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John
Weatherwax and Cutting Edge Metal Specialties History
John Weatherwax
started Cutting Edge Metal Specialties, believe it or
not, in his garage in Lake Forest, CA, in 1993 while working
full time as a metal fabricator for Dan Gurney's All American
Racers. Prior to working at AAR, John worked for Jim Chapman
Developments, a small, highly specialized, fabrication
shop that built Nissan's GTP aluminum honeycomb race car
monocoque chassis for their International Motor Sports
Associations (IMSA) endurance sports cars.
Nissan Monocoque Chassis |
Nissan GTP Sportscar |
In
1990, John was hired by AAR to help build Toyota's new
IMSA sports car prototype. This car, the Toyota Mklll
GT, would go on to earn 3 IMSA Championships, beating
the other factory efforts of Nissan, Chevrolet, Mazda
and Jaguar. Almost every piece of these prototype racecars
were hand built. And the one thing John learned very quickly
in auto racing fabrication, is that you do not compromise
any part you build at any time. The consequences could
be devastating if a part is machined wrong or a weld fails.
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Toyota GTP Racecar |
After
buying a small heliarc tig welder for his garage without
consulting his wife, he figured he had better get a
small fabrication job to pay for the machine. His first
client, and one he still has today, was with a company
that required highly specialized stainless steel components
for the semi-conductor industry. Within 2 years, he
went from backup source to primary source for their
products. The highly specialized skills he learned in
the racing industry, where compromise is not an option,
was a factor in his success with these high degree of
difficulty parts. In 1995, after two years of working
full time at AAR during the day, and working 40 plus
hours in the garage in the evenings and weekends, he
decided to quit All American Racers, move out of the
garage and open his own shop full time. During this
period, working alone, John was involved in numerous
stainless steel prototype projects for Intel and others
in the semi-conductor industry during the development
of 300 mm silicon wafer cleaning systems. John
also started to do more custom fabrication projects
for homes and businesses.
300mm Stainless Steel Chamber |
300mm Stainless Steel Rotor Frame |
Never
turning down a unique or difficult project, one of
his first jobs was building a steel framed back yard
gazebo, with a retractable roof, all of which he designed
and engineered. The list of projects John has been
involved with are long and varied.
Gazebo - Retractable Roof |
Steel Framed Gazebo |
A
true perfectionist, which shows in all of his work,
and is especially noticeable in the restoration
of the classic motorcycles John collects. These
bikes include a 1929 Henderson Four, 1936 Ariel
Red Hunter, 1937 overhead cam KSS Velocette, 1939
Royal Enfield 350 Bullitt, 1940 Ariel Square Four,
and a half dozen other motor bikes and Whizzers.
Go to Fun Projects
to see some of the other items John has restored
and collected over the years.
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