressed in the video but they likely send them out as again, many makers do. Now LT Wright is not claiming to make a custom knife, these are production knives and the outside water jetting and heat treat makes sense for what these are and the price range. It is a multi person shop and each worker has certain steps they do rather than each making a knife start to finish themselves.
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To me, the term "custom knife" means that someone provides a knife maker with the specifications, and maybe the design or idea of a design, and said knife maker makes the knife to those specs &^ designs. It might be a radical design or it might be "CUSTOMER SPECIFIED" changes to a stock knife.
I don't make custom knives. I could, but I just don't want to put up with the hassle of pleasing picky people. So, I just make knives in my spare time. Hopefully, some people like what I design and make, allowing me to loose less money.
I started making knives with a band saw, an angle grinder and some files. Each blade blank produced took a while.
Now, I use a water jet to cut my blanks, whether I'm cutting a single blade or a batch of 30 or more. As an example of WHY I believe one should consider using a water jet - I recently cut out 30 13" blade blanks in about 85 minutes, 57 of the minutes being the actually cutting time. I had already designed it, drawn it up in Autocad and converted the Autocad drawing to the water jet control file previously for a previous cutting session (about 5 hours of work from start to finish). All I had to do this time was boot up the control PC, load my file, calibrate the water jet and my steel blank, push "Start" and watch.
What was my cost? $114 - I paid $2 a minute to use the waterjet and it took less than 2 minutes per blank.
Had I used a band saw to cut them out (as in the "good old days), I would have had to paint each billet with layout dye, let it dry, line up my template and trace out each blank. THEN I would have had to cut each blank individually, with my fingers within inches (or less) of a high speed blade. About 2 minutes per blade for the prep work, and then probably about 30 minutes to cut each EACH BLANK, as I go very slowly. I have 10 intact fingers and would prefer to keep them that way. I probably would have had to change out the band saw blade at least 1x.
I realize some folks don't think using a waterjet is "kosher" for custom knife making. IF I were to start making custom knives, I would STILL USE a water jet. If I were to take the customer's specs/ideas, design the knife blank profile on paper, transfer it into a CAD program, convert the CAD file to a flowjet file, cut out the blank, do the prep grinding, and do the finish work, after sending it out for heat treating, I would claim that the knife I produced was a custom knife, even though I didn't do 100% of the work (didn't do the HT).
I prefer to have my HTing done by PROFESSIONALS who know metallurgy. I could study up on the whys and wherefores of properly heat-treating steel to become a metallurgical guru, spend $KKKs on equipment, spend a lot of time HTing each blade, etc.... OR, instead, I can drop off my HT ready blanks, tell them the steel type and what target RC I want, go off and do other things that are both more fun and more profitable. When I get the call that they are ready about a week later, I go back and pick my HTed blades.
I'm happy to be a 99%er.
I don't make custom knives. I could, but I just don't want to put up with the hassle of pleasing picky people. So, I just make knives in my spare time. Hopefully, some people like what I design and make, allowing me to loose less money.
I started making knives with a band saw, an angle grinder and some files. Each blade blank produced took a while.
Now, I use a water jet to cut my blanks, whether I'm cutting a single blade or a batch of 30 or more. As an example of WHY I believe one should consider using a water jet - I recently cut out 30 13" blade blanks in about 85 minutes, 57 of the minutes being the actually cutting time. I had already designed it, drawn it up in Autocad and converted the Autocad drawing to the water jet control file previously for a previous cutting session (about 5 hours of work from start to finish). All I had to do this time was boot up the control PC, load my file, calibrate the water jet and my steel blank, push "Start" and watch.
What was my cost? $114 - I paid $2 a minute to use the waterjet and it took less than 2 minutes per blank.
Had I used a band saw to cut them out (as in the "good old days), I would have had to paint each billet with layout dye, let it dry, line up my template and trace out each blank. THEN I would have had to cut each blank individually, with my fingers within inches (or less) of a high speed blade. About 2 minutes per blade for the prep work, and then probably about 30 minutes to cut each EACH BLANK, as I go very slowly. I have 10 intact fingers and would prefer to keep them that way. I probably would have had to change out the band saw blade at least 1x.
I realize some folks don't think using a waterjet is "kosher" for custom knife making. IF I were to start making custom knives, I would STILL USE a water jet. If I were to take the customer's specs/ideas, design the knife blank profile on paper, transfer it into a CAD program, convert the CAD file to a flowjet file, cut out the blank, do the prep grinding, and do the finish work, after sending it out for heat treating, I would claim that the knife I produced was a custom knife, even though I didn't do 100% of the work (didn't do the HT).
I prefer to have my HTing done by PROFESSIONALS who know metallurgy. I could study up on the whys and wherefores of properly heat-treating steel to become a metallurgical guru, spend $KKKs on equipment, spend a lot of time HTing each blade, etc.... OR, instead, I can drop off my HT ready blanks, tell them the steel type and what target RC I want, go off and do other things that are both more fun and more profitable. When I get the call that they are ready about a week later, I go back and pick my HTed blades.
I'm happy to be a 99%er.
brownshoe
I support this site with my MIND
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Per a thread from a quick search, the 100%ers don't make their own screws, bolts and steel...who draws the line and where?
Some makers buy their damascus, some make it, some makers even make their own steel. Some makers buy their screws...and full pivot assemblies. Some makers buy their thumbstuds...who draws the line and where?
The best thing is to forget the labels "custom", "hand-made", etc. and make sure as a consumer you know what you are buying, what it means and what it means to you. Knife makers need to tell the truth. Both of those things are hard for many people
Personally I have bought "custom" knives that have been made many different ways and never been disappointed 'cause I knew what to ask before I bought and was told correct answers.
Some makers buy their damascus, some make it, some makers even make their own steel. Some makers buy their screws...and full pivot assemblies. Some makers buy their thumbstuds...who draws the line and where?
The best thing is to forget the labels "custom", "hand-made", etc. and make sure as a consumer you know what you are buying, what it means and what it means to you. Knife makers need to tell the truth. Both of those things are hard for many people
Personally I have bought "custom" knives that have been made many different ways and never been disappointed 'cause I knew what to ask before I bought and was told correct answers.