What Happened to Great Lakes Water Jet

Don Hanson III

Don Hanson III

Joined
Oct 3, 2002
Messages
12,297
He had a forum here on BF, but now gone? I ordered shields for slip joints a few years ago and need more. USA Knife maker had them, but no longer.

Also thinking about having folder parts cut. Who's doing the best water jet work these days? Best customer service?

Thanks!
 
Give him a call

<deal spot removed>
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Don Hanson III said:
What Happened to Great Lakes Water Jet

He had a forum here on BF, but now gone? I ordered shields for slip joints a few years ago and need more. USA Knife maker had them, but no longer.

Also thinking about having folder parts cut. Who's doing the best water jet work these days? Best customer service?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Those are 2 separate questions


1.
He had trouble keeping up, sorting out his administration, keeping track of money, and filling orders in a timely fashion.
His turnaround time was measured in months and still is for some people.

Some people had parts water-jetted by a bidding service that he fulfilled and then they noticed he was selling that design on a retail basis.
(Dan Grey???)

He had bad feedback here, started deleting those posts and it blew up from there.
He left BF and joined / co started Knifedogs.



2.
This guy has a forum here on BF and runs an ISO certified facility for aerospace parts.
Better organized, no issues.


http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/member.php/263645-H2Oknife

http://www.leadingedgefab.com/knife-makers
 
We have folks here with paid Knifemaker/Service Provider/Craftman memberships doing this kind of work. Please don't link to non-paid service providers as this is deal spotting and against the rules. We should be giving the people that support this site the first crack at new business.
 
Morrow said:
We have folks here with paid Knifemaker/Service Provider/Craftman memberships doing this kind of work. Please don't link to non-paid service providers as this is deal spotting and against the rules. We should be giving the people that support this site the first crack at new business.
Click to expand...

Ooops...Sorry

I knew he use to be a dealer on BF. Did not know he no longer was.
 
I talked with Aldo about that guy, sent Aldo some designs and he forwarded them on to his guy. Have heard nothing and it's been a couple or three weeks. All I wanted was prices.

Edit:
I called and got the direct number to Aldo's guy. If anyone wants it, send me an email. It's linked through my profile. Visitor message take a while for me to check them as I use tapatalk on my phone mostly.
 
Last edited:
I have had an order in for a long time ,too.

I just called David and had a chat about this thread. Here is the gist of what he said:

He has a lot of large orders, and he is having a hard time fitting in little order when all his table time is full.
While our two blade orders and such are a big deal to us, it is difficult for him to take production time and do them unless he has some open table time to do them.
Also, he has gone into knifemaking, which eats up much of the extra time he used to do these smaller orders in.
 
Yeah, that's what he told me a couple years ago, too. I'm glad to hear that he's doing well. On the other hand, perhaps advertising "custom prototypes", "no minimum parts limits" and "just in time delivery" is no longer appropriate.
 
james terrio said:
Yeah, that's what he told me a couple years ago, too. I'm glad to hear that he's doing well. On the other hand, perhaps advertising "custom prototypes", "no minimum parts limits" and [B]"just in time delivery" is no longer appropriate[/B].
Click to expand...

Not even a possibility. I really hope my tsuba blanks get done, but it has been a long time ( like about a year).
 
I had a good time with a local waterjet guy in Springdale, AR on a non-knife project.
He didn't primarily do knives, and wasn't advertising himself as a knife guy, but it turned out he had done lots of knife orders before.

I liked being able to deal face-to-face, and he apologized it was going to be two days before he'd have it ready.
So I'm not plugging this guy, but rather suggesting, call the local shops; you might find somebody great.
 
there are more and mdore semi local guys water and laser cutting (check around thhey might help you out)

i had a group cut some stufff for me an dthey were jsut 7 miles from my house and never knew about it

that said what aldo is getting together sounds great
 
I wrote him off after the last service I ordered. I assume it was deliberate, at least that was my gut feeling.

How else would you use digital software to drive the machine, and have the tip of the blank off from centerline by 3-5° and the right side an 1/8th bigger than the left. A registered BF maker has them now for being computer and machine made they suck big time.!!
 
With the posts here and ALL the PMs I've received, I have a good picture of what's goin on and who to avoid. :eek:

Thanks all.
 
Don Hanson III said:
He had a forum here on BF, but now gone? I ordered shields for slip joints a few years ago and need more. USA Knife maker had them, but no longer.

Also thinking about having folder parts cut. Who's doing the best water jet work these days? Best customer service?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I don't know who to use if not Dave who works in the knife industry and knows at least what you are talking about. I normally split my orders between him and Mark here on BFs but here lately when I tried that Mark shut me down due to the thickness and didn't want the order. I was told on the phone by Mark that he could not cut my clip blanks with his new machine and due to having to step back the machine or something that was apparently a bigger deal than my order was worth. So from the sounds of this Don it sounds like he won't be able to cut your liner material either because that is what my clip sheets of titanium are at .045 thickness. Mark gave me the very distinct impression that he was not cutting thinner material and so my order went elsewhere. I had five sheets 36" long needing clip blanks cut. Just so you know.
 
All I have to add is this: when he made those small anvils for working on folding knives--$275 ea. Mine already had rust on it when it arrived. I cleaned it, never used it. .........b
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top