If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got… or how changing a 25-year-old habit can be daunting.

This phrase is often attributed to Henry Ford, Tony Robbins, or even Albert Einstein. Regardless of who first said it, I believe they were absolutely right.

Over the past six months, I’ve been considering switching the primary software we use in the workshop—SolidWorks, a CAD (Computer-Aided Design) program that has been in use here for the past five years. It’s been essential in modeling my designs, finalizing details, and generating the drawings needed for CNC machining. However, despite my efforts, SolidWorks never felt intuitive to me.

For 25 years, since my time at the School of Architecture in Aarhus, I’ve used a different CAD program—Rhino3D. This software is highly intuitive and better suited for designers and artists rather than engineers. I’ve used it as fluently as pen and paper, and since buying my first CNC machine in 2009, it has been my go-to tool for turning designs into reality. In fact, Rhino3D has played a role in the design of hundreds of knives, including more than 70 custom models made in my own shop(!).

But while Rhino3D worked well for me, it was never the best fit for the CNC technicians I’ve hired over the years. I made it work through experience and intuition, but I always knew there was a gap—especially when translating my ideas into something machinists could easily use. The introduction of SolidWorks was meant to bridge that gap, but I’ve felt that something often gets lost in translation. I know exactly what I want, but I usually don’t fully see it until it appears on-screen or in a 3D-printed mockup. Relying on a middleman to interpret my 2D sketches into a 3D model was never ideal, and unfortunately, the 3D models I built in Rhino often weren’t good enough for production.

So now, we’re making a full switch—moving away from both SolidWorks and Rhino3D to Fusion360.

I was introduced to Fusion360 by my friends TJ Schwarz and Lucas Burnley, who both use it extensively. Seeing what they were achieving with it, I realized it might be intuitive enough for me to learn. In December, I took a two-day training class in the basics of Fusion and quickly saw that my approach to CAD would translate well. Mind you, it’s been 25 years since I last sat in a classroom!

Last week, the CNC team and I completed an advanced two-day training course, followed by a final session yesterday. And Eureka!—I have seen the light. Though I’m still making slow progress with Fusion, I’ve already reached a point where I can do basically everything I did in Rhino—plus I now have access to a far superior 3D modeling tool for production. The decision to switch is, in hindsight, a no-brainer.

But… it’s still downright intimidating to abandon a 25-year-old practice and start from scratch. I felt, though, that a clean break was the only way I could truly commit to learning and integrating the new system.

What about you? Have you ever made a fundamental change to a process in which you already considered yourself highly skilled? How did it go?

Stay curious

Jens