Jarrett Knives LLC Shop Tour

A tour of my shop Jarrett Knives LLC Ultimate Predator

Where do you start when you're building a new shop?

Have a professional cabinet maker design and install your workbenches! I quickly realized that I'm a knifemaker and my workbenches would have looked like it. I didn't want bulky, clumsy workstations - I've had those and they are bad news. I wanted clean, efficient ones.

He designed them with the way they would be used in mind. They are all reinforced with 1 1/2" angle iron supporting the entire workbench. Weight is evenly distributed and they will support far more than they look like they should. The Melamine is very easy to keep clean unlike regular plywood or particle board which absorbs everything. Grinding dust and polishing compounds wipe off with a paper towel!

NOTE: This grinder has been moved across the room, and it's now used solely for hollow grinding.

"Burr King Bertha"

The Grinding Station is central to every other workstation. I wanted it only a few steps from the others to maximize efficientcy. It is six inches lower than the other areas so it fits my particular grinding style in a comfortable fashion. Note the vent on the wall above the grinder - it turns over the air in the shop many times per hour and helps control the airborne dust. It is vented to the outside with a return air vent that isn't visible below one of the benches. Fresh air is important for a healthy work environment.

Starting at the left rear of the shop we have the Heat Treating Station with a Paragon Furnace for annealing and hardening the steel. Next to it is your basic toaster oven for tempering. I've added an after market thermometer (not visible) for accurate temp monitoring. Below is the quench tank with burner to heat the oil to the proper quench temp.

To the right of the heat treating station is the Buffing Station. Various grits of compound are used to get the perfect finish before it is finished by hand. Below this station are the majority of my leather work supplies, acids for Damascus, and refractory compound for differentially heat treating the high carbon steels.

This is the Cutting Station where I cut the handle material.

Metal Cutting Station
The portable metal cutting bandsaw converted into a table type make cutting material easier.

Obviously this is the Drilling Station. A knifemakers best friend is an accurate drill press and drill press vice. The frequently used hand tools are on the peg board behind this station.

This is the Shaping Station which utilized a basic 4 X 36" sander/grinder with a 6" disc on the front. Below you can see the belts organized by the various grits required when shaping and prepping a knife for final buffing. The 2 X 72" belts for the knife grinder are hanging on the wall in the same fashion although they are organized by freqeuncy of use versus grit size for convenience when grinding.

The final workstation is the Assembly Station. Stored below on the left are boxes containing various woods, mammoth and elephant ivory for handle and inlays. On the right are knives ready for finish work and sandpaper for hand finishing.

Right outside the door is where "SUPER SUCKER" lives. Conventional shop vacs don't cut it once you have one of these. It's a whole house vacuum rated for an 8,000 square foot home. This means that it has incredible power. It will pick up billets of steel if you let it which means it more than meets my needs. Dust control is very important to knife makers. The dedicated ventilation system installed in the shop helps control most of the airborne dust while this picks up the heavy volume created when grinding or shaping.

BTW - These pictures were taken right after "moving in", I guarantee that this is the cleanest you'll ever see the shop even with Super Sucker on the job.

Well, this is my "professional home" away from home. I hope you enjoyed the tour. Unfortunately, t's time for me to get back to work. Thanks for stopping by :)

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