Hello everyone. I'm one of 2 people in Wiltshire who have spent the last couple of years working on chef's knives. We both used to work abroad and coming back to the UK settled on that as a venture, for reasons we're still not clear about ...

We always knew we wanted to go down the CNC route, but wanted to start off with a file and sandpaper before making the leap.

We're now the proud (nervous, slightly confused and very excited) owners of a Haas mill and are about to start milling some blades. We've learned a huge amount so far and still have a long way to go, but our main area of effort for now is to get a good, reliable workflow from paper sketch to milled piece. Then there's heat treatment, cryo, finishing and handle work - but that's a different story, and one we're slightly more comfortable with.

We'll probably be hanging around in the forums covering CAD/CAM and 3-axis Mills the most, continuing in our eternal quest to find mentors and gleam some wisdom. Making assemblies efficiently, HSM post and toolpaths are our current hotspots.

We'll likely make an appropriate post in the Marketplace in the near future, but we're always on the look out for those with more experience than us who want to pop by and have cup of coffee and talk ideas through - we're not that far from Marlborough and work in an old calving barn. Please do PM if you're ever in this neck of the woods.

Cheers!

Laurie