need a supplier

[wmhammond]

I just received my first piece of real steel: 6" X 72" X 3/32" of 440c stainless.

I also just finished cutting out my first knife blank from a piece of junk, a billet of “Damascus” that I purchased on ebay from Pakistan. It weighed 530 grams, was 8 1/2” Long, 2” wide and ¼” thick . In the absence of a metal cutting bandsaw and with some jewelry experience being a silversmith, believe it or not, I cut out the profile using a jeweler’s saw – It took something over 4 hours to cut it out and I went through something over 50 blades. Where there is a will there is a way, I guess but I doubt I’ll do that again.

I currently have a number of knife designs drawn up in a CAD program called DeltaCAD. Can someone tell me who to contact to have a dozen or so patterns cut out of my "real piece of steel"? Might actually save my right arm. Thanks again,

wallace

 

[mrdegs]

you can always use a hacksaw with some metal cutting blades

 

[wmhammond]

Aaaaaaa........, thanks, I guess. I don't think they cut curves very well.

 

[Doug Lester]

You could contact Great Lakes Water Jet. I believe they have a contact under suppliers on this site.

Doug

 

[akey]

Buy you a Harbor Freight portable band saw and get to cutting! :thumbup1: I would think that would be cheaper than having them cut out by someone else. It's what I and a number of "budget minded" makers use. I just strapped it to a post on my bench.

 

[rhinoknives]

Adozen pieces is a small order for a water jet. Most have a upfront set up fee that you need to cut a bit more blades to make it cost effective.
I have a excellent water jetter name Jay. http://www.waterjettech.com He has never charged me a setup fee, just a rate of cut depending on the thickness of the steel. Call him. He does small runs like this and is the most considerate and is the best I have used and I have no reason to use anyone else.

Tell him Laurence says hello!

 

[Mike Martinez]

You could contact Great Lakes Water Jet. I believe they have a contact under suppliers on this site.

Doug

Doug, I don't think they answer their phones, let alone do small batches anymore. I tried for months to contact them and was a bit put off by more than a few reviews that google brought up. In the end my business went to Mark Vanderwest at http://www.leadingedgefab.com .

Also, Aldo and Pete had some water jet services running the last time I spoke to Pete. It has been a few months, but still worth checking out.