Custom Self-Defence Tools
Some of the more novel products we are given the opportunity to help develop and manufacture include self-defence tools for some of our clients.
I’d easily state that getting hit by a chunk of pine hurts just as much as a piece of metal as I’ve been hit by both during my decade of karate classes, the amount of debilitation only depends on how much force was applied where.
For this project, I had some piece of 18 mm or 3/4″ Pine lying around that was perfect for this job, if the imagery looks familiar, it’s because it was the scrap from my custom Pine key chain holder.
No good piece of wood leaves the CNCROi.com shop, it’s either vaporized or used for a whole bunch of little things we do around here from jigs to part holders, then it’s right to the fire pit.
These novelty, though fully functional, custom self-defence tools were born in fire and cut by light, with a unique number on each one which was engraved to perfection using our industrial wide-format Austrian CNC laser.
The advantage of using our CNC laser over our CNC router to make these in the CNCROi.com shop was that we have some very tight “teeth” that would have required a very sharp and small bit to cut properly, as the laser is a non-contact method of fabrication, this was no problem and we could engrave it at the same time!
Put another way, within one process, we both engraved and cut-out these self-defence tools while using our CNC router would have required two, increasing costs and that’s also why scrap Pine is great, it’s essentially “free material” as it was paid for with a previous project, saving our customer even more money.
If you are wondering what full-on engraving of Pine looks like, check out this wood pyrography of my Uncle’s cottage which he built with his very own hands and then another Uncle took over to bring it into the 20th century.
CNCROi.com does a lot of work using Pine, it’s a very durable material, relatively light weight and very affordable both in raw and working with it in a production environment, over something harder like Oak.
These custom self-defence tools first were engraved, then all the holes for the eyes (fingers in self-defence mode) were cut out using our CO2 laser followed by cutting out the final shape of the tool.
Some of these custom novelty self-defence tools did have mask on them while other’s didn’t, generally I prefer to mask everything but these were so quick, and needed to be sanded anyhow, it really didn’t make much of a difference.
You can get an idea of how much fun it is to make this stuff, that’s the precision of our laser, we can say “cut here” and it will “CUT THERE” which allows for the incredible precision you see in the image below.
There were 50 custom self-defence tools to be made in this production run, so once one batch was done, another started right after will we hit 50 units total.
There were of course many more made, after inspection by the CNCROi.com QA labs, some had knots, some had imperfections and the like, so those numbers were cut again, with the rejects joining their friends in the fire pit pile.
This is a different piece of Pine, this was from a project a few months ago where we made polycarbonate and Pine coasters for a wedding, watch the video!
You can tell these Pine boards were CNC routed by the lifting of the wood on the edge, an easy dead-giveaway as to what process was used to cut them!
Our CNC laser is powerful enough to easily cut through these boards efficiently and cost-effectively and we regularly use it to cut through far rougher and compressed Pine that has a far higher density that this board.
As this batch of custom self-defence tools come to a close, you can see how the process was the same, engraving the sequence, cutting out the eyes then the outline to liberate the tool from the Pine.
CNC lasers are amazing, the reason you don’t see much smoke on the top surface of these novelty self-defence tools is due to the air compressor shooting air down through the Pine, so it acts more like a blade than a torch.
Another production run finished, but we still aren’t at 50 units, we’ll need another board from the CNCROi.com wood pile for that!
Now, for the final piece of Pine that will be transformed into self-defence tools!
Which project was this piece of Pine scrap board, still totally fine and in very good shape with the masking on both sides from? That would be the family portrait we made for an anniversary a while back.
The only reason I can tell was due to the Xs applied on the surface, I went over this board very closely to make sure that as few knots were present on this project and as such, made sure to mark it appropriately.
As with the other self-defence tools, it’s engraving first to make sure that they don’t move, otherwise, if we cut the outline then engraved, it’s possible that they may move slightly, bringing things out of spec.
After cutting out the holes and then the outlines, this final production run is just about done by CNCROi.com.
These look a bit different from the other self-defence tools above, that’s just the masking but as its Pine, it really doesn’t make much of a different with so little on the surface.
The masking does hide the grain of the Pine though, but after sanding, you won’t be able to tell the masked vs unmasked versions of these amazing self-defence tools.
Here’s a unit of the self-defence tool with the protective masking on the surface, you can see the smoke on the surface and the deep engraving of the numbers.
And after a quick sanding, what another unit looks like, and with our CNC laser, there is also free edge contrast!
These self-defence tools are now done sanding, a quick spray with compressed air on the CNCROi.com shop floor and these will be finished!
Looks amazing!
I really love those eyes, they give the entire self-defence novelty product a face and esthetics while also being functional for the user if they are attacked.
These are now on their way to be shipped to the customer, another fun production run by CNCROi.com!
Oh yeah, Christmas is coming FAST! Contact CNCROi.com for all your seasonal needs!