Any experience with laser engraving?

[GDOK]

I am wondering if anyone has used laser to engrave your knives.

Do you do it, or do you send them out to be done?

Do you/they use cermark?

Do you know the wattage of laser they/you use?

Are the knives you've done this with stainless?

 

[Kevin McGovern]

I used to do engraving for a DOD contract. Mostly aluminum, but some stainless. I used a fiber laser. Easy to use, and marked well with no gas needed. Basically it worked like a printer. A machine of the type needed to mark SS will set you back about $3k. Stainless is one of the most difficult things I worked on. Can be difficult to get a good crisp black mark(as apposed to brown washed out edges)

 

[GDOK]

Huh. Alright - thanks! $3k isn't bad in for something, ideally with minimal consumables.

 

[Kevin McGovern]

I should clarify. A CO2 laser is in that range. It will mark SS with a marking solution you apply to the mark area. A fiber laser will mark by itself, but costs 2x as much. Let me put it this way. My company still has a fiber and a CO2 laser, and while not real convenient, I could use it if I wanted, and I use stencil and electro chemical etching on my knives.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

For marking the blades, it is hard to beat a stencil and etcher. Lasers aren't really the right tool unless you want to spend big bucks. Dollar for dollar, lasers are poor economy.

For custom handle artwork and faux-scrimshaw, a laser is great. They are very good for woodworking projects and doing artwork on wood and other softer materials.


On my list for sometime soon is a 100W CO2 laser setup. It will cost what a good grinder costs. If it didn't have other uses besides knife projects,. I wouldn't even consider one.

For those who haven't been around laser engravers, they require a fair bit of ancillary equipment, are not at all "plug-and-play", and have consumables.

Don't think that the cheap 40W things on eBay will work for knife work. Don't think that you will open the box, plug it in, sit down, and engrave a knife blade.

 

[P.Brewster]

I get laser engraving done at a local trophy shop - I pay $3 to $6 per knife. The advantage of laser engraving (as opposed to stamping or electro-etching) is its ability to engrave through a coating.

 

[Lance Carrico]

I've had a few laser engraved. My engraver recently more than doubled his price to over $20, so I won't have any more done by him. The only negative I've heard was from a vendor who sells the engravers. He told me that the extremely high heat actually burns away the chromium from the engraved mark so that it is more subject to rusting, but only in the mark itself. I have not had any complaints about rusting, but have only done the laser engraving for a few months.

He uses a 25W CO2 laser which leaves a shallow but nice, black mark.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

CO2 lasers will not mark steel unless you use a special coating that melts onto the blade. It will also come off the blade.
A fiber laser will cost you $10K-up, but that's what you need for marking steel efficiently.