![Pretty purple poplar plank [2395x3938 - 1.17MB]](https://pic8.co/sh/80MHN3.jpg){kind=link}
Waterjets have one hell of a kerf compared to a focused laser beam. My laser has between a 0.1mm and 0.8mm kerf depending on the material used. A water jet would be at least 1/8 inch on the kerf. The laser can do highly detailed and accurate cuts and engraving that no other technology can get close to. It can't do many materials, but the ones it can (like acrylic) can be extremely intricate and precise where waterjets and CNC routers can't compete.
The only reason I even thought of water was because of my friends dad when I was young. He was a plumber and told the guy to not do it, the guy put his finger over a water leak in a pipe in a nuclear sub. The pipe was under 25k psi he told me. It cut a slit in the guys finger as he moved it over the stream of water. I imagine he learned a valuable lesson since I even learned hearing the story not to assume shit in a high tech environment like a nuclear submarine.
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