Geof Dumas Knife and Tool

In 2010, a friend of mine bought a butterfly knife from the local flea market. The knife was cheap, but the tricks he had picked up from Youtube videos made everyone gather around to watch. It wasn't long before I had one of my own. I didn't get far into learning how to flip before I was distracted. The handles were made of cheap, cast pot metal. The pivots were simply pins hammered into place. Not two weeks passed before it fell apart completely. I replaced it, but was stuck on the idea that I could do better. I was on a robotics team at that time and had seen the machines that would help me make my prototypes. An old retrofitted Bridgeport mill. Unfortunately, I didn't have the knowledge of CAD or CAM that I would need to use that. I started with my dad's old Delta drill press a, hacksaw, files, and sandpaper. It took months of time between school work and other projects before I had a full set of handles and an unhardened blade, but the first prototype was done. A few did follow that one, including one 3D printed and another made on that Bridgeport. By this time, 2012, I had left college after the first semester and started a small business. I had been retailing luthier supplies on eBay long enough to save up for the smallest lathe Harbor Freight had to offer. I made custom parts like standoffs, couplers, spacers, bushings, etc. as well as my first fully realized product: fire pistons. That really launched me forward. I produced and sold a couple thousand of those, saving up for what seemed like the machine to end all machines. In late 2012 I made the order for a Tormach 770 CNC milling machine. At first, I was over my head. I had been using Solidworks for some time now but producing actual usable CNC code would be months away. I kept producing fire pistons until late 2013 as I was working on my ninth prototype, which became my first fully realized knife production - the Ex09. Luck was on my side and I was able to get my hands on a large amount of titanium bar stock. I bought some blade steel to accompany it and the from there the Ex series began to grow. Since then the Ex09 has been preceded by the Ex10 and upcoming Ex11. My shop has grown to incorporate the Brother S700x1, which has greatly improved quality and productivity.