Bob Bayly and Tom Carpenter joined forces in Portland, OR to design and build a disposal knife for OSB plants. After a year of work, they chose to proceed with the development of a second concept upon the recommendation of Dudley Smith, who along with Bob’s mother, Jane Bayly, were two of Key Knife’s first financial supporters. The second concept marked the beginning of today’s version of the Key Knife.

Bob and Tom hired Cecil Ostrander to build the first prototype of a chipper system utilizing steel knife stock “borrowed” from a friendly competitor. The first installation occurred at Mountain Fir Lumber of Dallas, OR in a Mobark chipper and ran for all of 30 seconds. Once they resolved the matters of hardness and radiuses, they hired their first employee, Norma Sherratt in June of 1988 and production got underway in Cecil’s barn. The achievement of producing one box of knives/day was considered a great day. Only two machines could be operated at a time due to the lack of power to the shop and the grinder was in a lean-to heated by a wood stove where the coolant had to be defrosted every morning before start up.

The production shop was moved to a 3500 sq. ft. facility in Wilsonville, OR. During this time, the official name of the privately held organization was changed from Commercial Knife to Key Knife. $30,000 in sales for a month was considered record setting at the time. A former saw shop owner and supporter; Herb Frelich became the first production manager and the Chip-n-Saw concept was introduced in 1990. Neil Doherty was hired as the first field rep in January of 1991 and the first CNC machine purchased in 1992.

The manufacturing and office relocated from Wilsonville to a 20,000 sq. ft. building in Tigard, OR and the first High Recovery system was developed. In 1994, the first Blohm (a computerized grinding machine) was purchased, revolutionizing the knife production process. Two additional CNC machines and another Blohm were purchased in 1995.

The company relocated again, moving from Tigard to a newly built 50,000 + sq. ft. facility in Tualatin, OR with room for additional expansion. A fourth Blohm and a fourth CNC have since been added along with the establishment of a machine shop center for further expansion into in-house product development. Likewise, in-house production of additional Key Knife system components is taking place on a calculated basis as part of the organization’s overall strategic plan.

Key Knife had a record sales year, with sales increasing 26% over 2003. To meet the growing demand for Key Knife products 3 more CNC machines were added. A new R & D test center nick named the Big Beaver, was added to help with the theory and design of the next generation Key Knife chipping systems. To continue the growth Key Knife has developed innovative products for the Pulp mill, Particleboard, and OSB industries. The demand for Key Knife products and services has taken the company to new parts of the world, such as South America and Asia.