How to add metal designs to knife scales?

D

daily_grind

Joined
Apr 5, 2024
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I have some pocket knives I'm repairing (broken scales). Most of them have cracks and missing badges(?), etc., ordinarily I just put scales on without the designs because I had no idea how to make them or put them in the scales. If any of you guys do stuff like that, could you give me some pointers on how to do it? Is it like marquetry or inlay with wood (I have a little bit of experience with that - only with much bigger pieces). How/where do you get the metal silhouettes to put in there?
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Leading Edge Fabrication sells a variety of stainless steel knife handle shields and the parser plates to go with them. If you have the patience you can cut your own out from any kind of metal (or any material for that matter). The pre-fabricated ones can save you some time and effort.
Jeff
 
I have a pantograph milling machine that does that.
Craig Brewer has a service where he puts a shield of your choice in your scales.
He also has templates if you end up getying a pantograph
 
Unsurprisingly, there was already good information on this forum:
David Schott

How To Thread 'Shield inlay using parsher plate/template: Harden plate? What endmills?'

Hey,
I've finally acquired some of the nice shield parsher plates and shields from leading edge fabrications and they are super high quality and crisp.

I now realize I'm not 100% sure how to get a perfect cut with these. I have a milling machine and a dremel to use. The plates are 1075 annealed.

Initially I envisioned running some kind of cutter along the inside. Do I need to harden these plates or are people using some kind of endmill/cutter that has a smooth edge the same OD as the cutter with some kind of shallow bit?

The only way I could envision it would be to use something...
 
I made my parser plates from Ats-34 by collecting old sheilds and copying them. Traced the sheild onto the steel and jeweler filed out
the cavity. Then made the new sheild by tracing it inside the parser plate. Then I clamped the parser to the mark side of the knife with
the scale in it and routed it out with s dremel bit on my drill press. Works really slick once you get rolling on it.
Ken.
 
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