Jim Adams Customs
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Still setting up a shop. I need some feedback on this. What is everyone's thoughts?
Etch or Stamp - Maker's mark?
- Thread starter Jim Adams Customs
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Etch is probably easier to master, stamp looks good but if you mess up!!!.
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Jim Adams Customs
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Guys you are lot of help. LOL Thank you for your input. But I guess it doesn't really matter just mark 'em. I am leaning toward etching.
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That looks pretty cool... the starter kit with stencil maker is about the cost of one stamp and obviously alot more versatile. Leaning heavily towards etching, here!
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Just a couple things to consider. Etching allows you to put more information in your mark than stamping does. Generally you would include your name and possibly location; many makers incorporate this information into a logo design. This allows later collectors to have a better chance of finding you to order more of your great work!
Stamping is, in my mind, more traditional. Many makers use a first initial and last name (depending on the name of course!
). Others, like me, just use a maker's mark, basically a logo, that carries essentially no information about the maker. There are many threads started by folks trying to identify the maker of a knife marked in this way. I would imagine that would be very frustrating for a collector, and reasonably would contribute to lower values for a knife since it's provenance is uncertain - unless of course the maker is so famous his mark is well known. Which is quite rare, particularly a few decades down the line.
You can make a quite deep and satisfying mark by etching, and include a lot of fine detail. Another benefit is the ease with which a maker can change an etched mark. Some makers use different marks for different "lines" of their knives, such as mid-tech work vs full handmade.
As a service to collectors, this seems like the best alternative for signing our work. Yet I'm not changing my stamped mark; it's more personal to me than anything more informative could be, and the stuff I make is really done more for me than for anyone else. I'm never going to be famous - or even well known in local circles! - so my mark is destined to be an enigma. That's not for everyone, and is really quite selfish on a market scale, in my opinion. I wrestle with this idea often. Perhaps one day I will find a way to incorporate my mark in a stencil with more identifying information. Or not.
Good luck in your knife making endeavors!
Stamping is, in my mind, more traditional. Many makers use a first initial and last name (depending on the name of course!
). Others, like me, just use a maker's mark, basically a logo, that carries essentially no information about the maker. There are many threads started by folks trying to identify the maker of a knife marked in this way. I would imagine that would be very frustrating for a collector, and reasonably would contribute to lower values for a knife since it's provenance is uncertain - unless of course the maker is so famous his mark is well known. Which is quite rare, particularly a few decades down the line.You can make a quite deep and satisfying mark by etching, and include a lot of fine detail. Another benefit is the ease with which a maker can change an etched mark. Some makers use different marks for different "lines" of their knives, such as mid-tech work vs full handmade.
As a service to collectors, this seems like the best alternative for signing our work. Yet I'm not changing my stamped mark; it's more personal to me than anything more informative could be, and the stuff I make is really done more for me than for anyone else. I'm never going to be famous - or even well known in local circles!
- so my mark is destined to be an enigma. That's not for everyone, and is really quite selfish on a market scale, in my opinion. I wrestle with this idea often. Perhaps one day I will find a way to incorporate my mark in a stencil with more identifying information. Or not.Good luck in your knife making endeavors!
Nice and interesting comment.
Anyone have any pics that show a "deep mark" as above?
The thing I haven't liked about etching is the more superficial look and occasionally an odd choppy look.
By the way Dave....Gun control: Learning to use the one hand hold
Dean (who can shoot two guns at the same time...and always miss the targets)
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I started out etching, but did'nt feel it went with the style of work I am doing now. I signed with a dremel tool and a dimond bit for a while, but I decided to go with a stamp, which is what I do now. Both have advantages and disadvantages, and both will cost roughly about the same money if you go with a store bought etching machine, so it really comes down to what would work best for you and the look you want to achieve.