Do you do your engraving yourself?

Patrice Lemée

Patrice Lemée

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Aug 13, 2002
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I am talking on bolsters, pommels and such. It's something I wanted to do but this is such a hard thing, to do well that is. I don't know if I have the time to invest in this and knifemaking. I think most makers send out their knives for engraving. I also found out that a magnifying glass/lamp thingy simply just doesn't cut it. That means a microscope would be needed too.

What do you guys think?
 
Patrick, I engrave. I don't use a microscope. I do use an Optivisor and good lighting. What you must have is a good engraving ball.

And sharp, properly dressed gravers!

That's the thing most people don't understand. Also, there are many types of bright cut decorative engraving that are simple to do. Begining engravers thinking of doing gold inlay within weeks of starting will only be disapointed. Western and simple decorative brightcut however can be learned relatively quickly.

Here's an excellent site with an engraving forum:

http://www.engravingforum.com/index.php

Here's a nickel silver ferrule I engraved with just two gravers: a flat #42 and a round #35

monarch0806.jpg
 
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It takes a lot of time to develop skills as an engraver so you may send it out. Otherwise keep it very simple at first like this example of mine.
 

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I'd love to learn, too. I think though, that it's a great way to go, sending them out. I mean, if you had someone like Julie Warenski engrave your knife, not only would it be totally gorgeous, but it would add more significantly to the value of the knife than if you did it yourself. Or Bruce Evans, Linda Karst Stone, others. They are at the top of their game. I'd be intimidated to send any of them a knife to work on...

I just want to learn it because of the immense satisfaction I think I'd feel if I was able to succeed in the end. Also, it seems compatible with my apparent affinity for working on little details for hours.

I'm building a bowling ball vise, and I'll have to get an optivisor for sure. Oh, and learn how to use them graver thingys.
 
I've always sent my work out and pass the cost onto the customer but someday that may slow down because I want to do my own engraving. It will take years to be good enough but if I dont start sometime it wont ever happen. Been collecting engraving equipment for a couple years now. Still need a good engravers block/vice.
 
Thanks for our input guys.

Anvilring, I do have a vise, a pepe if I remember right. Not the higher grade I know but miles above the bowling bowl one I built. I will take a look at simpler pattern engraving like you suggested. I do need to take more care about sharpening, layout and such. Winging it just doesn't cut it sadly. :o (PS: I am ashamed to admit that I even have a Gravermeister. :o)

Salem, buy one. Even a cheap one like I have, used from fleabay. Between a bowling bowl vise and this we are talking files vs. KMG difference!).

I may still pursue it but aside from the knifemaking.
The knife Mete posted is exactly what I am afraid of. As nice as the simple engraving is, you can clearly see a big difference between that and the knife as far as skill level is concerned. No offense meant of course Mete.

Bruce, you were the first guys that came to mind when I thought about makers that send out for their engraving. "If Bruce don't do it, no way I'll be able to!":o
 
You should take a class to learn to engraving. It will really shorten your learning curve.

Joe
 
As nice as the simple engraving is, you can clearly see a big difference between that and the knife as far as skill level is concerned. No offense meant of course Mete.
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Ok, first off, engraving is one of least understood aspects of knife making.

Mete's knife to me looks great. Sometimes less is more.

I've seen "custom" knives made by people that should never do more in terms of craft than just try to make a good pot of chili....and then they had them engraved; at great expense.

A pig in a bonnet is .... still a pig.

I've seen beautifully made customs that were engraved by some guy who should have just been religated to helping the other guy with the chili.

Both failures.

Engraving must be in concert with the piece. When Bruce B. makes one of his cut'n shoots, it is a high end piece worthy of an excellent engraving job. And he chooses an engraver with skills commensurate with his own. He is also engraving on a piece that is traditionally engraved. Not a beaver tail dag, or trade knife. Many people don't understand that there is a just a ton of stuff out there that doesn't benefit from engraving. :(

m
 
I second the take a class to learn engraving. I took some classes a while back and really like the Lindsay AirGraver. http://www.airgraver.com/ related site to the one "anvilring" posted. It’s on my list of tools to buy at some point. Classes help with learning to grind your graver’s. Classes can help you get a feel for if you will have some aptitude for it before you sink allot of money in tools. They will also show you how much there is to learn about engraving, it is truly an art form that people spend a life time mastering.
 
Believe me I would take a class if there were some close to me. Sadly I did not find any. :(

M, I get what you are saying. I agree that not everything benefits from engraving. I understand too that the opposite of what I was talking about, a crappy knife with great engraving) is still a crappy knife. I just wanted to point out the need for "roughly" the same level of skill in all the parts of a knife. Not just for engraving of course. My handle work for example is better than my grind work. I am trying to get them closer to one another. I wanted to do the same with engraving but was afraid that it is a skill too complex for the limited time I have now anyway.

And I am sorry, I did not mean to say that mete's knife didn't look great. :( Just used the example to illustrate what I was saying since I often have trouble explaining myself. Darn Engwish! :(

Thanks again guys.
 
;)
And I am sorry, I did not mean to say that mete's knife didn't look great. :( Just used the example to illustrate what I was saying since I often have trouble explaining myself. Darn Engwish! :(
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Patrice. We all understood what you meant! ;)

Truthfully, you speak better english than most of my neighbors...:o


I'm self taught, you can be as well... at least up to a degree. You must have good - sharp- gravers! at proper angles with proper heels. Good lighting, magnification, and a good engraving ball. If you own a Gravermax (I do too) your more than halfway there.

Mash; the airgraver is BIG MONEY. You better be really sure your gonna engrave to sink that kind of money in equiptment. Conversely, I can sharpend a discarded sliver of 5160, sharpen it... and engrave something. For free. These are doable skills. That web page (and a few others ) can put a fellow of a pretty good path if your expectations are'nt too wild.

m
m
 
I engrave.
Tool control with modern, powered handpieces is fairly easy to learn.
My advise is to learn to draw. Look at all kinds of good engraving-in person, and pictures.
Learn to daw scrollwork. Learn shading. Learn to adapt a pattern to various spaces. Once you can do that, 60% of your learning is done.
 
anvilring said:
;)
Patrice. We all understood what you meant! ;)

Mash; the airgraver is BIG MONEY. You better be really sure your gonna engrave to sink that kind of money in equiptment. Conversely, I can sharpend a discarded sliver of 5160, sharpen it... and engrave something. For free. These are doable skills. That web page (and a few others ) can put a fellow of a pretty good path if your expectations are'nt too wild.

m
m
Click to expand...

M
I agree that's why I went and took some classes using the airgraver. One of my big take aways from the classes was what Bill is suggesting learn to draw good scroll work and shading.
 
Great thread guys. I've been wanting to do this as well and was wondering if someone could chime in on the the various schools/instructors out there. GRS has been recommended by some. Being self-taught is very admirable, but I'm hoping to lessen the learning curve a bit.

And it seems that precision in drawing, shading and pattern manipulations probably go hand-in-hand with actual engraving. Would an engraving school (like GRS) have the best classes for that as well, or is there a better way?

-M
 
James Meek Wrote a book on the art of engraving, it is well worth reading, Expensive but maybe your library will have a copy.
Learning how to sharpen your engraving tool is probably the #1 lesson. Then deciding on your pattern comes next.
I pretty much learned on my own then got help from an old cowboy who took me years in hours. Then Meeks book and talking to folks who sell engraving equipment and put on demonstrations at shows. Some will let you practice.

I started with an old drill bit stuck in the end of a nail I sharpened it on my belt grinder and finished up on a stone and used a little hand hammer, learned a lot.

You can spend thousands of dollars on engraving equipment much of which you will not need.

The engraving ball is one of the essentials. Good light and magnifier don't hurt.

Watch the man who sells NGravers at shows, he will amaze you and can sharpen his engraving tool on a stone in seconds.

Read what Joe Szilaski writes in Blade, he draws constantly, you can come up with an engraving pattern no one has seen just looking at plants or insects with a magnifying glass.

Practice on some old aluminum then mild steel. I bought scrap, engraved it and sold it back as scrap, soon they would just trade me.

Then I went to guns, bought old junkers, engraved them and traded them back. One of them sold at auction a few months ago for about 10 times what it was worth just because it had my practice engraving on it.

Again only one rule - have fun with it.
 
There are really 2 or 3 engraving camps was my experience based on tools when I looked into classes( non-power tools, Power or air assist GRS, and Lindsay). There may be others just what I found when I was looking into it. I was attracted to the airgraver from Lindsay so I went with a selection from http://www.engravingclasses.com/ in my area. That site lists people that teach the airgraver. In particular I took lessons with J.J. Roberts and he showed me non-power tools as well as the airgraver that I wanted to try out. Nice guy showed me allot. GRS has training listed here http://www.grstrainingcenter.com/ . The ideal school would have all the main players stuff and not be associated with one vendor or another. That way you could try a variety of tools and find what works best for you.

Like Ed said often times at shows guy doing demos will let you try equipment I know J.J. said he did when he was at gun shows.

Seemed to me like there was allot of equipment out there you could waist money on.

Links for engraving info I have saved that haven't posted on this thread yet..
http://www.grstools.com/
http://www.igraver.com/

Book on scroll work I bought and liked was "Advanced Drawing of Scrolls" by Ron Smith
 
Very nice. Nice to hear from you Ed. Hip doing better? I'll try to find that book.

And, I'll check out some of those links, Mash. It's good to have a few different sources to choose from.

-M
 
There is a recent book by Wilson, "Steel Canvas" that has amazing engraving in it, you can get it pretty cheap on Abebooks.
 
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