Waterjet Cutting Blade Blanks

mrbladeblanks

Dealer - Purveyor
Dear Knife Dogs Community: I would like to introduce myself, Mark, and my business partner, Matt. We are starting an online, custom blade blank cutting service. We are calling it MrBladeBlanks.com. Our service is specifically for knife makers.

Both Matt and I are avid knife enthusiasts. I started off collecting knifes that were passed down by my father, and a few years ago I starting making knifes with simple hand tools. Matt has been collecting knives, zippos, and other cool things for the last 20 years.

Our mission is to provide the knife making hobbyist the ability to custom design a blade in their choice of steel, and have it professionally waterjet cut and sent out as quickly as possible.

While we are in the process of starting up this business, we would like to offer our service to the Knife Dogs Community. We would like to begin by taking orders each week for a particular type and thickness of steel, and through this process we can keep prices manageable, and there will be no minimum quantity. It’s fine to order only one piece.

For example; for week 1 we will take orders and deliver blade blanks in 1095 steel 1/8” thick. Then the following week we take orders for blade blanks in 440C 3/16” thick, and so on.

For this week, we are taking orders to produce a run of custom blade blanks made with 1/8” 1095 Steel. For us to quote your blade, please email your .DXF file to mrbladeblanks@gmail.com. Also for this run there is no minimum quantity, its fine to order only one piece. We will reply to your email with the quote for your design and desired quantity.

If you don’t have a .DXF file for your design, we can create one for you for a small fee. Again if you’re interested please send an e-mail to mrbladeblanks@gmail.com. We will appreciate any feedback from you to help serve you better. Give us a try.
 
What kind of tolerances can you hold? Can you give approximate prices...knife x long by x wide out of 1/8 440c....etc?
 
Does your machine have a dynamic head? The reason I ask is that it is important (to me) to have a true 90 degree cut. A lot of older machines leave 7-8 degree angles that have to be ground off.
Also, its none of my business but I think you'd get a lot more business if you'd allow people to drop ship you their material of choice and just charge for the cutting. If people have to wait several weeks in order to get their material of choice cut, they're probably gonna use another service.
Best of luck.
 
What kind of tolerances can you hold? Can you give approximate prices...knife x long by x wide out of 1/8 440c....etc?

Dear Smallshop:
Thank you for your question. We strive to maintain tolerances that are +/- 0.005”.

For your question about pricing, the best way for us to give you an accurate quote is for you to send us your file or drawing. There is no cost for our quote so please feel free to e-mail us at mrbladeblanks@gmail.com . Our intent is to keep prices reasonable. While we are still in the process of getting started, we are quoting on a project by project basis.
 
Does your machine have a dynamic head? The reason I ask is that it is important (to me) to have a true 90 degree cut. A lot of older machines leave 7-8 degree angles that have to be ground off.
Also, its none of my business but I think you'd get a lot more business if you'd allow people to drop ship you their material of choice and just charge for the cutting. If people have to wait several weeks in order to get their material of choice cut, they're probably gonna use another service.
Best of luck.

Dear Darrin Sanders:
Thank you for your question and feedback. One of the machines can be programmed to compensate for taper, but I will need to check and get back to you on the exact angle. Some finishing steps will still be required, but I will see what we can do and get back to you.

Also thank you for the comment about drop shipping the material. Our goal is to eventually have all of the popular steels in stock, but that may take a while. We will definitely look into receiving the material as you suggest.
 
Does your machine have a dynamic head? The reason I ask is that it is important (to me) to have a true 90 degree cut. A lot of older machines leave 7-8 degree angles that have to be ground off.
Also, its none of my business but I think you'd get a lot more business if you'd allow people to drop ship you their material of choice and just charge for the cutting. If people have to wait several weeks in order to get their material of choice cut, they're probably gonna use another service.
Best of luck.
Darrin,
Have you talked to the people using the older machines. Water jet is notorious for it's close tolerances and square cuts. Most of the time the bevel is from over using nozzles, or a table that is not level. Cutting in the wrong direction can have an effect on the part as well. Counter clockwise for holes and clockwise for outer perimeters.

I have our HPR 400 plasma tables at work dialed in to about 1.5 degree bevel or less. The table is 12 feet wide and 55 feet long.
 
The draft (angle of the cut, it is not perpendicular) depends on PSI, nozzle, speed, material, thickness and type of machine. A four axis waterjet can compensate for draft and minimize it. Not everyone runs a 4 axis waterjet. Most are 2D. There is almost always some draft to any waterjet parts. The operator plays a big part in this.

Cut quality is measured in Q levels 1 to 5 with Q1 being roughest. I've never found the definitive measurement of Q level cuts. It seems to be a bit subjective. You can google up images on waterjet cut quality but here is a pic from one vendor.
WaterjetCut-Quality-Guage.jpg

Most will cut to Q3 or Q4 but with increased cut quality comes increased cost. A Q5 cut vs a Q3 cut can cost 50% as the machine runs much slower.

Generally, a waterjet job is quoted through their software. The software looks at the drawing, takes into account material, thickness, piercings and cut quality and determines abrasive use and time. A shop rate number is then applied and the cost per blade is determined. Piercings add cost/time for each hole. The more holes you have, the more it will cost you. Also hole tolerance needs to be looked at. Some waterjetters will cut the hole undersize and ream to size. This is a manual operation and adds cost.

If you want the best cost in waterjetting don't add extra holes because you can, specify a Q3 (or Q4) cut and then manually clean up the edges to eliminate the draft and roughness, then ream any holes to size yourself or just ask them to be a few thou oversize. You will need to ask the waterjetter what actual size hole you will end up with if you specify say a .125" hole. If you want a precision hole, specify .005" to .015" under size and ream to your target. Usually a hole in a tang a little oversize isn't a big deal though.
 
Mark, if I post a generic/sample dxf here, so everybody can see what were talking about, would you be ok with sharing the price? I can't speak for everybody, but I'm a always a little cautious with new ventures. I wish you all the success you can handle, but have you got any photos of completed work? Shop or equipment pics? Maybe fill out your profile page so we can get a better idea of who you are? Digital designs are one of the few things many of feel is truly our own, so sending them out can make me a little uneasy.
 
Mark, if I post a generic/sample dxf here, so everybody can see what were talking about, would you be ok with sharing the price? I can't speak for everybody, but I'm a always a little cautious with new ventures. I wish you all the success you can handle, but have you got any photos of completed work? Shop or equipment pics? Maybe fill out your profile page so we can get a better idea of who you are? Digital designs are one of the few things many of feel is truly our own, so sending them out can make me a little uneasy.

I like these ideas.
 
Dear Self Made Knives and all:

Thank you for your comments and for being patient with us while we are starting up. Personally I have never really been into social media much but you are absolutely right, we need to add pictures and fill out our profile more.

Also in regard to your comment about being cautious when sending out digital designs, this is something that we have discussed and we completely understand you concern. We will make it a policy to delete files after the order has been completed, and it will be up the customer to provide the file again for any re-orders.

To give the group an idea of pricing: See the photo of the hunting knife below, it’s roughly 9 inches overall in length and 1 ¼ inches wide with 2 holes in the handle plus an additional lanyard hole. For this example cut from 1/8” 1095 steel we can offer a price of $27.70 for each piece and for this run there would be a minimum order of 10 pieces.

Thank you for your interest and please feel free to comment. If you would like us to quote your design please email us at mrbladeblanks@gmail.com

price example.jpg
 
"We will make it a policy to delete files after the order has been completed, and it will be up the customer to provide the file again for any re-orders."

That really achieves nothing except to make re-order a hassle. A small paragraph recognizing the makers intellectual property with a drawing of the blade, signed by you, sent with the batch of knives would be better. Deleting files really means nothing....the willingness to sign a doc is more convincing and give the maker certain legal rights....

For me personally this is all a moot point as the finished blade is where the "personality" of the knife is. The time stamp on my original design is probably all the proof I would need. Furthermore, the first time a waterjet company "lent" out a design would be the last batch of blades they cut.

So really no worries imo....
 
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