I have been collecting knives for about two years and I want to start making my own parts instead of just buying them. No engineering background at all, so a good chunk of this is me learning as I go.
The plan, at least to start, is small work: milling titanium scales for folding knives — Spyderco, Benchmade, ZT patterns. Longer term I would like to be able to cut and shape fixed blade blanks, and maybe get into folding blades after that.
Budget is $10k to get going. I have been reading through beginner options and the same two keep coming up:
- Langmuir MR-1. From what I can tell it covers the most ground — cutting blanks, shaping profiles, cutting bevels, and it will mill some titanium. I just have no idea how clean the surface would come out if I wanted to put texture on a scale.
- Makera Carvera. Looks like it would turn out scales nice enough to actually sell, and it seems more plug-and-play.
I know neither of these is a real production mill. That is fine for now — I would rather learn on something small than end up with a machine I cannot run.
What I am really hoping for is somebody who has cut titanium on either of them: how it behaved, what you had to change, and whether the finish was good enough to put a price on. If there is a third option in that range I have missed, I am listening. I would rather not burn ten grand on the wrong machine.
