Leather Dies - Milwaukee vs Texas - Overthinking?

[Gulrok]

Hi guys.

I sent over a pattern to 7 different die makers this week to have a bifold made. 

3 Didn't respond.
1 found me on facebook and messaged me saying they needed more measurement (adobe AI pattern provided)
1 said their engineer was out and would quote me on monday.
2 quoted me. 

I'm between two quotes right now. One is with texas custom dies and milwaukee dies. 

Milwaukee quoted me $415
Texas Custom Dies quoted me $344. So an obvious difference.

My understanding is that Milwaukee embeds their dies in an acrylic and uses a steel rule die. https://milwaukeesrd.com/
My understand is that texas custom dies steel and sharpens it into a knife. http://www.usacuttingdie.com/die-examples.html

Whats the advantage of going with the steel rule which is a thinner blade vs the sharpened steel ones. Is there any advantage? Am I overthinking it? 

[Samalan]

I have used Texas custom dies and besides being right on accurate, the best price, fast shipping , and really great people to deal with, the dies are sharp strong and accurate , you  cant go wrong with Texas Custom dies.

[CastleLeatherWorks]

1 hour ago, Samalan said:

I have used Texas custom dies and besides being right on accurate, the best price, fast shipping , and really great people to deal with, the dies are sharp strong and accurate , you  cant go wrong with Texas Custom dies.

SOLD !!!

[JLSleather]

At those prices for a bifold, I have to assume you are needing "gang" dies... stamping multiples with each hit.  That being the case, I don't think $70 would be an issue that affects choice at all.  Nobody wants to "throw away" $70, but far more important in this case would be the reliability and ease of use.  The more pieces the die cuts, the faster the cost difference is made irrelevant.

More important issue would be how the die handles, cuts, stores.

Having said that, I can say I have never used Milwaukee.  I do have a number of dies from both Tx Custom and Int'l Dies - and all cut well (but, these are single part dies, if that's a consideration).

 

[Samalan]

1 hour ago, CastleLeatherWorks said:

SOLD !!!

wow guess that was a bit over the top LOL thanks! that's funny

[Gulrok]

Placed an order with Texas Custom Dies.

I couldn't find any reason why Milwaukee's acrylic / blade die would be better over Texas'. I've had a great experience with them on a previous order. No reason to fix whats not broken. 

Thanks again everyone. 

[Samalan]

5 hours ago, Gulrok said:

Placed an order with Texas Custom Dies.

I couldn't find any reason why Milwaukee's acrylic / blade die would be better over Texas'. I've had a great experience with them on a previous order. No reason to fix whats not broken. 

Thanks again everyone. 

SOLD !!!