Water Jet Cutting – Doing God’s Work

In the UK, there are only an estimated 600 blacksmiths – this presents a bit of a problem when you need a blacksmith’s services.

Fortunately, in some circumstances, a water jet cutter can come to the rescue! Let’s explain how.

We were contacted by the vicar at the Parish Church in Heckington who was in need of a new set of keys or two, he contacted us because these were keys for the church, rather than his house. The local locksmiths don’t tend to stock or cut medieval church keys.

On taking over at the Parish, the vicar realised there were only three keys in existence and these all believed to date from Medical times. Sensibly, he decided now might be the time to have a few more copies made!

The advice was to contact the local blacksmith, but, sadly, that can be easier said than done. The local blacksmith nowadays is often a few hundred miles away. Heckington is described as a village that wasn’t deemed of sufficient size to have a primary school but has a church of ‘rare beauty and size’.

Enter water jet cutting.

We have written previous blogs outlining the versatility of water jet cutting. We have worked with, among many others, sculptors, on art exhibitions and model railway enthusiasts (this when not working with those in major industries).

Ultimately, if something needs cutting with perfect accuracy, then water jet cutting is likely to be suitable. Keys for a parish church might not be the most usual of requests, but it is one we knew we could resolve.

The water jet is of course agnostic to what it is cutting (if you will excuse that word in a post about the Church). It can follow the plans as entered into the software and cut without creating damage (this a key difference from laser cutting, which would burn the edge and so compromise accuracy).

However, we can’t take all the credit!

We cut the bottom part of the key, the part that fits into that centuries-old lock and ensures the parishioners can access the church, but the vicar himself welded this to the key handle.

The new sets of keys cut, there are now 11 copies in existence – it would take a real bout of forgetfulness for those to all get misplaced.

As the vicar told us ‘I can truly say I’ve left my mark on the village!’

About TMC Water Jet

At TMC Water Jet, we are a leading UK water jet cutter with clients across the UK and, increasingly Europe. We pride ourselves on bringing unmatched quality to jobs of all sizes for clients across every sector.

We work with major industries, so too with artists and small businesses.

At our state of the art facility, we have high pressure water jets capable of 87,000 PSI, we were also the first in the UK to introduce XD Cutting, this a cutting head that can move through multiple axis and so perform the most complex, delicate of cuts in a single process.

If you have a cutting job for which you would value an obligation free quote, please contact us today.

Call us on 01625 610 441 or use our Contact Form.