Leaving your mark...

Fletcher Knives

Fletcher Knives

STEEL BREATHING BLADE MAESTRO
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What is your method of marking your blades. I've started making knives(Here's a link to that thread) and have to decide how I want to mark my blades. I have a specific design in mind that i want to use. Basiaclly it's a circle with an arrow tip in the middle and FK below it. I need something that doesn't cost very much to get and will do one blade at a time. What do you guys use/ would you recomend?

Thanks.
Dylan Fletcher
 
Dylside said:
What is your method of marking your blades. I've started making knives(Here's a link to that thread) and have to decide how I want to mark my blades. I have a specific design in mind that i want to use. Basiaclly it's a circle with an arrow tip in the middle and FK below it. I need something that doesn't cost very much to get and will do one blade at a time. What do you guys use/ would you recomend?

Thanks.
Dylan Fletcher
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I'd guess you're a good candidate for a etching machine. You can make one for about $25 or so or buy one from $60 to :eek: on eBay. Get the etchant for carbon or simple steels if you're marking knives from files. I'd order a stencil from Ernie Grospitch, he makes a great stencil, a great guy and probably the most affordable stencil you can buy. He's shrpknife AT aol.com
 
Will Leavitt said:
I'd guess you're a good candidate for a etching machine. You can make one for about $25 or so or buy one from $60 to :eek: on eBay. Get the etchant for carbon or simple steels if you're marking knives from files. I'd order a stencil from Ernie Grospitch, he makes a great stencil, a great guy and probably the most affordable stencil you can buy. He's shrpknife AT aol.com
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Excellent. Thanks a bunch!
 
I use salt water for my etchant Dylan.
 
Andy, why? The bottle I've been using for a long time cost me $9, are you getting the same etch as with a store bought etchant? I tried making my own etchants in the past and found I was not getting a good etch. Mine turned out kinda frosty and speckled no matter how I cycled the etch times. Heck it probably is just a bottle of salt water :(
 
I have a salt-water aquarium here at work and I get store bought salt water for it from time to time, so I wonder if that is strong enough or to strong to work.
 
It's not my sale but someone is selling an etcher in the supplies forum. It's the same one I have... I'm happy with it compared to the cheaper ones I used in the past.
 
I've seen those ETCH-O-MATICS. They look pretty nice. Let me know how it works for you.
 
I use a name stamp made by the Evers stamp company. Been using the same stamp for 20 years. I use a torch to bring the area on the knife up to a dull cherry red. Then quickly and carefully with the stamp firmly attached in visegrips I place it evenly over the hot spot and moderately strike it with a hammer.

Its important to place your stamp level and even on the area when you strike it with the hammer. There is only one chance to get it right, which is a bit of a drawback to this method.
 
Bufford said:
I use a name stamp made by the Evers stamp company. Been using the same stamp for 20 years. I use a torch to bring the area on the knife up to a dull cherry red. Then quickly and carefully with the stamp firmly attached in visegrips I place it evenly over the hot spot and moderately strike it with a hammer.

Its important to place your stamp level and even on the area when you strike it with the hammer. There is only one chance to get it right, which is a bit of a drawback to this method.
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Actually there is no reason whatsoever why you can't strike it enough times until you get the mark correct. You just have to make sure that the stamp is in exactly the correct place each time.

I just did a knife the other day where due to the curve of the blade where I was stamping each stamp required at least 3 (light) hits to get it evenly struck throughout, and I had three letters to do. You can feel when the stamp seats into the existing strike mark.

An awful lot of people put the emphasis on hitting it 'just right' on the "one chance", which ends up stressing people into hitting too hard which makes them miss-strike the punch. It is better to go easy and concentrate on getting a direct hit. You can always make it deeper with more light strikes, but you can't easily undo a miss-struck gouge.
 
Will Leavitt said:
Andy, why? The bottle I've been using for a long time cost me $9, are you getting the same etch as with a store bought etchant? I tried making my own etchants in the past and found I was not getting a good etch. Mine turned out kinda frosty and speckled no matter how I cycled the etch times. Heck it probably is just a bottle of salt water :(
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I'm getting nice clear etches with the salt water, so I just never spent the nine dollars. Plus the TUS tech lady wouldn't assure me that the etchant would out etch salt water, so I just didn't get it. Really for 9 dollars, I still may do it. My etches are coming out nice and clear and dark, but not very deep. The lady at TUS tech said that was because a 12 volt machine wouldn't do a deep DC etch. She said I needed 24 volts. So again I was left doubting whether the 9 dollars was going to do any better than the salt water.
 
Yes I have had to double stamp to correct things, such as an uneven impression after the first strike. Double stamping works, but there is the risk of really screwing things up if the stamp is not exactly lined up, which is why I try to make my mark with one moderate blow of the hammer.
 
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